A syringe is loaded with COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination clinic run by Vancouver Coastal Health, in Richmond, B.C.JONATHAN HAYWARD/The Canadian Press
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Finally
Re The Vaccine Converts: Why They Changed Their Minds About The COVID-19 Shot (Oct. 18): It is distressing that only one convert seemed to express concern for others as their primary reason for getting vaccinated. What does this say about us if wanting to travel for leisure, fly around and meet clients or have dinner out are primary motivators?
Selfish indeed, as the only redeemed convert has come to understand.
David Hughes Toronto
Maybe The Globe and Mail should profile people who, when it was their turn to get vaccinated, dealt with overcomplicated booking systems, drove for long distances, took time off work and stood in long lines to get their doses to protect themselves and society.
Brian Knight Edmonton
Question of governance
Re The Trudeau Government Is Six Years Old (Editorial, Oct. 19): Why do we have an overloaded Prime Minister’s Office calling the shots? Who elected Katie Telford? Who previously elected Gerald Butts?
After reading Jody Wilson-Raybould’s “Indian” in the Cabinet, I have renewed misgivings about our democracy.
Martin Pick Cavan, Ont.
Health care costs
Re Spending More On Health Care Does Not Guarantee Better Health Outcomes (Oct. 18): “Every health care cost is someone’s income.” Unfortunately, disease is big business. So who has the most to lose if everyone is healthy?
Martin O’Connell Burlington, Ont.
As someone who served as a vice-president for the cancer and hospital systems in two provinces, I felt contributor Michael Wolfson hit the nail on the head for what ails them. The key phrase: “The premiers’ multibillion-dollar asks have been for unconditional long-term funding.”
Basically, it is an accountability issue brought about by the jurisdictional split in federal-provincial responsibilities – the feds are reluctant to go there. That said, the quality of management in our health care systems could play a role, as a weak accountability culture can trickle down.
Once when I was faced with an important decision, a conversation with my boss led me to ask who he considered to be our fundamental client. He replied: “the Ministry of Health.” I countered with “the patient.” This clarified for me a key source of conflicts emanating from our governance structures.
George Browman MD, FRCPC; Oak Bay, B.C.
Never gonna give you up?
Re Why It’s So Hard To Quit Fossil Fuels (Editorial, Oct. 18) and Raise The Bar For Climate Leadership (Oct. 18): Canada has a unique challenge in reducing fossil fuel consumption. Every year our population by immigration grows, which translates into greater demand for warm homes in winter and cars to drive. I believe fossil fuels remain the only affordable game in town to meet those needs.
If renewables were currently scalable, profitable and practical, the energy sector would have long ago adopted them as a core business focus. Cynicism suggesting they are only advocates for the status quo underlines that critics seem to have never met an engineer whose chief goal is to drive efficiency and innovation.
That capital continues its retreat from investment in fossil fuel production mostly has a negative social impact. Supply constraints, while alternatives sources remain unreliable, hurt lower-income populations who suddenly cannot afford to heat their homes or drive to work.
I doubt much this is what climate activists had in mind as “climate justice.”
David Roy Toronto
I would like to see a realistic appraisal of how we are going to replace the 60-odd per cent of an oil barrel that goes into non-motor uses: medicine, clothes, glasses, phones, plastics of every description – not to mention all the materials, mining and manufacturing that go into making windmills, solar panels and batteries.
I see tons of virtuous ideology, with the elephant in the room being the tremendous difficulty of following science to plot a workable and realistic transition.
Chris Tworek Calgary
An engineering friend, who lived in Windsor but worked across the St. Clair River at a coal-fired Detroit generating station, insisted that “there are only four words to describe the future of electricity generation: nuclear energy, essential and inevitable.”
We can’t flood more land for hydro power; wind and sun in Canada are too sporadic and occupy farm land (but worth contributing their portion); coal and oil pollute. We should concentrate on solving the problems of nuclear power production in its containers, pumps and piping, as well as the potential dangers of meltdowns.
Be a contributor to the solution, not a part of the problem by complaining about possible dangers.
Fraser McKee BScF, Toronto
On and off
Re In Ontario (Letters, Oct. 18): A letter-writer rationalizes the unfairness of allowing certain public spaces to be at full capacity but not restaurants, stating that masks can be required elsewhere. Clearly she has not viewed a baseball or hockey game, where fans are shoulder to shoulder screaming and cheering, with few masks in sight.
Brahm Rosen Thornhill, Ont.
Hockey hotbeds
Re Another Canadian NHL Franchise Is Unlikely, Economics Suggest (Oct. 18): It is a self-defeating irony that the Toronto Maple Leafs should stand in the way of National Hockey League expansion to Southern Ontario.
When one thinks about it, one of the main reasons the Leafs always choke is the intense scrutiny of their legion of fans and a hounding media. By sharing this market with expansion teams, say in Hamilton, Oshawa, Kitchener and, hell, Bobcaygeon, Omeemee or Renfrew, I maintain that the Leafs would thrive if they could simply share their damnable burden.
In the meantime, I shall be interested to see if the Seattle Squids, or whatever they call themselves, become instant contenders in yet another hockey-indifferent market like Las Vegas before them.
Ron Beram Gabriola, B.C.
Three’s company
Re Female Spanish Author Mola Revealed To Be Three Men (Oct. 19): The three men who received Spain’s Planeta Prize went so far as to fabricate biographical details about Carmen Mola, described as an academic, writer and mother. Their deception represents a variation of former Ottawa mayor Charlotte Whitton’s observation that “whatever women do, they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good.”
In this circumstance, evidently, it takes three men to produce winning fiction attributed to one woman, fulfilling women’s accepted, and expected, juggling of professional and domestic responsibilities.
Dayna Firth Ancaster, Ont.
Letters to the Editor should be exclusive to The Globe and Mail. Include your name, address and daytime phone number. Try to keep letters to fewer than 150 words. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. To submit a letter by e-mail, click here: letters@globeandmail.com