The PM and his merry band
Last time I checked, Stephen Harper is still an MP ( MP Expense Audit Not My Call, Harper Says - May 21). Last time I checked, he's also still the leader of his merry band of fellow MPs, and still the Prime Minister, Canada's leader, one who campaigned strongly on providing accountability. Last time I checked, leadership implies leading, not passing the buck and sticking one's head in the sand.
Erik Dravnieks, Ottawa
Scene and herd in Ottawa
Preston Manning ( Our Unruly Question Period - May 21) says we might take a leaf from the British House of Commons. Having watched the British question period on television, I much prefer our format. I see the British PM answering all questions, as if he is omniscient, which he isn't. Members have to jump up and down to be recognized.
Our House is lively, which beats staid. Sometimes, questions have contained remarks verging on insults, something governments present and past have been able to handle. A few improvements might be in order, otherwise, as long as they don't come to blows, I'm not worried
James Marvin, Toronto
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The cure for our dysfunctional Commons is simple: Unplug the TV cameras.
Nick Cooper, Toronto
Going-going-gone research
The government is spending a huge amount of money ($190-million) on a very small number of scientists (19) at a time when Canadian scientists are losing research funds on a scale never seen before ( When Science Gets Political, Long-Term Knowledge Is Lost - May 21).
The Discovery Grants program of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council provides operating research funds to academic scientists. This program is their most important, and often, only source of research funds. The latest statistics from NSERC give a clear picture of what is really happening to scientists and scientific research in this country.
From a high in 2002, success rates have dropped 24-, 31- and 34-per-cent at large, medium and small universities, respectively. This year alone, 542 established researchers had their grants cut to zero. Over the same period, average grant size has dropped roughly 5 per cent. One of the combined effects of this is to greatly limit opportunities for undergraduate and graduate training. This is hardly consistent with the government's stated objective of investing in innovation and making Canada scientifically competitive.
To put this latest investment into perspective, the annual Discovery Grants budget is just over $400-million and funds 10,000 scientists. Our government has just invested half that amount in 19 scientists. While recruitment of top foreign scientists is laudable, it is time our government made a more balanced investment in Canadian scientists, too.
Peter W. Dibble, associate professor of chemistry, University of Lethbridge
Not loss, just gain
The recruitment of two international stars - virologist Michael Houghton and diabetes researcher Patrik Rorsman - indeed makes us feel we have signed "Crosby and Ovechkin" ( Brash Canada Is Back - May 19).
Professors Rorsman and Houghton are joining formidable teams. Diabetes research at the University of Alberta has a proud history dating to the 1920s when U of A biochemist John Collip played a key role in the development of insulin. More recently, a team in the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry pioneered islet transplantation, a revolutionary treatment known worldwide as the Edmonton protocol.
Prof. Houghton was a key part of the team that discovered the hepatitis C virus in the 1980s. Here, he will join several recognized hep experts, including Dr. Lorne Tyrrell, who developed the first treatment for hepatitis B, now being used in more than 200 countries.
Our recruitment of these scientists should not be seen as another country's loss. It is about building on our strengths to achieve better health outcomes for the world's people.
Philip N. Baker, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, University of Alberta
Much ado about Munsch
Judith Timson rightly applauds the courage of the great Robert Munsch, who recently revealed serious substance abuse and mental health problems. The headline and display text of the article ( Munsch's Confession Is No Outrage - Life, May 21), alas, do not. Words such as "outrage" and "shock" feed into old stereotypes. How about a title like "The genius Munsch has persevered, despite serious health problems" or "Munsch's great talent even more impressive in the face of serious health issues" or "Bravo, Robert. We will love you forever."
Janet Durbin, Toronto
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Although it may not be an "outrage," it is very sad that the formulaic drivel, screamed by Robert Munsch, is given credence in children's literature; there are so many authors, Canadian and otherwise, who write valuable, poetic, artistic prose for our young and vulnerable scholars. For Judith Timson to support Mr. Munsch's manic driven toilet humour is unfortunate. By all means, read to your children 15 minutes a day, and support Robert Munsch's recovery, but just don't call what he writes, "classic." Ask your local librarian to help you make sage and lasting choices.
Jane Crist, teacher-librarian, Toronto
Degrees of democracy
There is no such thing as a little more, or a little less, democracy ( For An Electoral System That Works, We Should Look Down Under - May 21). You have it or you don't. Canada doesn't, and neither does Australia.
With the alternative vote, as Jeffrey Simpson advocates, half the electorate of Canada would continue to experience taxation without representation. With an elected Senate, the already undemocratic authority of the Canadian federal state would be more fractured than it is already.
John Deverell, Pickering, Ont.
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Jeffrey Simpson should have talked about New Zealand - a stable democracy that replaced first-past-the-post with a proportional voting system where all significant parties are represented in Parliament. As for his assertion that "a PR system in both houses would be a recipe for endless deadlock and inertia," Mr. Simpson ignores the many decades of stable PR government in Germany.
Bruce Budd, Toronto
Where is it coming from?
The federal Conservatives are set to legislate a crime agenda that will cost billions of dollars to enforce ( The Cost Of Crime: Provinces Fear Financial Repercussions Of Crime Bills - May 21). It's been suggested that the Liberals have not questioned this spending for fear of being labelled "soft on crime." What nonsense. Where do the Conservatives propose the money will come from? Do the Conservatives propose to be soft on health care? Soft on education? Soft on combatting poverty? Soft on care for the elderly and vulnerable? Soft on promoting and protecting Canadian farmers and manufacturers? All of the above?
Josh Fisher, Montreal
Actions are scarier than words
Maria Olaguera is concerned about people of faith not being able to exercise their free speech ( Alarmed, On Both Sides - letters, May 21). It is not what they say that we fear, but what they are capable of doing. If history has taught us anything, it is that when people of faith wield power, those of us without suffer. My atheist prayer is: "Dear Jesus, please protect us from your followers."
Tony Matthews, Kingston, N.S.
Let's hear it for soundproofing
As an investor in Cineplex Galaxy Income Fund, I welcome bigger screens and comfy seats to keep the public coming. (Cineplex Plans Bigger Screens, Enhanced Sound - Report on Business, May 20). I am mystified, however, by the need for enhanced sound. It seems that every time I'm enjoying a film, I'm disturbed by the booming coming through the walls of the adjacent theatre. Wouldn't better soundproofing be the enhancement of choice?
Diane Dale, Victoria
A forest is more than trees
Professional forester Tom Griffiths ( Forest Gumption - letters, May 20) suggests that because young trees absorb more carbon than old trees, logged forests are better at carbon sequestration than old, protected forests. There is more to carbon sequestration than uptake of carbon dioxide and more to a forest than individual trees.
Carbon sequestration is the difference between biomass production and decomposition. Biomass production requires water, nutrients and light. Logging makes the first two less available: Disturbed soil retains less water, while nutrients are either washed away, or removed from the forest inside the tree logs. New forests are also less effective in capturing the sun's energy, as they have fewer layers of leaves and more gaps in the canopy. That's why old forests are darker - not much light is left unused there. On the decomposition side, logged forests are inferior, too: Logging exposes large reservoirs of "old" carbon, previously locked in forest litter and soil, to decomposition and release into the atmosphere.
Piotr Trela, St. John's
If the lips move ...
It seems Israeli scientists have developed a computer algorithm to detect sarcasm ( Social Studies - May 21). From my experience with Tel Aviv and New York, in both locales, a simple detection of any motion of the lips would be sufficient.
Eric Mendelsohn, Toronto