The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is calling on the big three telecoms to lower international roaming fees.The Globe and Mail
Blow over
Re “Helene, Milton and Hurricane Blowhard …” (Editorial Cartoon, Oct. 11): Kudos to David Parkins: Drawing Donald Trump as a giant hurricane spewing lies captures the political scene perfectly, and how damaging his rhetoric is to the world.
Hopefully these stormy times will subside.
Carol Ashwell Vancouver
Upside down
Re “An Unhealthy Debate: A needed dose of reality from Down Under” (Editorial, Oct. 8): I agree that we should be considering an alternative delivery system of health care, and Australia looks like a good model for us to study.
However, both Canada and Australia seem to wait until a patient is sick before acting. Bit late, don’t you think?
Neither system prioritizes preventive health care. Why?
Rick Walker Toronto
Australia has four doctors per 100,000 people, compared to Canada’s 2.8. Why the disparity?
Many of our qualified medical students left Canada to be educated in Australia. Then they established practices there and stayed, similarly to those Canadian doctors we lost to Ireland.
I find this arrogant system of Canadian medical education funding, which eliminates qualified applicants from here, leaves us bereft of care by our own citizens.
Anne Fraser The Blue Mountains, Ont.
A better way
Re “My Toronto transit ride shows why it’s not wrong to consider involuntary care for mental illness” (Oct. 5): Coercive treatment isn’t the solution for individuals who are ill or unhoused, who pose no danger to themselves or the public.
The real issue is chronic underfunding of mental health services and supportive housing. Rather than addressing these needs, Doug Ford is cutting essential services in Ontario such as supervised consumption sites and investing heavily in making beer inexpensive, aiding alcoholism. Meanwhile, affordable housing remains neglected.
At the federal level, political leaders like Pierre Poilievre seem to be doing their utmost to outcast and dehumanize persons who use substances and are unhoused, while in parallel they vote against social services that could provide meaningful support, such as pharmacare and dental care.
Nurses call for the immediate, substantive and sustained funding of community mental health, affordable and accessible housing and wraparound community-based support. Let’s stop targeting the vulnerable.
Let’s regain humanity and invest to help Ontario’s most vulnerable.
Doris Grinspun RN, O.Ont; CEO, Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario; Toronto
Doomed deals
Re “Doug Ford government unveils 95-year lease for waterfront spa at Ontario Place in Toronto” (Oct. 4): This is another debacle in the making and Ontarians are seemingly helpless to do anything about it.
Doug Ford seems oblivious to our concerns that this is an ill-conceived plan. I guess he wants to compete with Mike Harris for the worst deal inflicted on Ontario taxpayers by a premier.
Charles Campisi Oakville, Ont.
For the love of all things sacred, put Doug Ford’s name on something before he bankrupts the province with his quest for a gigantic legacy project. Make that at least two – I’m sure one is not enough.
Colleen Brzezicki Toronto
How much?
Re “CRTC calls on Big 3 telecoms to lower international roaming fees” (Online, Oct. 7): I recently returned from a trip to Morocco to find a $287 roaming charge.
Rogers makes it impossible for me to figure out how not to be charged, and subsequently enjoys revenue from seniors like myself. I called for help and was basically told, “Too bad.”
I have been a loyal Rogers customer for more than 40 years. Hopefully the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission can deal with this outdated monopoly, and help people like me who are on pensions.
Rhonda Cohen Toronto
Made in Canada
Re “A faith is on the edge of vanishing in Georgia after being exiled from Russia centuries ago” (Oct. 7): On a camping trip to Grand Forks, B.C. in the mid-1980s, I became quite interested in the Doukhobors, an ethnoreligious group of Russian origin, many of whom migrated to Western Canada in the late 19th century.
It was then that I started to collect Doukhobor furniture. The traditional simplistic forms, colours from natural resources and decorative motifs are practical and whimsical. The pieces are filled with craft that tells the story of this faith-based pacifist sect. My understanding is that their descendants in Canada number about 30,000.
Their 100-plus-year history in the Kootenay region includes radical protests and government intervention. A recommended book outlining this experience would be Negotiating Buck Naked: Doukhobors, Public Policy, and Conflict Resolution (2006) by Gregory Cran.
Debra Dolan West Vancouver
Look elsewhere
Re “The small Newfoundland town that seized its own church” (Oct. 5): I have little interest in any or all religions, but I am on the side of the congregation of the Holy Rosary Church in Portugal Cove South.
I think it is downright theft for the local diocese to offer this church for sale. The diocese might own it legally, but I believe in God’s eyes it belongs to the congregation.
Tell the archbishop of Newfoundland to get the money needed to pay for the sins of the Roman Catholic Church from the Vatican, which is vastly more wealthy than hard-working Newfoundlanders. No wonder people are leaving the church all over the world.
Barbara Adair Ottawa
In other words
Re “The Globe’s stars and dogs for the week” (Report on Business, Oct. 5) and “15 affordable long-term performers in the U.S. market” (Report on Business, Oct. 8): I was buoyed to read on Saturday the classification of Lockheed Martin as a “killing business.”
My optimism that this was the new standard term used by The Globe, however, was dashed on Tuesday when I read the old euphemism “defence.”
Weapons are designed and used to kill; it matters not who wields them.
Brooks Rapley Toronto
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