CSA IMAGES/GETTY IMAGES
Borderline case
Re “B.C. mining exploration company NovaRed recruits Kristi Noem as strategic adviser” (Report on Business, June 20): Many Canadians will remember Kristi Noem’s 2025 visit to the Haskell Free Library and Opera House which straddles the Canada-U.S. border.
According to reports, she repeatedly crossed the border line while making “51st state” remarks, behaviour that was widely criticized as disrespectful of such a symbolic location.
Companies can choose advisers, but those choices reflect corporate judgment and values. NovaRed’s decision suggests it overlooked or discounted conduct that many Canadians found offensive.
That is disappointing for a Canadian company seeking public trust and support.
Victor Bruzon Toronto
Been here before
Re “Of course Canada is not ready for MAID for mental illness. We probably won’t ever be” (Opinion, June 20): A short list of things Canada has “of course” not been ready for: a Charter of Rights and Freedoms; equality before the law regardless of gender, race or sexual orientation; women in RCMP uniforms, women in combat; women equally sharing assets in divorces; abortion access; equal pay; marriage equality.
In each case, a privileged minority (usually men, but that’s another conversation) condescends to tell another less privileged minority that their fellow citizens aren’t “ready” to treat them as equals.
In almost all cases, Canada isn’t “ready” until long and expensive legal struggles say so. But while Canada isn’t “ready,” it is ready and willing to inflict arbitrary discrimination and suffering until some vaguely defined future point. In this case, it seems, hopefully never.
I have no doubt the outcome will be the same here.
Paul Childs Edmonton
Hard climb
Re “Why Canadian startups struggle to pass the ‘valley of death’ – how Ottawa can help them cross it" (Report on Business, June 20): Commercialization of a complex technology requires not only a large addressable market, but also scaled sales and services distribution that leverages cloud infrastructure as well as agentic artificial intelligence. Contracts used to govern all this are no small matter.
Go-to-market strategy is an apprenticeship skill. Canadian technology companies are often branch plants of international firms.
Canadian founders should surround themselves with advisers who have walked the go-to-market valley of death. A technology must be more than innovative in order to scale.
Tax incentives, loans and pension fund investment are necessary, but are likely insufficient to bridge the scale gap in Canada.
Barbara Adey Mississauga
The half of it
Re “Dads need to do more than half” (Opinion, June 20): Kudos for shining a spotlight on the unmeasured costs of pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding. management of social ties and the commensurate need for partners to do “more than half.”
Thanks also for naming the emotional, affective and imaginative work done by the parent who is so often “breastsleeping.” She not only makes milk and feeds it to the infant overnight, but also supports the infant in regulating their heart rate, breathing and temperature by remaining within arm’s reach.
If a mother is to relax enough to “sleep when the baby sleeps” in the daytime, she must be free of the responsibility of running the household in the early weeks and months.
Hilary Johnston Ottawa
I agree that one person in a partnership shouldn’t be constantly toiling while the other enjoys copious rest and leisure. But in previous generations, endless and mostly unnecessary online scrolling did not exist; now it consumes valuable time previously available for more important pursuits.
There is a lot to do. There are tasks that are relatively easy and those that are more demanding. There are varying standards for everything from cleanliness to schedule organization and how long the grass should be.
The key is communication and awareness. Sprinkle in a bit of compromise. Be aware of what one’s partner is doing.
If one partner feels they are doing too much (without exceeding ridiculous levels of perfectionism) while the other enjoys a leisurely existence, talk it through. Hopefully most partnerships can thrive and balance out the workload.
But we have to put down our phones.
Sue Gal Richmond Hill, Ont.
While researching couples’ conflict for a national magazine, I coined a theory: “the short end of the stick.” No matter what a couple is fighting about, the real issue is each person’s conviction that they are the one getting shortchanged.
Is the fight over who forgot to take out the garbage really about division of labour? Or is it about one partner packing for a business trip while the other’s MBA gathers dust behind the Diaper Genie?
By the contributor’s own account, her husband does 75 per cent of the household labour. Yet the conclusion is that men should do even more because the split overlooks the invisible work: the noticing, anticipating and planning.
Fair enough. But if 75 per cent of the chores can’t resolve the equation, what is being confronted isn’t a chore gap. It’s the short end of the stick.
Katherine Gougeon Toronto
Public feedback
Re “The cozy world of Hockey Night in Canada and the CBC hasn’t existed for some time” (Opinion, June 20): I find the CBC has too much mandate, too much management and too little imagination to transform itself into the contemporary national public media service Canadians deserve.
We have the technology, talent and resources, but successive ministers, their departments and other government agencies have sat on the plan that would deliver such a unique package to Canada.
No guts, no progress.
Kealy Wilkinson Principal, Public Broadcasting for Canada in the 21st Century; Saint John
A public broadcaster’s mission is to present unbiased news coverage, whereas private broadcasters may present, embellish and delete news that doesn’t agree with an owner’s opinion.
We definitely should keep our public broadcaster.
Stan Neathery Ottawa
Foster the people
Re “Now off the air, Hockey Night in Canada’s demise is a sign of changing times” (Sports, June 20): In 1960 I was 10 years old, my hands still blackened with newsprint from delivering The Globe and Mail, when I boarded the trolley and subway to Maple Leaf Gardens, hoping for a glimpse of the Leafs.
After finding every door locked, I noticed a CBC trailer on a side street. Thick cables ran through a heavy side door that could not fully close. Looking around and seeing no one, I pulled it open and slipped inside.
Minutes later I was high in the grey seats, calling an imaginary Leafs-Canadiens game to myself. I owe much to those cables that allowed a paperboy to star in his own Hockey Night in Canada.
Here’s to the “neighbourhood” of HNIC that the CBC helped create.
Ken Hundert Toronto
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