Prime Minister Mark Carney is prepared to discipline anyone unable to meet his expectations, government and Liberal insiders say.DAVE CHAN/AFP/Getty Images
What next?
Re: “What was the point of the conflict in Iran? To keep three men in power” (June 26): With no military provocation or threat, the United States bombed another sovereign state, ostensibly to achieve a political objective. I do not believe the end (which is salutary) justifies the means.
It is questionable whether the end was achieved. Neither NATO, which has praised this flagrant violation of international order, nor Canada should condone such conduct.
It is gunboat diplomacy and should play no part in a rational approach to resolving world issues.
Edward Chiasson Vancouver
If – a big if – the U.S. bombing of Iran’s nuclear resources succeeds, the world would indeed be safer and in debt to Donald Trump.
Mideast activities over the past months have been more than worrisome. So many players have created a boiling stew of terror and terrorism.
So perhaps that Nobel Peace Prize citation should be dusted off.
Martin Pick Peterborough, Ont.
Before and after
Re “Where’s the economic calculus in Canada’s bold new defence pivot?” (June 25): It may be difficult to believe that the hundreds of billions of dollars this will cost is only “an ounce of prevention,” but Canada should not hesitate to spend five per cent of GDP on defence.
There are known belligerent aggressors in the world today. Our basic beliefs in peace, freedom and democracy are at risk like at no time since the 1930s.
There is no point building new universities, highways, subways, housing or arts centres if the very essence of our – or our friends’ – way of life is so directly threatened. In these most troubling of times, we could call military spending the most important social security.
Nigel Smith Toronto
Performance management
Re “Carney ready to dismiss top bureaucrats unable to meet his expectations, Liberal insiders say” (June 25): I’ve known very few “lackadaisical deputy ministers.”
Typically, the job is 24/7 and requires deft management of employees, political imperatives and complex issues, not to mention protection of the public good. This can sometimes take longer than elected officials would like.
A good team of politicians and senior bureaucrats works together to find the sweet spot between balancing business efficiency and mitigating public harm. To suggest that he and his new Clerk of the Privy Council have inherited a team of deputy ministers that do not do this seems misleading.
Setting expectations is good; putting deputy ministers on alert, and telling them they’ll be fired if they don’t do as told as quickly as prescribed, rarely makes for an effective starting point for the deep partnership required to achieve results. Success requires all parties to know their job and to execute it well.
Let’s hope that’s what they do.
Shirley Phillips Toronto
It’s just outrageous: The audacity of one’s manager, even the Prime Minister, expecting his staff to be on time for meetings, no less also being prepared to speak to their expertise and, even more, respond to “probing questions.” Who does he think he is?
I recommend that one such area ripe for probing is how the expensive, grossly inefficient, duplicative and manual administrative mess of the Canadian Dental Care Plan exists. During the Prime Minister’s next dental visit, he should ask the dentist and administrative staff just how cumbersome, costly to them and capricious their and their patient’s end of the process is.
Dave Hutchison London, Ont.
Roadmap
Re “No more half measures: to get out of our growth rut, Canada needs radical tax reform” (Opinion, June 21): I don’t have a problem with radical tax reform. It is long overdue for every segment of society.
I do have difficulty with the premise that we should continually raise the standard of living and grow the economy. What growth really means is producing more “stuff” in an already overstuffed world.
We should persuade the population to buy less, purchase locally and live simpler and less-burdened lives. I see few winners and many losers in this profit-driven mindset. There is little evidence that having more increases quality of life or happiness.
Let’s think about how to reduce the power of tech giants that feed the frenzy. Let’s think about the insatiable appetite for rare minerals and the harm caused by mining them.
There’s a more sustainable path to travel other than toward a sixth extinction, the super highway on which we are moving at warp speed. Let’s take another road.
Peggy Smith Halifax
Re “Not that kind of tax reform” (Letters, June 25): A letter-writer takes columnist Andrew Coyne to task for promoting growth, citing climate change.
The way we measure growth and GDP counts shifts from fossil fuels and mitigation actions as growth. Averting and mitigating climate change would add to growth.
It is also suggested we further redistribute our wealth, which is diminishing in real terms per capita. We cannot distribute what we do not have.
As an entrepreneur turned angel investor, I believe funds working in the economy, invested and reinvested, create employment and lift people out of poverty. Let’s encourage that by not taxing funds until they are withdrawn for consumption.
Invest them, they appreciate tax-free. Take them out to buy a yacht, pay big taxes.
I think Mr. Coyne is on the right track.
Chris Stoate Oakville, Ont.
Medical pressure
Re “Family doctors won’t just appear in Canada – we have to prioritize training and supporting them” (Opinion, June 21): Not only does Canada have some of the world’s most difficult medical schools to enter, but the major entrance criteria may not have much to do with the qualities required to be a good family doctor.
Meanwhile the options for less demanding fields of so-called family medicine, such as hospitalists, addictions specialists or walk-in clinic physicians, are significantly less stressful, require significantly less administrative time and pay the same or more.
I was lucky to start and end my career in a large multispecialty clinic that handled the vast majority of my administrative duties for a small percentage of my income, but this is not an option for many small-town doctors.
As long as government doesn’t address these issues of physician supply, fair payment versus other physicians and a heavy administrative load, we will likely continue to have a shortage of family doctors providing comprehensive care.
David Barker MD (retired); Whitby, Ont.
Cliff notes
Re “Canada, prepare for a decade of thrift and lower living standards” and “CEO pay rose almost 20% last year as executives benefited from strong stock market” (Report on Business, June 23): Sometimes, you don’t even have to read the actual stories.
David Bright St. Catharines, Ont.
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