A little bigger
Jeffrey Simpson's explanation of Big and Little Canada (The Parochialism Of Little Canada Is Killing Us - Dec. 17), is a clear and succinct lesson for us all. We boast, as Big Canadians, about our Olympic champions, our world-beating hockey teams, our military sacrifices for peace and democracy, our world leaders in industry and technology, our oil, our wheat and our beautiful natural landscapes, but, in our heart of hearts, we are really "me" people; we are "Little."
This message should be required reading for all Canadians. Let's really try to be a little bigger.
Ross MacKinnon, Cambridge, Ont.
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Jeffrey Simpson makes a compelling case for Canada as a unitary state, or at the very least, for a stronger federal government.
Unfortunately, not since the days of John Diefenbaker, Tommy Douglas or Pierre Trudeau have our major federal parties articulated any vision of Big Canada.
Skip Sears, Toronto
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Endorsing WikiLeaks
I may be the only member of my former profession to utter this heresy. But, as a former ambassador to Pakistan, I will go out on a limb and do so - by solidly endorsing the WikiLeaks document dump.
For three reasons: First, for putting the lie to the positive government and media accounts of progress in Afghanistan over the past ten years, and revealing that we are in fact no closer to "winning" the war.
Second, for focusing attention on the issue of security, or lack of it. No electronic communication is perfectly safe. If there is one principal villain in the piece, it is the designer of a system that allowed this mass of information to fall so easily into unreliable hands. This should serve as a wake-up call.
Third, for highlighting the hypocrisy of both governments and mainstream media. Without the shameless collaboration of the media, there arguably would have been no leaks. Yet in the rush to hold a lynching party for Julian Assange, why has there been no attempt to hold to account the media who served as willing participants?
Yes, there are negatives in the situation. A certain degree of secrecy is necessary to honest and effective government. But secrecy that is used to keep ordinary people from the truth is an increasing cancer in democratic societies, including our own.
Bill Warden, Victoria
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Human smuggling?
Throughout the Cold War, people fled the communist world in their thousands, seeking to build new lives in the West. I doubt newspapers equated this mass movement with "human smuggling," even though escape from state communism often involved paying people to arrange the flight.
Yet human smuggling is precisely the label under which you report the dreadful shipwreck off the coast of Christmas Island in which at least 28 migrants from Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan have perished (A Deadly End To A Desperate Journey - Dec. 16). This is, of course, the preferred framing of governments like our own here in Canada. Could it be that politicians like Jason Kenney promote the language of human smuggling because it confers an aura of illegitimacy and criminality on the situation of refugees today?
William Walters, Ottawa
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Future of faith
I feel disappointment, resentment, sadness and a certain amount of vindication as I see more and more people leaving the church (Young Leading The March Toward Secularism - Dec. 15). But I don't think you should label these people as secular. I think that they are the true religious, the ones seeking order and meaning in their lives. I think the church dropped the ball, and has ceased to be a place of credible religious growth.
Rev. Carlton Brown, Hamilton
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Boomers, pro and con
Re What's The Matter With Kids Today? Well, No Jobs - Dec. 16.
Boomers are too busy racking up debt on vacations and expensive houses, and twentysomethings are too worried about surviving.
The kids are "surviving" by living in those whiny boomer households, expensive homes purchased with a basement bachelor pad for the grad students to crash in until they find their "dream job."
Those greedy, good-job hogging old fogies got into these positions by taking what they could get for work when they were young and building a résumé on a foundation of work ethic, not just fancy letters behind their names. Young people are pigeonholing themselves by applying only for work they want to do. The business grad marketing his odd-job business is not working below his connected area of study - he might just clean the gutters of an old boomer who knows of a job opening where he too can become established. We all had to start somewhere, even those boomers who are unfairly taking the blame.
Sarah Learmonth, Brockville, Ont.
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Gary Mason's article about how hard it is for graduates to get jobs hits the nail squarely on the head. Makes one wonder why we were all so excited a short time ago when government did away with compulsory retirement.
Danny Matenko, Toronto
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Borders
Continental security talks (Potential Border Deal Bound To Be Controversial - Dec. 16) are something to be anxious about and Canadians should be wary of the outcomes. It seems that a main reason for our politicians' interest is not really security but trade. A working free-trade agreement is certainly desirable as is a less difficult U.S.-Canada border, but not at the cost of having U.S.-style homeland security along our coasts and in our harbours. One can imagine that a U.S. government would soon have open naval access to the Northwest Passage and anywhere else they might fancy.
Robert Murray, London, Ont.
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The oil 'curse'
Deborah Read (Daybook - Business, Dec. 16) writes that as Ghana gears up for an oil boom, observers are asking whether it can avoid the oil curse. Apparently, reductionist logic has soundly concluded that oil production in Africa is responsible for the ills listed - armed conflict, corruption, etc. It appears that some of the observers cannot see a bright future for Africa, perhaps because that would signal the end of their careers in analyzing woes and conflicts.
Oil is not a curse on any nation, people or culture. The root causes of the ills listed are deeper than oil and the lack of oil is not a recipe for peace, stability and progress. I salute Ghana (the land of my birth) on this milestone, and in all endeavours to build a country of freedom and justice.
Kofi Agblor, Saskatoon
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Leaks to lobbyists
A few months ago, the Harper government was preventing testimony by junior staff before parliamentary committees on the grounds that MPs were responsible for justifying the actions of their employees. Now, the tables appear to be reversed (Aide Leaked Budget Files To 'Friends' He'd Tapped For Jobs - Dec. 15). Given the scale of the about-face, I'm reminded of the pithy wisdom dispensed by Sir Humphrey on the BBC program Yes, Minister: "You misunderstand, Bernard, the official secrets act isn't about protecting secrets but about protecting officials."
Atul Sharma, Montreal
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Ugggh!
Thanks for your insightful article on the brain's fear centre (Researchers Pinpoint Brain's Fear Centre - Dec. 17). At least I'm assuming it was insightful - the section is now lying across the room, where it landed after I screamed and threw it upon finding a huge photo of a t-t-t-t-tarantula staring out at me.
J-je-jennifer McIntyre, Toronto