Cows at a dairy farm on in Danville, Que., in August, 2015.Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press
Milking it
Re “White House has beef with Canada’s dairy import rules. Does the EU have a better deal?” (Report on Business, July 22): Canada signed the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement with the European Union on Oct. 30, 2016. Donald Trump signed the USMCA on Sept. 30, 2018.
He had almost two years and still wasn’t able to negotiate a better deal than the EU? It seems like his beef isn’t with Canada – he’s just cheesed off with himself.
Bob Rafuse Beaconsfield, Que.
I stopped buying American wine well before it was pulled from Ontario shelves. I don’t buy American produce and I don’t frequent Walmart. I gave up my Costco membership and was happy to buy a made-in-Canada Honda.
If Canada has to give up restrictions on dairy imports to extract concessions from the United States on softwood lumber, steel, aluminum, etc., I can reassure Canadian dairy farmers that I will not buy American dairy products under any circumstances. As a corollary, if American dairy is so much cheaper for people who really can’t afford Canadian dairy, then supply management is likely not serving the general public.
We do indeed have some cards to play.
Dave Barker Whitby, Ont.
Helping hand
Re “Relief efforts inundated with donations of goods for Ontario wildfire evacuees” (July 21): As the wildfire emergency continues across Northwestern Ontario, I want to thank the many Canadians who have stood with our region. Donations to the Northwestern Ontario Wildfire Community Support Fund have arrived from across Canada and around the world.
One donor wrote she had been searching for a trusted way to support those affected by the wildfires, but hadn’t found one until she read about our fund in The Globe and Mail. She has “always been a fan of the United Way.” Her note reminded me that people genuinely want to help and they simply need to know how.
While the fires will eventually be extinguished, recovery will continue long after the headlines fade. The generosity we’ve witnessed has affirmed something we have always known in Northwestern Ontario: When one community is hurting, others step forward to help.
Caring and compassion know no borders. Thanks for standing with Northwestern Ontario.
Albert Brulé CEO, United Way of Thunder Bay
Home is…
Re “Are there better ways of living together than the single-family home?” (July 18): This anthology of collaborative housing solutions speaks to the great benefits of living in a more connected way. Canada has many homegrown solutions, with people from all walks of life finding creative housing alternatives that centre connection, mutual support and shared purpose.
From my own personal experience of co-living in a large Vancouver home to my current passion of building a new co-housing neighbourhood on Vancouver Island, I’ve experienced many of these benefits firsthand. I would like to see more publicity and public awareness of innovative Canadian housing initiatives and new collective housing models.
I think this is a much-needed and empowering complement to the prevailing message of a “housing crisis.”
Tamara White Courtenay, B.C.
Someone out there?
Re “China could be first to bring samples back from Mars” (July 18): There are those who hope we do not find life on Mars.
They subscribe to a concept called “The Great Filter,” a series of evolutionary hurdles all life must pass through. If we find life (past or present) on Mars, it would mean at least two planets in the same solar system have produced life.
There are trillions of planets just in our Milky Way galaxy, which is about 13.5-billion years old. If life was this common, wouldn’t there be more than a few intelligent civilizations zipping around? So far, we’ve not seen any signs. Or, as physicist Enrico Fermi famously asked, “Where is everybody?”
The Great Filter posits that alien civilizations likely never made it through a combination of factors such as nuclear war, environment destruction or malevolent artificial intelligence. Which begs the question: Will we?
Chris Gates Cobourg, Ont.
Different take
Re “The Odyssey review: Christopher Nolan delivers an awe-inspiring spectacle” (July 17): I have yet to see The Odyssey, but I’ve gathered that Christopher Nolan tinkered with the ending.
Odysseus is remorseful of his participation in the Trojan War and eventual rape and destruction of Troy, as well as his apparent neglect of his trustworthy wife who remained faithful for all 20 years he was away, lost and distracted.
Trump influencers have mocked this. They hate Odysseus turning up as woke, apparently questioning his role in a destructive war.
For them, Odysseus is not only a symbol of “machismo,” but also of unquestioning loyalty and patriotism and complete disregard of women as equals. They can’t accept that Odysseus probably suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Mostly they seem to hate Mr. Nolan for making Odysseus a caring human being.
Norman Ostonal New Westminster, B.C.
Well read
Re “A viral essay declares the end of reading is here. But there’s no end to its pleasures” (Opinion, July 18): Pardon my skepticism, but I couldn’t miss the irony: a chain reaction of readings – my reading of an article about someone’s reading of someone else’s essay – all requiring careful reading. If reading is dying, it’s putting up quite a fight.
The decline of books and newspapers is too often mistaken for the decline of reading itself. As Marshall McLuhan observed, the medium is the message.
Never have humans read and written more text: e-mails, messages, captions, threads – artificial intelligence prompts. Our ancestors would be astonished by the volume.
Yes, leisure reading has declined and shorter forms have become the norm. But brevity is not the enemy of depth nor an index of shorter attention. Serious readers know that profound ideas are measured not by the length of the text, but by the weight of the thought.
As Mark Twain might have texted, reports of reading’s death are greatly exaggerated.
Tony D’Andrea Toronto
When I get together with my siblings, close family and friends, often the first topic of discussion is what we have been reading lately.
My father survived his time as a prisoner of war by reading all the books sent by the Red Cross. As children, my brother, sister and I spent our summer mornings at the library choosing our reading for the week. This habit has passed down to my children and now to our seven grandchildren.
Reading should be a source of joy. Try sitting in a park and reading out loud to your child. You will find that suddenly you have an audience and your child has new friends.
Andrea Battista Burlington, Ont.
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