Can you see the outline?
"The sacred puck," "the disc that made dreams come true," the Finnish linesman "hailed as a hero" for returning it (The Long Journey Of The Sacred Puck - March 18). If there were even a hint of irony in these gushing words, they'd be unexceptional. But they appear to be sincere.
It won't be too long before someone sees the face of Jesus or the Virgin Mary in that rubbery relic.
Geoff Rytell, Toronto
Dressing down sartorial reach
By the logic of your confusing editorial (Values, But Not Rights - March 18), why not eliminate all dress standards in society? Would you argue that Saudi Arabia should allow Canadian women wearing mini-dresses to visit Mecca? Or that high school students in Toronto should be allowed to attend class in Nazi uniforms? The reality is that all societies and cultures - let alone states - impose "sartorial reach" norms on their members. Why single out only Quebec (and by extension Canadian) norms of dress? And by the way, what does any of this have to do with immigrants' "wage gap"?
Ron Freedman, Toronto
A publishing, not retail, issue
Letter writer Peter Miasnikof says that Canadians are being gouged on book prices (Make Book On It - letters, March 18). He may be right, but this isn't a retail issue, it's a publishing issue. Consider Alice Munro's book Too Much Happiness. Both Amazon.com and Chapters.Indigo.ca discount the list price by 34 per cent. However, the book is published in the U.S. by Knopf with a list price of $25.95, while in Canada, McClelland & Stewart set the list price at $32.99. You may still want to call it "gouging" (or is it "what the market will bear"?), but before launching that arrow, at least make sure it's pointing in the right direction.
Paul McFedries, Toronto
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Regarding Peter Miasnikof's price comparisons, the reasonable comparison is Amazon.ca, not Amazon.com, to Chapters.ca. The Canadian publishing industry, including bookstores, suffers huge economic disadvantages as a result of our neighbour to the south. What other country has a publishing competitor so close? This is why we have to protect all aspects of our culture in Canada.
Wendy McPeake, Ottawa
Questioning the questions
Nice try by Preston Manning. So we left-of-centre types don't know it, but we're actually Conservatives ( The Blueing And Greening Of The Political Centre - March 17)? I'm afraid many of us are too sophisticated to pay attention to yet another poll because we know the answers hinge largely on the questions' wording.
The Manning centre asked pollsters to look at the extent to which Canadian values are "in alignment with conservative values and policies." If the Social Public Democratic Union (SPDU; I made that up, but note how it balances this discussion) made a similar request for pollsters to evaluate Canadians' "alignment with social/liberal sentiments," we can be sure of different conclusions. Just to be clear: These are my opinions, likely shared by 80 per cent of centre-left thinkers, 19 times out of 20.
Robert V. Harrison, Toronto
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The Manning centre's questionnaire is a study in the use of "wishful" questions designed to illicit the response desired by the questioner. I wonder whether the centre would consider the following questions as candidates for a public opinion poll:
Instead of "nothing is more important than family" (agree or disagree), how about "family is one of many valuable institutions";
Instead of "marriage, by definition, is between a man and a woman," try "the right to celebrate monogamy through civil union should be shared by all Canadians, regardless of creed";
Instead of "abortion is morally wrong," try "it is not the responsibility of governments to adjudicate controversial ethical debates" or "the sanctity of personal freedom is more important than the institutionalization of one or another moral code not shared by all citizens";
Instead of "learn from what worked in the past to solve problems," try "it is better to adapt to reality than to stubbornly cling to outmoded beliefs";
Instead of "better to implement small changes than all at once," try "if changes need to be made, better to act quickly than to be reactionary."
Morgan Tait, Toronto
If Solomon drove a snowmobile
I suspect The Globe received many letters such as the one from Ian Guthrie (Another Kind Of Adrenalin Rush - March 17) suggesting we should not be collectively paying the medical costs of snowmobilers injured in last weekend's avalanche. My initial reaction was agreement, but where do we draw the line?
Drinking and driving involves a high risk of being involved in an "accident." There is much evidence of a high risk of developing lung cancer if one is a smoker. Heart disease and some forms of diabetes appear to be related to what one eats. These activities all involve some form of willing action on the part of the individual.
It is going to take a Solomon to determine where one should draw the line on forcing people to pay for their own acts of carelessness.
Wayne Brown, Nanaimo, B.C.
Saskatchewan vacation
What's wrong with Saskatchewan for a vacation (Betty - Comics, Review, March 18)? Tell Betty to get a seat in Mosaic Stadium when the Riders are at home; tell her to head to the Qu'Appelle Valley; tell her to take in a boating competition on Wascana Lake; tell her to take in an Arabian horse show, or visit one of the fine art galleries in Regina and Saskatoon.
Not being from there, but having been there, I can say there's nothing like it on the Prairies.
Marianne Orr, Brampton, Ont.
Contraception divide
The government is trying to get to the roots of health-care problems in developing countries ( Anti-Contraception Policy Sparks Uproar - March 18). Infant health care, nutritional advances and clean water are essential, and we should try to ensure every society has these. Contraception is not essential in the same way, and should not be included.
The article states critics accuse the government of "infecting Canadian foreign policy with right-wing religious conservatism." Is "infecting" meant to suggest religious conservatism (whatever that means) is a disease? Your editorial, Contraception and Mothers' Lives (March 18), refers to "extremely conservative voters" who oppose birth control. Such rhetoric and reductionism are unwarranted. Many disagree with abortion and euthanasia (right wing?) but support essential, universal health care (left?). It's never that simple.
As for the vapid comment that some women believe religious and/or socially conservative women "should be confined to Tea Parties and Fox News," I will confine myself to pointing out that many of us prefer coffee.
Moira McQueen, executive director, Canadian Catholic Bioethics Institute
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It has always struck me that perhaps the only common ground that exists between the pro-choice and anti-abortion movements should be that we all should be huge supporters of giving women access to effective contraception. All that placard waving and harassment of women facing a difficult choice could be channelled so much more effectively. Evidence-based sexual health education and access to contraception clearly will lower abortion rates.
Lawrence Cannon and the government are appallingly dismissive and ignorant of women's health, if they think they can ignore contraception in their plight to save women's lives.
M. Cole, MD, Iqaluit
New workplace realities
I was struck by Barbara Moses's characterization of the workplace ( Role Call: It's Tougher To Be A Manager Now - March 18). The article focused on the plight of the modern manager, as opposed to the opportunities presented by the new reality. Instead of focusing on how difficult it is to manage demanding employees (I think she confuses leadership and management), Ms. Moses could have written about how the workplace is changing. How the old-fashioned view that people check their personalities and stresses at the door is no longer legitimate and that managers must understand this.
That actually keeping up with the times means that one may see benefits to people being real people at work. That by recognizing that the eight hours a day we spend together can be spent growing, learning and supporting each other.
And that a workplace can be both caring and very productive if managers just recognized their employees' humanity as part and parcel of their talents. The world has changed. Employees act differently (not worse or better), and managers should cotton on to this and manage accordingly.
Andrew Woodall, Montreal
Blogosphere is pink and blue
Research, most notably by the Pew Institute, has consistently shown that adult bloggers are equally likely to be men or women and that among youth, more girls than boys are blogging ( Why Are Bloggers Male? - March 18).
There is no evidence that women, and in particular young women, "lack the confidence to express themselves in public" - at least when that public is online.
Matthew Johnson, Ottawa
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When it comes to MAS (male answer syndrome), Red Green said it best: "Those three little words men find so hard to say: I don't know."
Giselle Déziel, Cornwall, PEI