Letters to the editor, June 6: ‘I guarantee Mark Carney will not achieve everything, but he may succeed in some of his agenda. Thus Canada would progress’

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Carney’s move

Re “Carney faces pressure to retaliate against Trump’s steel, aluminum tariffs” (June 5): A wise move to not retaliate because of what others have called “TACO” − Trump Always Chickens Out.

Randal Marlin Ottawa

Re “Mark Carney is making himself the moonshot Prime Minister – for better or for worse” (June 5): When intent is diluted with weasel words, one is absolved from real commitment. We had that with Justin Trudeau, who I saw waste 10 years of Canadian history.

I think Mark Carney is different. He is a builder. This is difficult and takes courage.

Most politicians today are not builders. They prevaricate, dodge and get nothing done. The electorate should be ready to support Mr. Carney in his goals.

I guarantee he will not achieve everything, but he may succeed in some of his agenda. Thus Canada would progress.

We should be patient and support this different type of committed leader.

Tony Woodruff Burnaby, B.C.

Stop where?

Re “Ottawa’s proposed immigration reforms will restrict asylum seekers access to hearings” (June 5): I would say if there are around one million people who unlawfully remain in the country, they are already “underground” with little ability to control or remove them.

Immigration should be halted until there is more semblance of control.

Vivian Vandenhazel Cobourg, Ont.

The government’s plan to limit immigration seems perfectly reasonable given the circumstances. These being that the government caused the housing crisis by opening the borders for manpower reasons, with little idea where these people would live.

While those seeking asylum also require housing, their circumstances are completely different. They are not tourists.

To tighten asylum rules at this time, like many countries in Europe have done, would be to likely condemn untold thousands to death. Turning our collective backs on them would be absolutely inhuman.

Jim Russell Vancouver

Future leaders

Re “America’s talented foreign students could find a home in Canada” (June 2): I was once a visa student.

I later decided to make Canada my home, mainly because of how I was treated by Canadians. Now I am a proud Canadian of Jamaican descent, committed to doing my part in contributing to nation building and international understanding.

One might say that I contributed to the “brain drain” of my country of origin, something that riddled me with guilt. To salve my conscience, I borrowed money and sent it to Jamaica, asking the ministry of education to educate another Jamaican student.

I will always be grateful to the bank manager who lent the money without collateral. Being unable to work on a student visa, and having to pay three times the Canadian tuition fees, meant I had no money after studying for five years.

Let’s continue to treat our visa students well. They are our world ambassadors.

Avis Glaze Former Ontario education commissioner; Delta, B.C.

Higher learning

Re “Some university professors say AI is here to stay, so students should learn how to use it” (June 4): I’m an educator who believes artificial intelligence will have far more negative effects than positive ones.

Accounts of the supposed benefits of AI in academia so often seem to misunderstand much of the point of higher education. It is not just an attempt to stuff a bunch of facts into brains; it is a process of developing the capacity to think.

AI does too much of the thinking for students. I often tell my students, “You want your studies to be hard, you want to make your brain work.” The process of grappling with new concepts is mental exercise, teaching the brain ways of dealing with new and different ideas that build cognitive ability.

Using AI feels like the academic equivalent of going to the gym and having a robot do the exercise instead. It is the same with AI and the ability to think.

Sascha Maicher Ottawa

A fourth-year undergraduate student finds a scientific paper full of “all this big terminology,” so she asks artificial intelligence to “simplify this as if you’re explaining it to a middle schooler.”

Note what the student is never said to do: Read the assigned paper, a complex work of analysis, methodology and terminology appropriate to the field. The student has avoided university-level work, preferring middle-school level, yet this avoidance is termed a method to “enhance learning.”

In my discipline, ChatGPT has pretty much destroyed the essay as a standard method of assessment. Essays allow students to demonstrate their understanding of an assigned topic, develop their own ideas, respond to other writers and structure their claims effectively. While I believe few of my students cheat by using AI to write their essays, the small percentage that do have made the whole enterprise suspect.

So no, this professor does not embrace AI.

Kate Lawson Associate professor, department of English, University of Waterloo

Let’s review

Re “We must do something about these fake Amazon reviews” (Report on Business, June 4): As a book publisher, my authors and I are more affected by the rising sales of actual fake products: books that claim to be “independently published” by trusted writers, but which are actually made by artificial intelligence and then given multiple five-star reviews.

Occasionally a disappointed purchaser who has been duped posts a negative review, but these fake books are a big business, completely unregulated and promoted by Amazon, which makes money from them.

And they are driving out the professionally written and well-made books.

Lionel Koffler Publisher, Firefly Books; Uxbridge, Ont.

There’s a simple solution to the problem of fake Amazon reviews: Don’t shop Amazon. Support local businesses.

Norbert Froese Vancouver

Shopping habit

Re “Court approves Canadian Tire’s $30-million acquisition of Hudson’s Bay assets” (Report on Business, June 4): I’m perplexed about the motivation for Canadian Tire to buy Hudson’s Bay’s slogans and brand labels.

I watched with sadness the decline of the Bay over the past decade, and I have similarly been watching the decline of Canadian Tire. A recent trip to a store confirmed yet again what I believe has become the norm: no one to help customers; aisles increasingly crowded with cheap goods made in China; the garden centre dirty and disorganized.

If Canadian Tire hopes this deal will buy some of the goodwill that the Bay developed over its long history, it best get its own house in order first.

Diane Sewell Vancouver

Letters to the Editor should be exclusive to The Globe and Mail. Include your name, address and daytime phone number. Keep letters to 150 words or fewer. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. To submit a letter by e-mail, click here: letters@globeandmail.com