Letters to the Editor should be exclusive to The Globe and Mail. Include your name, address and daytime phone number. Try to keep letters to fewer than 150 words. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. To submit a letter by e-mail, click here: letters@globeandmail.com
................................................................................................................................
PMOs and power
It is becoming clear that Canadian PMOs, of whatever political stripe, operate under two rules:
1) If there is a stench coming from any part of the party in power, stanch it, by whatever (more or less) legal means possible;
2) On no account should the PM be apprised of the means being used. "Deniability" must be maintained.
As the man said: Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Jean Wiseman, Vancouver
.........
Re Tories Aim To Revive Tough-On-Crime Legislation (Aug. 19): Given the latest revelations, they might consider starting with the PMO.
John Uren, Powell River, B.C.
.........
Senators: the chosen
Jeffrey Simpson asks about the current status of the investigation of Pamela Wallin, another suspended senator (A Trip Through The Maze Of Improbabilities – Aug. 19).
According to a CP article, published online by The Globe and Mail: "The suspensions of Pamela Wallin, Mike Duffy and Patrick Brazeau would end as soon as Prime Minister Stephen Harper asks for Parliament to be dissolved, setting off the federal election campaign. Wallin would be entitled not only to her salary, but would also regain access to other perks, including her office budget and expenses" (Election Call Will See Senate Suspensions Of Duffy, Wallin And Brazeau End – July 31).
Sigh. Words fail me.
Ann Lawson, Nanoose Bay, B.C.
.........
Senators: not chosen
News stories about the Senate suggest that our elected leaders have not always made wise choices when appointing senators. Watching elected representatives in the House of Commons, it would seem that voters do not always make wiser choices. Why not resolve this problem with a bias-free selection method?
A Senate composed of citizens, selected for a single, four-year term by lottery. No expensive election campaigns, no party affiliations, no pensions. To be eligible, citizens must vote in all municipal, provincial and federal elections for four years.
Employers would provide un-paid leave so selected citizens could return after their Senate experience. Imagine the diverse knowledge and skills Citizen Senators would bring to the Senate. Imagine the experience and knowledge they would take back to their jobs and communities.
We could all win.
M.I. Waller, Hudson, Que.
.........
Wynne on the attack
Re Wynne Breaks Ranks With Premiers In Campaigning Hard For Trudeau (Aug. 19): Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne is playing a dangerous game by attacking Stephen Harper (and Thomas Mulcair).
In the last provincial election, only some 20 per cent of eligible voters (39 per cent of a 52-per-cent turnout) voted Liberal.
Her job once elected is to represent the interests of all Ontarians. How can she do that if she goes out of her way to antagonize the leaders of two of the three main federal parties? She should take a page out of Alberta Premier Rachel Notley's book and defend herself when attacked – but otherwise bite her tongue.
Michael McLachlan, Toronto
.........
Ontario has already voted in favour of Kathleen Wynne's platform, which Stephen Harper is actively campaigning against in this federal election.
Isn't it about time someone called out a Prime Minister who has long neglected the voters of Ontario? One who won't meet with Canada's premiers and yet foists important national issues, like climate change and the future of First Nations, onto provincial governments?
Most people would agree that all three levels of government working together could accomplish more on behalf of Canadian taxpayers. How a national leader can continue to adopt a divisive, confrontational approach to the challenges we face is beyond me.
Ms. Wynne is fighting for a better working relationship with our next federal government and defending the path Ontario voters have already chosen.
Jill Fairbrother, Toronto
.........
The opioid surge
Re Alternative Opioids Surge In Wake Of Oxycodone Crackdown (Aug. 19): The causes of addiction are not the drugs; they are emotional pain, social isolation and existential emptiness.
Cut off a person's access to one drug, and their hurt heart will turn to other means to feel better, if only for a short while. Sadly, this fact is not well known in the general population, in government, or in the medical community, as even forward-looking medical schools in Canada teach their charges very little about addiction medicine. Facing one's personal pain, learning how to connect with others, and finding meaning and purpose can address the roots of addiction, rather than only its symptoms.
Conrad Sichler, MD, family medicine, addiction medicine; Burlington, Ont.
.........
There are only two ways of reducing or eliminating prescription narcotic abuse and subsequent addiction. The first is to stop the production of oral narcotics by the drug companies and have intravenous forms available only at acute-care hospitals. The second is to stop physicians from writing narcotic prescriptions to ambulatory patients.
The easiest, quickest way to get a patient complaining of pain out of a doctor's office is to have the doctor write a quick prescription and say goodbye – usually without doing a proper history and physical exam. This approach likely accounts for 90 per cent of the patients who become drug addicted at no fault of their own.
Anything short of option 1 or option 2 will fail, and the number of prescription-narcotic addicts will just increase with time.
Brock Pullen, MD, Sarnia, Ont.
.........
Fossil-fuel realities
Only when the world's major economic powers embrace sustained negative economic and population growth will Jeff Rubin and David Suzuki be able to pry the needed global oil-consumption reduction of 12 million barrels a day from our hands (Canada's Carbon Moment Has Arrived – Aug. 19). Until then, oils sands development, Keystone and climate change are a reality.
Greg Dwyer, Regina
.........
As a resource country, we'd have been foolish not to take advantage of oil shipments. In 2008, Jeff Rubin was forecasting oil at $200 a barrel. He was wrong then and I suspect he is wrong now.
Derek Phillips, Vancouver
.........
The Donald's doings
In the art world, some painters use a technique called trompe l'oeil aimed at deceiving the viewer by giving an illusion of reality.
With his vain pretenses and unlikely promises, I get the impression the Donald might be just that: a Trump l'oeil.
Eddy A. Elia, Vancouver