A doctor walks along a corridor in the ER department at the McGill University Health Centre in Montreal last April.Graham Hughes/The Globe and Mail
Total recall
Re “Alberta Premier Danielle Smith facing recall petition” (Dec. 11): I have to confess to being amused by Danielle Smith’s quote: “I think that this is sadly undermining confidence in our democratic processes and our democratic system.”
We’re left to wonder if Ms. Smith would be expressing similar concerns if recall petitions were only targeting members of opposition parties.
It seems Ms. Smith and her United Conservative Party has been hoist by their own petard.
Steve Soloman Toronto
Bigger picture
Re “Ottawa to fast-track foreign doctors’ permanent residency” (Dec. 9): In addition to streamlining doctor licensing and making it attractive for them to stay here, all of which are essential, we should also look beyond our current shortage.
From citizens in other countries, I have heard resentment against Canada for taking doctors they educate and need as practitioners. Should we not be contributing to the practice of medicine, both in Canada and abroad, by admitting more aspiring doctors to our medical schools? How many more spaces do we need?
Irene Roth Toronto
Price to pay
Re “Advocates laud Ottawa’s push on violence against women after years of calls for action” (Dec. 11): We want tougher rules to prevent any number of crimes, but I don’t read that any party is prepared to pay the huge costs of doing something productive.
We should expand almost every aspect of the justice system to make it run more smoothly. We should build and staff more federal and provincial jails, prisons and remand centres. We should build and staff more courts so people are processed more efficiently.
If we convince the Supreme Court to loosen rules on when cases have to be completed, overcrowding in remand centres will only continue to increase.
We have an excellent judicial system with checks and balances. We read of cases where a person is sentenced to an unfairly long sentence to meet minimum sentencing requirements. Why not eliminate most mandatory minimums and let the appeal courts decide?
I trust the courts far more than I do our politicians.
Jim Bertram Toronto
No way out?
Re “Spike in B.C. overdoses linked to veterinary additive in street drugs” (Dec. 9): On reading about the adulteration of illicit drugs with medetomidine, one question immediately comes to mind: Why do drug dealers risk killing off their customers?
Is the marginal benefit of diluting product so profitable? Or do drug users, increasingly tolerant to their regular supply (tolerance being a hallmark of addiction), find the potency of these additives irresistible?
This crisis seems insoluble. Prohibition hasn’t worked. Decriminalization hasn’t worked.
Supervised consumption sites seem to be a temporary Band-Aid. Substituting pharmaceutical-grade drugs results in diversion, or is hamstrung by requiring witnessed ingestion.
Emergency personnel frantically scouring the streets with ever increasing supplies of Naloxone isn’t any kind of long-term solution either.
Brian Green Thunder Bay
And another thing
Re “Who really benefits from proposed RRIF changes? Wealthy couples and the financial industry” (Report on Business, Dec. 4) and “Single out” (Letters, Dec. 10): I am heartened to see the increase in discussion of unfairness toward single seniors. While we’re talking about this, let me add one more example.
If a spouse dies while receiving Canada Pension Plan payments, the surviving spouse does not receive a survivor’s pension, unlike virtually every other pension, beyond the maximum benefit for a single person. And this is a pension that the deceased paid into their entire working life.
Along with widowed seniors losing their spouse’s Old Age Security, the whole issue of single seniors and retirement income should be addressed in a fair and comprehensive way.
Steve Parish Ajax, Ont.
Keep reading
Re “Vancouver School Board recommends staff pull Thomas King’s work after revelation he is not part Cherokee” (Dec. 5): I was disgusted to read this.
Here is a man who, until a genealogist showed him otherwise, always believed he was of Cherokee descent. When this devastating news was revealed to him, he publicly acknowledged its accuracy.
An articulate writer and speaker and a dedicated spokesperson on Indigenous issues for much of his life, Thomas King is now to be “outed,” denounced and expunged from the public record. His honesty in coming forward and returning his National Aboriginal Achievement Award, but not his literary awards as they “are based on my writing” – the truth as he experienced and researched it – should be praised, not expunged.
Shame on his quavering, acquiescent denouncers.
Gerald Mazin Toronto
Road ahead
Re “As The Road Between Us enters the Oscars race, I’m confronted by the dark art of nominations” (Online, Dec. 6): The reason to love documentary films is because they can take you to the core of their subject matter, revealing truths often hidden or obscured from public view.
Director Barry Avrich’s The Road Between Us is a revelation in that regard. We are confronted with the tragic events of Oct. 7, 2023, during the attack, and with the heroic efforts of one man to save his family.
I find it impossible to look away, and impossible not to identify with his resolute mission. It is a marvel of filmmaking.
I hope he wins an Oscar for this unforgettable film.
Judy Slan Toronto
Life goes on
Re “Painfully close” (Letters, Dec. 10): I sympathize with a reader who underwent a painful prostate biopsy. My own experience might be an informative counterpoint.
Over the years, I paid out of pocket for prostate-specific antigen tests. When my ratings increased, I was referred to a urologist.
In view of my age (80 at the time) he said there was an 80-per-cent chance I had cancer and needed to be monitored. He prescribed Dutasteride to shrink my enlarged prostate, which helped reduce my rating.
A few years later, it increased again and an MRI showed “likely clinically significant cancer.” I was offered a biopsy, but also advised there was a good chance I would die of something else before my prostate caused problems.
So I get on with life, knowing that appropriate monitoring and treatment will be provided. While the reader did not disclose his age, this is perhaps a key factor in prescribing appropriate treatment.
Brian Swinney Burlington, Ont.
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