Letters to the editor, Dec. 8: ‘Ah, yes, let’s shoot another Canadian company in the foot … then we can all be righteously unemployed’

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Domino effect

Re “Canadian company’s armoured-vehicle production for ICE taking place in U.S.” (Dec. 5): Ah, yes, let’s shoot another Canadian company in the foot by cancelling a $10-million contract, likely angering Donald Trump and trying to tell the United States how to run its immigration system.

With the growing list of companies moving operations to the U.S., let’s see if defence contractor Roshel can also be pushed out. Then we can all be righteously unemployed.

Vivian Vandenhazel Cobourg, Ont.

Even better

Re “Canada’s foreign aid cuts might be what the Global South needs to chart its own course” (Dec. 1): Now is a good time to rethink foreign aid. Not because Canada “never actually listened,” but because it has worked.

The last half-century has seen more people raised out of poverty than in all of human history before then. Life expectancy, literacy and the ability to make decisions over one’s own life are higher than ever.

Most countries have now reached middle-income status and want to co-operate in new ways. Some countries, such as Haiti, still need a lot of help. Aid also pays for the international institutions that monitor food shortages, prevent diseases from spreading, maintain financial stability, manage refugee camps or prosecute war criminals.

It’s a complicated world and one-size solutions will never fit all.

Darren Schemmer Vancouver

The good, the bad

Re “The Canada-Alberta deal is good policy, and probably good politics, too” (Dec. 3): I struggle with your coverage of this proposal. It feels very pro-pipeline, with few dissenting voices.

I live in southeastern British Columbia and was generally opposed to the Trans Mountain pipeline owing to its climate impact. I recall the previous Liberal government taking the extraordinary measure of purchasing it and completing an expansion with taxpayer money. I also recall that it was a less disruptive route sold with the promise of no northern pipeline.

A northern pipeline comes with overland risk and tanker traffic on the remote North Coast. It feels like a major betrayal that just as new trees have been planted along the TMX expansion, the tanker ban may now be removed.

It feels like complete capitulation on climate-change mitigation and oil-spill prevention. I suspect I’m not alone, but I feel like it when reading your reporting on the issue.

Peter Golden Rossland, B.C.

Canadian oil and gas reserves, in economic terms, are a perishable asset constituting time-sensitive inventory. It will rapidly lose value if we leave it in the ground, once solar and wind technologies more fully meet global energy needs.

Use it or lose it.

Ellen Anderson Summerside, PEI

Next generation?

Re “More than half of Ontario doctors eyeing retirement in the next five years, survey shows” (Dec. 4): At a time when our aging population will need more care – and more complex care – the loss of so many doctors would be nothing short of devastating.

It’s not just about the loss of head count, it’s also the loss of irreplaceable experience. This demands “burning platform” action to retain and train doctors and other medical staff.

I know nurses face the same retirement picture, and they are vitally important to our stressed health care system, too.

Paul Alofs Former CEO, The Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation

Primary care became less attractive as health care policies reduced the ability of doctors to provide comprehensive care, and as regulators demanded more administration.

When I started to practice in 1974, family medicine was professionally rewarding but not lucrative. We were called to rural and urban emergency departments when patients had acute problems. We looked after patients in hospital and helped women deliver babies. We called specialists for special advice when necessary. We had time to establish relationships with patients.

Now it appears that family medicine might be more lucrative, but professionally disappointing. Few family doctors care for patients in hospitals or emergency departments. Access to some tests and procedures is limited, forcing consultations with specialists.

The inability to provide more comprehensive care makes family medicine a less appealing discipline.

David Zitner Professor (retired), faculty of medicine, Dalhousie University; Halifax

Right and wrong

Re “Ontario isn’t auditing doctors for excessive claims, Auditor-General finds” and “Ontario doctor in court fighting order to repay province for improper COVID-19 vaccination billing” (Dec. 3): I am sure I am not the only one who found it paradoxical to read these two articles.

Ontario should pursue doctors who are clearly doing the wrong thing, rather than be critical of one doctor who clearly did the right thing.

Margaret Merkley Kingston

Play on

Re “Italy relying on Olympic charm to gloss over the imperfections” (Sports, Dec. 1): I guess it’s our undying hope that sports can be a great unifier and uplifting forum for universal human achievement that makes us still believe.

The Olympics extraordinarily have withstood Nazi propaganda, Eastern Bloc cheating, match fixing, terrorism, steroids, boycotts, bribery, Vladimir Putin, labour abuses, secretive decision-making, decades of mismanagement and unfathomable cost overruns. But we still give credence to what appears to be a horrifically damaged institution, and Milan is just the latest city to sign on.

Let’s hope we can watch Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby and Marie-Philip Poulin win it all in that ridiculous unfinished arena.

Nigel Smith Toronto

Downhill from here

Re “Controversial skip-the-lift-line pass offered at Blue Mountain and Tremblant ski resorts this season” (Dec. 3): Although I am not a skier, I was interested to read about Blue Mountain’s new “Reserve Pass” entitling skiers to skip the line, park within walking distance of the hill and warm up après-ski by an empty fire.

I assume the resort got the idea from Ontario’s health care system, or perhaps it was influenced by Alberta’s foray into two-tier medicine. For those who can’t cough up the extra $2,000, Canadian Tire sells battery-heated gloves for less than $50.

Mark Wise Thornhill, Ont.

I’ve skied Blue Mountain and, on busy days, it’s hard to get many runs in. On an eight-run day, with Blue Mountain’s 219-metre rise, one can achieve 1,752 metres of vertical.

I now ski Whistler Blackcomb. At the end of a day, after a dozen great (and long) runs, I finish off by going from top to bottom. I smile while thinking that, at 1,609 metres of vertical, I get nearly as much in my last Whistler run as Blue Mountain skiers often get in a whole day.

I am in favour of skip-the-line passes, if only for the mental health of avid Ontario skiers.

John Budreski Whistler, B.C.

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