Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre waves to the crowd during the Calgary Stampede on July 3.Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press
You can do it
Re “Help wanted: The federal Conservatives are in need of an adult” (July 15): I would beg to differ on two points.
First, I would not agree that Pierre Poilievre is intellectually incapable of leading the Conservatives to government. However, he does continue to demonstrate authentic leadership incapability, over and over again.
Furthermore, I would not blame him for this. Just consider his résumé: I don’t see that he has ever been trained or mentored to lead in this manner.
Second, it is suggested the Conservatives are so far in the political doldrums that recovery is near impossible. To this I would suggest we look at recent Liberal history: They replaced their leader with someone who has a more robust résumé that includes extensive leadership experience elsewhere.
The Conservatives can most definitely recover if they come to their senses and do the same. Canadian democracy would be stronger for it.
Brad Vollmershausen Port Dover, Ont.
Caught off-guard
Re “CN Railway evacuates workers, suspends operations in area hit by wildfire” (July 16): This despite being aware of the regional fire for weeks. The lack of preparedness on the part of the Canadian National Railway is unacceptable to me.
It’s made more unforgivable when it’s so easily preventable by modern technologies. Rail companies shouldn’t have to rely on their workers’ social media posts from inside a flaming train car to ascertain if there’s a hazard. It’s 2026, send a drone.
The Railway Safety Act delegates the responsibility of ensuring safety in operations to the railways. If they won’t strive to ensure the safety of their workers, the federal government should mandate this responsibility to ensure nothing like this can happen again.
Penelope Hill Hamilton
Re “Fires across northwestern Ontario force evacuations, trigger air quality warnings” (July 16): It is important to note that the types of wildfires we have been experiencing over the past decade, of which the current fires in Northwestern Ontario that have blanketed Southern Ontario with smoke are prominent examples, are entirely consistent with projections around the impact of climate change in Canada going back more than 30 years.
The silence from senior levels of government on this point is striking, although unsurprising to me. The Ford government dismantled the province’s climate change strategy and is overseeing a five-fold increase in gas-fired electricity generation, which runs at full capacity during summer peaks and adds to the climate burden.
The federal government, for its part, has committed to a partnership with Alberta that will see major increases in greenhouse gas emissions from the oil sands.
These pathways will make more summers defined by wildfires, smoke and heat inevitable.
Mark Winfield Co-chair, Sustainable Energy Initiative, faculty of environmental and urban change, York University; Toronto
On gun violence
Re “Deadly shooting at Toronto’s Salsa on St. Clair festival sparks demands for solutions” (July 15): Sadly, I’m not sure what makes me angrier: that this sordid episode took place less than three blocks from my home, or the typical responses from “experts” who say tougher laws and sentencing won’t fix the problem because the issues go deeper and will take a long time to address.
Apparently gun-toting gang members need better job prospects and more education in order to deter them from shooting into a crowd of thousands of people. It may well be true we’ve got to improve socioeconomic conditions to reduce crime – but the issues go deeper and will take a long time to address.
In the interim, we should have much stricter laws, bail conditions and sentencing versus doing little to protect innocent citizens. Politicians and civil servants would do well to read the room right now. People are upset and exasperated.
We should start getting serious on crime.
Graham Farrell Toronto
This shooting will raise cries that firearms must be banned.
The police should track and report the origins of the two firearms that the shooters abandoned. Based on the serial numbers and manufacturers’ records, it should be possible to determine whether they were legally sold in Canada or, more likely, illegally smuggled from the United States.
In the latter case, a firearm ban would not solve the problem. Continually pursuing a failed policy never solves a problem.
Charles Hooker East Garafraxa, Ont.
Re “We can’t lock down street festivals. But we can do more to lock up losers with guns” (July 15): I agree that not allowing those who have committed violent crimes to readily roam free would likely reduce the incidence of such crimes. I also agree that such criminals are unlikely to be deterred by the possibility of harsher punishment.
Rather, we should first seek to deter or detain the greater criminals who prey on young people to commit violence and supply them with guns in the first place.
Louise O’Neill Toronto
Dramatic finish
Re “England’s World Cup loss is more than sporting, it’s existential” (Sports, July 16): I have had many debates with Canadians who don’t like soccer because it is not a high-scoring game compared to hockey, football and basketball.
My answer to them is that soccer has drama and suspense, precisely because the score typically is a cliffhanger in the low single digits like the Argentina-England game.
Reiner Jaakson Oakville, Ont.
Travellin’ man
Re “Country music icon Tommy Hunter introduced several stars to Canadians” (Obituary, July 11): I was surprised to read that Tommy Hunter does not have a spot on Canada’s Walk of Fame.
Journalist Tom Harrington called it a “dreadful oversight.” Me, I’d call it a damn disgrace.
Jim Palmateer Victoria
How inconvenient
Re “How a grocery expert and ‘food professor’ shops” (Pursuits, July 11) and “From scratch” (Letters, July 16): Making food from scratch, as a letter-writer suggests, sounds good in theory but is not practical for everyone.
Costco chickens are half the price of an organic chicken, and the bones still make a good broth.
Getting apples from a farmer is great if one lives beside a farm. But if I have to get in a car and drive 50 kilometres, it’s not good for the environment.
Buying local is doable in the summer when we have access to more farmers markets. In the winter, not so much.
To each their own.
Elizabeth Thompson Oakville, Ont.
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