Piping is seen on the top of a receiving platform which will be connected to the Coastal GasLink natural gas pipeline terminus at the LNG Canada export terminal under construction, in Kitimat, B.C., on Sept. 28, 2022.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
Pursuing justice
Re “On a cold trail” (April 12): Thank you to Tavia Grant for directing our attention to the unsolved death of Jennifer Johnson. The abuse of women seems to be an easily ignored problem by many people, not just the police.
Women who suffer at the hands of men are often made to feel guilty and responsible for their abuse. Society needs to change its whole approach to assisting women in harmful relationships. Women in those situations are extremely vulnerable.
How many women would still be alive if the police had acted swiftly and diligently to ensure the abuse was stopped and the perpetrator held to account?
Kathleen Moore Toronto
On reflection
Re “Controversy over lemmings painting exposes the real snowflakes at PEI veterinary college” (April 12): The irony-laden Atlantic Veterinary College incident – administrators acquiescing to American faculty members’ requests to censor a Canadian artist’s work displayed on a Canadian campus, resulting in the artist’s resignation – reminds us that art is not expendable and in-depth arts coverage serves a vital role.
The reaction to this story has likely taught the college’s administrators that art demands more than mere lip service.
Artist Christopher Griffin’s profile is rising, as I learned when this article prompted me to research his work.
Thanks to The Globe and Mail for recognizing that art is a superb vehicle for collective reflection (among other things) – particularly as Canada grapples with existential threats.
Ginny Ratsoy Kamloops, B.C.
Kate Taylor ably skewers American snowflakes and their “constitutional right to tell racist jokes”. They melt because observers also have the “constitutional right” to point out that racist jokes are still racist.
Ms. Taylor rightly laments Republicans who are “now silent (or worse yet assenting) as their government launches a vicious political attack on the free speech of academics, researchers and museum professionals by cutting grants and jobs.”
Here in Canada, we have the right to point that out too. I’m glad the Atlantic Veterinary College reversed its decision not to show the painting, despite the melting “lemmings”.
George Olds Hamilton
Status quo
Re “A $50-million parks gift is nice, but Toronto must take care of itself, too” (April 12): I am grateful for Alex Bozikovic’s article about the revitalization of Queen’s Park North dictated by a private donation from the Westons to the City of Toronto.
I agree that nature and the park’s historic large trees are what makes this park special already, and I reject the notion that the park is underutilized and in need of new structures.
As it stands, this beautiful park provides much needed peaceful green space in the downtown core, in an area without many other options for immersing oneself in nature. Every park doesn’t need to be “activated” with structures.
Some parks, and I’d argue Queen’s Park North is a prime candidate, need to be kept simply for people to have a picnic on the grass with friends, to sit and reflect, or just to walk through, listening to the sounds of nature and admiring old-growth trees.
Barbi Lazarus Toronto
Reality check
Re “Why the world is better than you think” (Opinion, April 12): This article looks at human well-being, legitimately praising humanity’s progress. However, these improvements depended ultimately on the excessive exploitation and deterioration of nature – the commonly neglected externality that sustains all planetary life, including human society.
Nature is essential for humans. But nature’s health is failing, as exemplified by climate change, caused mainly by humanity’s immoderate burning of fossil fuels. Climate change today is an unprecedented, rapidly evolving, existential threat to human society. In reality, climate change is permanent and emissions must plummet!
The consequences of “improving” humanity will last. We must learn to live within nature’s limits. We must face the reality.
Donald Spady MD Edmonton
It is nice to be reminded that, on average, we are considerably healthier and wealthier than ever.
But the massive costs of that progress will be borne by future generations. The burning of fossil fuels has been, and continues to be, at the heart of nearly all key aspects of human development, including manufacturing, transportation and food production. These activities are the biggest drivers of carbon dioxide and methane emissions, the primary causes of global warming, and show almost no meaningful signs of abating.
Sorry for the negativity, and kudos for reporting encouraging news, but we can’t wish away climate change.
Donald Hall Ottawa
Pipeline problems
Re “Data Dive with Nik Nanos: Support for Canada’s oil-and-gas sector gets a Trump bump” (Opinion, April 12): No company that wants to stay in business would touch a west-to-east pipeline. If public money builds it, taxpayers will be on the hook. Here’s why.
The expense is astronomical, forget the jurisdictional logistics. No one in the world wants heavy oil like that: the only refineries that can use it cost effectively are in the U.S.
Anyway, oil will be on the way out before any pipeline that long is finished. So the pipeline will end up not as an economic lifeline, but as a stranded asset.
And most of all, all that money would be better spent investing in green tech and green innovation – which is not only the future, but an exigency in our climate emergency.
Brian P.H. Green MD Thunder Bay
Curb my enthusiasm
Re “No slaps and nary a tickle, there’s nothing entertaining about Hockey Night in Canada anymore” (Sports, April 12): Growing up watching the “Original Six”, I learned about the game via the wild shouts and shrieks of Foster Hewitt that peppered the play. Over the years, however, life got in the way, Foster retired and the fan in me drifted away.
But then Don Cherry joined the team and back I came – not to watch the game, but to tune into his tirades and authenticity. Wherever I was, be it at home, with friends or even a bar, a hush fell over the gathering as all eyes and ears were on him. That’s how I learned to understand the game and get interested again.
Sadly, with his firing, so went my enthusiasm. At times I’ll sit through the game because my husband is watching, but the minute the period ends, I get up and do something useful. The between-periods blather is indeed boring.
Hockey Night in Canada definitely lost its glitter when Don Cherry was fired. What a shame.
Nancy Marley-Clarke Cochrane, Alta.
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