Politicians and tax collectors
The harmonized sales tax (HST) isn't even implemented yet and Ontario taxpayers are already going to be out of pocket for millions of dollars ( HST Carries A Bonus For Ontario Tax Collectors - March 12). Paying 1,200 public-sector employees as much as $45,0000 each for moving desks is just ridiculous. Only politicians could make such an agreement and then not reason with their employees that this situation isn't really a severance matter. At least B.C. politicians made the better decision, refusing to pay - and helped highlight the stark incompetence of our Ontario politicians.
Amar Kumar, Burlington, Ont.
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Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty plans to provide windfall severances of lottery-win proportions to provincial sales tax (PST) collectors who will never experience unemployment as they transition from PST collection to collecting the HST.
He should cancel these unnecessary payouts and redirect these funds to help those who truly need it.
Nick Ouzas, Stittsville, Ont.
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Please, please - Gordon Campbell for premier of Ontario, although fat chance British Columbians would trade him for Dalton McGuinty. At a time when so many Ontarians are unemployed in our faltering economy, our Premier's Finance Minister can do no better than say it's "part of the collective agreement" and agree to meekly fork over $25-million in severance pay for people who have not lost their jobs. By all means, pay severance - but only when people are let go. This could never have been in the spirit of the agreement. Disgusting.
Jane Gibb, Hamilton, Ont.
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If I weren't afraid of the PC police, that line about inmates and the asylum would come to mind. As it is, I'll settle for asking what rabbits in what Ontario politicians' heads are pulling what levers? Carl Sandburg was prescient: "All politicians should have three hats - one to throw into the ring, one to talk through, and one to pull rabbits out of if elected."
Bob Saunders, Vancouver
Which way the wind's blowing
It's true Canada is the only industrialized country without a national plan to deploy renewable energy ( Budget 'Walks Away' From Renewable Energy, Environmentalist Says - March 11). There was, however, a far greater environmental outrage in last week's federal budget. Future energy projects will no longer be assessed by the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency. Instead, environmental assessments will be undertaken by either the National Energy Board or the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.
This creates a reasonable apprehension of bias. These institutions, in a very real sense, are an extension of industries they are intended to regulate. On Wednesday, the National Energy Board gave us a glimpse of what this will mean to environmental protection when it rejected the bulk of the 176 recommendations of the Joint Review Panel on the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline.
Late last year, Sierra Club Canada released a report on the growing amount of radioactive tritium finding its way from nuclear power plants into our drinking water. The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission issued a press release calling the report "junk science." A few weeks later, 200,000 litres of tritium-contaminated water leaked from the Darlington Nuclear Power Plant.
John Bennett, executive director, Sierra Club Canada
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You report that on a windy day, Spain generates up to 40 per cent of its energy from wind power, a level that some environmentalists might wish us to emulate.
You should also be aware, however, that Spanish wind farms cause massive mortality rates among large birds of prey, such as vultures and eagles - a slow-reproducing group of birds already threatened by many other causes. Bottom line, nothing in the environment is as simple as it seems, and all technologies have their drawbacks. Beware the quick politically correct fix.
David Brewer, Puslinch, Ont.
More February, anyone?
This week, the eastern sky was just starting to get light as I walked my dogs at 6 in the morning. Next week, it will be pitch dark. Daylight saving time provides Canadians what we really don't need - more February.
Simon Renouf, Edmonton
Headshots keep on hurting
Your editorial, Some Brain. Some Trust (March 11), was well taken. As a "hockey doc" for 13 years, I looked after many problems and injuries experienced by hockey players with the Kamloops junior hockey team. I was also associated with midget hockey teams.
The problem lies with the leagues, coaches and management. Until Canada's courts are involved, "head shots" will continue. The present sad outcome is that some great athletes, suffering repeated concussions, can later become "punch drunk" (dementia pugilistica).
Sterling Haynes, MD, West Kelowna, B.C.
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Head injuries also have psychiatric sequelae. Beyond the transient and chronic post-concussive symptoms that your readership needs to be reminded of, are the following: slowed thinking, impulsivity, depression, sleep disorders, personality changes, increased frustration, increased propensity for substance and alcohol use and significant effects on their caregivers. The full impact of head injuries needs to be presented, and not merely those risks that the NHL wants to discuss.
Shree Bhalerao, psychiatrist, Toronto
Good for Brazil
A decade ago, Ecuador was faced with the European Union illegally flouting a WTO judgment, hurting Ecuador's banana industry to the tune of some $200-million ( Canada's Example - editorial, March 12). Ecuador proposed retaliatory limits on European intellectual property, such as copyrights and alcohols (e.g. champagne).
The EU responded to the sabre rattling by returning to the bargaining table, where it at last agreed to compensate Ecuador.
You are shortsighted to call it "worrisome" that trade laws are enforced this way. It would be far more worrisome if the rich and powerful - the U.S. or EU - could break the law with impunity, for that would spell the end of the world order in global trade. Apart from Brazil, the other countries harmed by America's massive subsidies to its cotton farmers include some of the world's poorest and weakest in Africa.
Bravo to Brasilia for policing the rule of law, where Washington is all too happy to ignore it.
Amir Attaran, Ottawa
One grave, two graves, three …
After reading Sarah Hampson's piece on revenge after divorce ( If Only - Life, March 12), I am reminded of the old proverb: "When setting out on a path of revenge dig two graves - one for your enemy and one for yourself." If children are involved, I suggest adding another grave for your relationship with them.
Peter Keleghan, Toronto
Fizzzzzzzzz and ka-ching
Bring on the junk-food tax ( 10% soda pop tax, 7% fewer calories - March 12). It belongs with the other sin taxes. Pop adds zero nutrition and we'd all be better off without it - with the possible exception of a rum and cola. We tax the heck out of alcohol, so why not the mix, too?
Fizzzzzzzzz, ka-ching. Government should put that extra ca-ching from hefty new junk-food taxes toward school nutrition programs.
Jane Dillon, Calgary
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Obesity is a serious and complex problem and not the result of consuming any one food or beverage.
Also, it is difficult to draw a conclusion about the Canadian market based on U.S. data when the consumption of soft drinks in Canada is only around half that of the average U.S. consumption (93 litres per capita in 2008 in Canada, versus 180 litres per capita in the U.S.).
Soft drinks contribute less than 2.5 per cent of a Canadian's average daily calorie consumption. The volume of regular (i.e. caloric) soft drinks sold in Canada has dropped more than 21 per cent from 1999 to 2008, with annual per capita consumption down from 90 litres in 1999 to 66 litres in 2008.
Education focused on encouraging moderation and a healthy, active lifestyle, not taxation, is the key to improving public health and to addressing issues like obesity.
Justin Sherwood, president, Refreshments Canada
The puck stops here
Before VANOC and the Hockey Hall of Fame "drop the gloves" over the final resting place for Sidney Crosby's golden puck, I'd like to suggest that the puck should be displayed at the Museum of Civilization, along with many other iconic Canadian cultural masterpieces ( VANOC Balks At Giving Up Sid's Puck - Sports, March 12). We, the taxpayers, have footed the bill for the Olympics - we deserve to have the winning-goal puck preserved as a national historical treasure in a setting that celebrates the uniqueness of Canadian culture.
Gord Brady, Whitby, Ont.
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So they found Sidney Crosby's gold-medal glove in another player's equipment bag that hadn't been opened since the Olympics.
If it smells anything like my hockey gear after sitting in my bag for a week or two, I hope someone gives it a good airing.
Chris Sasaki, Toronto