Syria-bound?
Re Harper Seeks To Expand Mission To Syria (March 24): Syria and Iraq both have artificial boundaries that do not respect their diverse ethnic groupings, and governments that cannot control their territories.
Iraq seems likely to be trifurcated into a Shia southeast, Kurdish northeast and Sunni northwest. Syria is far more complex, with the competition for Most Brutal Faction threatening to surpass the inhumanity of most civil wars.
While the many protagonists fight it out, Canada would do better to exercise its humanitarian capacities and revive its neglected peacekeeping skills for future use.
Contrary to our government's chest-thumping righteous rhetoric, we are unlikely to influence centuries-old enmities (Shia/Sunni and Arab/Persian), especially when we have no clear endpoint and dubious allies.
David Palframan, Ottawa
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When Canada started bombing in Iraq, it was at the invitation of Iraq's government. Syria has not issued such an invitation: To commit Canada to a military undertaking there is a violation of that country's sovereignty.
For a Prime Minister who has often emphasized that he is guided by the rule of law – domestically and internationally – joining in what in my opinion are illegal air strikes in Syria is a grave departure and a mistake. Of the Western countries, only the U.S. has taken this unseemly path.
Vince Calderhead, Halifax
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The opposition has adopted a willful naiveté which they try to attribute to every noble motive in existence. Cowardice is still cowardice, and weakness earns attack and enslavement.
Brian Beckett, Nepean, Ont.
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This is different from the military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan; those actions were taken in co-operation with their governments. If Canada goes ahead with this bombing, how can we complain about Russian interventions in Ukraine, or any other acts of foreign aggression?
Douglas Campbell, Vancouver
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Here's hoping
As someone who recently lost his job of 16 years, I know precisely what I'm doing every morning – looking for work (Down For The Count – Sports, March 21).
Unlike NHLer Tom Sestito, I have yet to find a position that pays $850,000 a year to "clutch a Styrofoam cup and stare out at the snowbanks." I've got my fingers crossed, though.
Charles Veysey, Toronto
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'No-brainer?' Hardly
Where beer and wine should be sold in Ontario is not an all-or-nothing situation (Whose Round Is It? – letters, March 24). Quebec provides excellent evidence that a provincial control body (SAQ) can exist while wine is still available in alternate outlets. As for beer, well the Beer Store was a con by brewers from the start.
Ken Duff, Vankleek Hill, Ont.
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The Globe and Mail calls liquor marketing a "no-brainer" (How To Fix Ontario's Drinking Problem – March 23). However, most governments in the world struggle with the balance of liquor availability and legitimate access by responsible consumers.
The World Health Organization expends considerable effort researching and reporting on liquor use, abuse and the costs to society through lost productivity, domestic violence, crime, health problems and deaths. Alcoholic beverages are not just some other consumer product. Liquor control is a major responsibility of government. There is no simple solution.
In Alberta, privatization led to severe loss of control (with subsequent increased enforcement and policing costs), and loss of government revenue with no coincident lowering of prices.
The major liquor-control tools available to governments are limiting physical availability and increasing the price of the products. How these controls are implemented affects the net financial return to government, which offsets the social costs of liquor use.
Raise your hand if you think giving Target a nationwide monopoly would lead to higher profits and restricted sales.
That is the public mandate of liquor control.
Greg Flanagan, co-author, The Economic and Social Consequences of Liquor Privatization in Western Canada; author, Sobering Result: Liquor retailing in Alberta, Ten Years After Privatization
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Sounds Italian, eh
Re The Imitation Game: Italy Targets Canadian-Made 'Italian' Food (March 24): Canada has country-of-origin labelling laws for prepackaged foods. The products in question are simply Italian regional food; their names are not trademarks.
It would be naive of anyone, especially in our multicultural society, to assume that just because a product carries a foreign-sounding name, it is produced in a foreign country. No reasonable person who picks up a box of sushi in the market assumes it is imported straight from Japan.
Yvette Wolfe, Toronto
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Seeing red on Rouge
Re Political Games in the Park (March 21): Your editorial misses the mark by suggesting that the proposed Rouge National Urban Park could not be managed to prioritize nature conservation because of its urban setting.
The global standard and definition developed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) for all protected areas, urban or wilderness, requires that nature conservation be prioritized in their management. Canada helped develop this standard, yet Bill C-40 – the legislation that creates the federal park – falls considerably short, only requiring the minister to "take into consideration" park ecosystems and wildlife in the Rouge.
Prioritizing nature in the Rouge would not stop visitors from enjoying the place, farmers from continuing to farm, or municipalities from finding creative infrastructure solutions. It would just be a sensible, internationally accepted and effective approach to park management.
Stephen Woodley, former chief scientist, Parks Canada World Commission on Protected Areas, IUCN
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Ontario Economic Development Minister Brad Duguid is not playing politics, he is protecting Ontario's Greenbelt and Rouge Park legacies from a federal government with a record of undermining environmental policies, agreements and science.
The draft park management plan ignores Environment Canada's science-based recommendations for improving biodiversity, watershed health and Lake Ontario water quality.
Federal plans for Rouge Park would impede watershed improvement plans, increasing the risk of costly damage from flooding and pollution of Lake Ontario beaches and drinking water. Ontario is fully justified in refusing to transfer its Rouge Park lands to Parks Canada until Bill C-40 is strengthened to "meet or exceed" existing environmental policies.
Kevin O'Connor, president, Friends of the Rouge Watershed
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Hmm …
Re Driverless Car? It's Closer Than You Think (online, March 23): With all the talk about driverless cars, will that eliminate back-seat drivers, too? Just curious.
Eddy A. Elia, Vancouver