The West Pubnico Point Wind Farm in Lower West Pubnico, N.S. on Aug. 9, 2021.Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian Press
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Canada’s turn?
Re What The Resurrection Of Biden’s Climate Agenda Means For Canada (Report on Business, Aug. 13): The passage of a comprehensive climate change bill by the U.S. Congress puts Canada to shame. The Trudeau government has both the legal and political ability to do the same. The Supreme Court of Canada clearly ruled in 2021 that global warming is of national concern and therefore enables our government to pass legislation that encroaches on provincial jurisdiction. The NDP would surely support meaningful federal action on climate change. Given the unwillingness of provincial governments such as Ontario and Alberta to take action, the severity of crisis, and the fact that Canada is one of the worst global polluters, we need a comprehensive Canada-wide climate-change program. Given the leadership shown south of the border, it’s time for our government to show equal commitment and leadership.
Mundy McLaughlin Toronto
Canada’s efforts to fully decarbonize its electrical grid are threatened by Ontario’s plans to replace aging nuclear power plants with gas-fired. This prospect is particularly demoralizing to Ontarians wishing to get off gas by investing in heat pumps, induction stoves and electric vehicles. Canada must place a moratorium on any new fossil-fuel power plants – and exploration – and give muscle to its new pan-Canadian grid council. Ontario could import Quebec hydro and prioritize conservation efforts. For companies seeking to boost their sustainability cred, nothing says “Ontario: Open for Business” more than a clean energy grid.
Cheryl McNamara Toronto
Revisions and revisionism
Re Draft Speech Said Abuse Happened At Hands Of Ottawa: Documents (Aug. 11): The removal of the line from the speech by Carolyn Bennett, then minister of Crown-Indigenous relations, acknowledging that students experienced residential school trauma and abuse “at the hands of the government simply by attending school” is much less excusable than even many critically inclined readers might think. The typical reason given for this kind of redaction is the lawyerly claim that governments should not carelessly expose taxpayers to liability. But prime minister Stephen Harper already admitted in the 2008 apology that the federal government was at least partly responsible for student experiences of trauma and abuse. The 2015 Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report removed all possible grounds for lingering doubt among the uninformed. Further, Ontario, like some other provinces, has “Apology Act” legislation stating that apologies or expressions of regret cannot be used as evidence of responsibility or liability in civil proceedings. In this light, the “profound apologies” expressed in Ms. Bennett’s Ottawa speech on June 1, 2021, were the opposite of apologetic – an insidious case of residential schools denialism and revisionist history at work.
Matt James Department of Political Science, University of Victoria
Saving health care
Re Health Minister Doesn’t Rule Out Some Privatization Of Health Care Services (Aug. 11): The quality of Canada’s health care services would increase dramatically and the costs would decrease dramatically if we could have an open conversation on two topics. First, fear not a two-tier system. Dentistry, private schools and airplane seats are just a few situations where we all do just fine in a system that allows individuals to decide how much of their resources to allocate for a particular level of service. Second, Canadians have to shed the silly notion that changing our health care system means adopting the American system. In the myriad of global health care rankings, Canada and the United States (representing opposite approaches to healthcare funding) consistently rank somewhere north of the 20th position. Give me the system used by France, Holland, Finland or any of the other countries in the top 10 and we will be a happier and healthier country.
John P.A. Budreski Vancouver
Privatizing health care is not going to solve our problem; it will just create new ones including longer waits for those who cannot afford to pay or to purchase private health insurance. Public health care in Canada works. It might not be perfect, but everyone has access and there is no favouritism. If our provincial and federal politicians would stop their turf wars and focus on where the money is best spent and plan based on longer trends, we would not be in this bind.
David Bell Toronto
Curbing cars
Re Parks Are For People. Not Cars (Editorial, Aug. 12): It’s not just parks that are for people. Cities are for people. Not for cars.
By resisting the global winds of urban design progress, Toronto continues to fall behind its global competitors. Today’s emerging economic class is dominated by young, urban professionals whose lifestyles are dramatically less car-centric – yet our city continues to plan, build and regulate on the assumption that roads and neighbourhoods are built for cars.
Banning automobiles from our parks would, indeed, be an important but tiny step in the right direction. But if we summoned the courage to restrict car access to central urban areas, such as Yorkville, Kensington Market and Yonge Street south of Bloor in Toronto, we would finally be moving closer to par with so many smart, modern cities across the planet.
Andreas Souvaliotis Toronto
“Parks are for people” is a slogan, not a solution. Generations of permitted users of High Park’s ball diamonds, playing fields, pool, rink, tennis courts, playgrounds, allotments, picnic areas, zoo, gardens, museum, amphitheatre, and restaurant might agree. We are the ones hauling kids, ball bags, equipment, walkers, hampers and soil.
After 146 years, could the park stand some marked pedestrian crossings, better designed intersections, improved signage, traffic calming and transit access? Yes. Should we have to suffer the social media schmaltz, and plaints of the unpermitted and arriviste beneficiaries of a recently repaved PanAm race route? No.
Marshall Leslie Toronto
Democracy in cyberspace
Re Canadian Democracy Needs Something Better Than The House Of Commons (Opinion, Aug. 13): Great piece by Preston Manning on the need for fundamental changes to the House of Commons to make it more democratic. If Canada is to avoid sliding ever farther into the pit of partisan politics, a fresh approach like he outlines is required. Imagine, politicians working across party lines to find the best ideas – fancy that. For the record, I’ve voted Liberal most of my life but, owing to disillusionment for the reasons set out by Mr. Manning, I’ve been voting Green.
Glenn Booth Calgary
I was reading Preston Manning’s ideas about a “Democracy House,” an alternative to the dysfunctional House of Commons, nodding along. Then I came to the part about the members being “selected via social media” and the coffee sprayed out my nose. Mr. Manning proposes using the very thing significantly responsible for our democracy’s dysfunction?
Greg Schlitt Chilliwack, B.C.
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