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Dead. Lines drawn
Once again, Canada finds itself embroiled in a debate where one side is determined to coerce the other to its point of view (Going Down To The Wire, June 1).
Those in favour of assisted dying wouldn't dream of forcing those who oppose it to die that way. Indeed, they feel doctors should not be compelled to participate against their will and that patients should be free to choose a prolonged, physically and mentally agonizing, dehumanizing death if that's their wish.
When it comes to ironing out the details of Bill C-14, it is painful to watch the powers that be struggle to reinvent the wheel, with worse to come when debate begins in the Senate.
Jo Balet, Mississauga
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Housing conflicts
Re Time To Tackle Real Cause Of Rising Prices (June 1): The flood of Chinese money into Canadian housing isn't the real cause of rising prices, despite Jeffrey Simpson's assessment.
It is simply a byproduct of housing policy that treats housing as a core middle-class investment that happens to provide a place to live as a side benefit. Want to buy a $2-million home in Vancouver? Say the interest on the money borrowed to do it costs you about $70,000 a year. If prices rise a modest 7 per cent a year, you could easily see the property's value double over ten years. Not too shabby.
While individually we want single family homes that are spacious, comfortable and highly lucrative as an investment, collectively we claim to want housing that is efficient, cheap and in vibrant neighbourhoods. The result is utterly contradictory policies. We endorse city planning that pursues dense urban development, at the same time insisting on tax and zoning policies that promote and protect the type of home most likely to appreciate in (tax-free) value – a single family home on a good-sized lot.
Michael Poulton, Halifax
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I could not agree more with Jeffrey Simpson about accommodation that is sitting vacant. The provinces need to step up to the plate with legislation. Young people, first-time buyers and low-income families in our cities (including Victoria) are struggling to find suitable housing.
Tom Ferris, Victoria
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Re Regulator Feels Heat To Curb Real Estate Misconduct (June 1): Misconduct indeed. The B.C. government has taken a soft approach to the real estate crisis.
It should enact an immediate freeze on all foreign real estate transactions; all pending deals should be reviewed and recommendations made on regulating the market. Then only should the real estate market become free again.
Robert Milan, Victoria
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Rush? What rush?
Minister of Democratic Institutions Maryam Monsef has said nothing new about wanting broad support for electoral reform. House Leader Dominic LeBlanc said on Dec. 10 that changing the electoral system should be done by consensus, or with broad support in Parliament, not just by one party.
What "rush" is there that "needs to be slowed down" as your editorial suggests? Since this House first met Dec. 3, six months have passed. It's high time that the members of Parliament's multiparty committee get named and get started.
Wilfred Day, national secretary, Fair Vote Canada; Port Hope, Ont.
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In all of ? command
Whatever the merits of the current proposal to change the words of O Canada again, it is interesting to note John Kenneth Galbraith's report concerning the status of the anthem in his Southwestern Ontario schoolhouse during and after the First World War years (Inoffensive Version – editorial cartoon, June 1).
In The Scotch, his lively account of growing up near Dutton, he says the school day began with the singing of God Save the King and The Maple Leaf Forever. He explains that "The more or less official anthem was O Canada but at this time there was still grave uncertainty as to the words."
The words have been changed since; it is somehow comforting to know they may change again, keeping up the uncertainty that prevents us from belting them out in the sad fashion of more nationalistic peoples elsewhere.
Jim Davies, London, Ont.
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Why not change the words to "in all our girls command" for a while, so we men might better understand why women are so concerned? We'd soon be clamouring for "in all of us" command.
Jim Reynolds, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont.
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Since the lyrics of O Canada are being discussed in Parliament, maybe we can revive the old proposal to change "our home and native land" to "our home and Natives' land."
Walter Schwager, Toronto
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May I suggest "in all our hearts command," rather than "in all of us"?
This would, of course, leave untouched the problematic wording of the French-language version, but that's another story.
Peter Davison, Dundas, Ont.
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Elbowgate-gate
Re Inquiry Into Trudeau 'Elbowgate' Tussle Dropped (June 1): This was a serious breach of parliamentary protocol. Saying "sorry" does not begin to excuse such un-statesmanlike behaviour.
Justin Trudeau should have been called to account and officially censured.
Anna George, Regina
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I'm confused. When our former sergeant-at-arms, Kevin Vickers, now Ambassador to Ireland, grabbed an interloper, some hailed him as a hero for drawing from his past experience.
But when our Prime Minister, acting on his teacher training, strode confidently forward to assist a member through a horde of schoolyard bullies, he had to apologize?
Okay, the F-word was unnecessary. But how about some contrition from the bullies? And, if one got elbowed, lesson learned: Don't block the floor.
Patricia Corbett Bowman, Surrey, B.C.
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Shoegate was a hard day for me (The Elbowgate Apology And The Impact Of Despised Buzzwords – May 25). When I was five, my feet didn't fit fully into my shoes ss I didn't notice that I was wearing my shoes on the wrong feet. My classmates noticed, and that day stained my reputation like raspberries on a bib.
In junior high, Jaredgate didn't make class any easier; someone called me Jared and I didn't correct him for a week.
Then, please don't bring up the time I tried and failed to jump over a three-foot fence. My crush swung open the fence and walked through it, giggling down at me. We all remember where we were during the tragedy of Gategate. How could we forget?
It's fun to enlarge non-events with "-gate." But this shamelessly somnambulant practice has become its own disappointment, which future historians can only reasonably refer to as a post-Watergategate. So please, journalists, consumers and countrywomen: Say no to the suffix.
Jesse Shulman, Toronto