Fighting words
When it comes to being a semantic stickhandler, Canada's Chief of the Defence staff, General Tom Lawson, is one of the best (Troops Leading Air Strikes Was Unexpected, General Says – Jan. 30).
As Steven Chase wrote, Gen. Lawson's "reasoning relies on fine distinctions." Indeed.
Who among us knew that the word "accompany" in military terms has a "very clear other meaning"? Apparently it means "that you are now up front with the troops that you have been assigned to, with your weapons used to compel the enemy."
This definition raises so many questions. When Stephen Harper said on Sept. 30, 2014, that our troops would not "accompany" Iraqi forces, was he using Canadian Oxford Dictionary English or Canadian military English? If the latter, had he been briefed in that specialized meaning? If so, should he not have made this clear to the Canadian people?
How is it that no one in the intervening months has thought to explain this definition to the Canadian people? Obviously, this specialized meaning of "accompany" must be explained somewhere in Canadian Armed Forces training literature. Otherwise, the officer corps would be every bit as confused as I was until the general's testimony.
George Patrick, Oakville, Ont.
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It is perplexing to this reader that opposition to mission creep in Iraq focuses largely on semantics while losing sight of the bigger picture. In identical circumstances during the Libya mission in 2011, Canada's air and special ground forces aided local militia in their effort to topple the Gadhafi regime. This was a mission that the opposition endorsed.
Though the guiding principles of both the Islamic State and Libya missions were humanitarian in scope, it is now obvious Canada contributed to the destabilization of Libya, just as we are now contributing to the creation of a new state in Kurdistan and the destruction of two old ones in Syria and Iraq. Mission creep, it seems, only matters when you agree with or understand the end game. It doesn't help that the Conservatives have been unclear on what their end game is.
David Carment, senior fellow, Centre for Global Co-Operation Research; editor, Canadian Foreign Policy Journal
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No MDs to be had
Re Where MDs Aren't (Jan. 30): Letter writer Joe Casey, who argues that physicians should be subject to market forces, should understand there is no true market for medical care in Canada.
Our centrally commanded-and-controlled system practically guarantees demand-supply mismatch. A true market would develop compensation levels sufficient to attract physicians to underserviced regions.
Eric Pugash, MD, Vancouver
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Letter writer Dr. Mark Greenberg argues that physicians, who are paid by the public purse, should be entitled to work where they choose and not where the need is (Can't Force MDs – Jan. 29).
Many Canadians must routinely look for work and move to places where there are opportunities and needs, far from where they may want to live. It makes sense to assign billing numbers to the locations where physicians are required most. As for the Constitution? It guarantees no one a job, only the right to move.
K.S. Hanna, Kelowna, B.C.
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ABCs of closure
Re Deadline To Close Under-Used Schools Has Trustees Reeling (Jan. 30): Many of the schools in Toronto, particularly those built before the Second World War, are magnificent structures. Other cities have found ways to repurpose these buildings. Hamilton's Stinson Street School, built in 1894, has been turned into condos and apartments. In Montreal, some inner-city schools have been converted into housing co-ops. In Toronto, Artscape has turned an old school into an art centre.
This preserves the school structure and its history, and at the same time provides new facilities for the community. Buildings like this can have a second life. We are all richer if we find ways to preserve our architectural heritage.
Bill Freeman, Toronto
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A Toronto high school with 62 students?! Shut it down! Give them a bus! Rent it out. Create an emergency shelter. Whatever. And we paid a school board to manage this? Fire the lot!
Hugh Jones, Toronto
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Schools give life to neighbourhoods. Down the line, when populations shift again and these buildings are needed, where will the money come from?
Time to stress the ABCs – Anything But Closure.
Helen Jarvis, Calgary
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Sex for singles
Re Swipe. Click. Meet. Repeat: How Tinder Started A New Sexual Revolution (Life & Arts – Jan. 30): When I was a teen in the 1970s, my mother impressed upon me and my siblings that sex was something special, reserved for someone you love. I realize this seems like an antiquated idea today. The new norm, according to the rules of the "new sexual revolution" started by Tinder and Grindr, is hooking up with relative strangers. But does serial dating really satisfy our longing for intimacy? The lack of any mention of love in this article seems a glaring omission.
Don't we all need to love and be loved, to be known intimately, to have someone to share our day-to-day joys and sorrows with? I despair if this so-called "sharp improvement in singleton quality of life" is what 40-something singles have to look forward to.
Karen Bergenstein, Ottawa
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1,000 lashes …
It's hard not to level a charge of hypocrisy against our federal government in its dealings with Saudi Arabia (Wife Of Saudi Blogger Seeks Harper's Help – Jan. 30). On the one hand, our government embraces, almost literally, the leaders of that country; on the other, it gives scant attention to the lack of acceptable standards of human rights in the treatment of women, gays and government critics by those same leaders.
It seems our government is more interested in selling arms to Saudi Arabia than it is in speaking out and acting forcefully to advance the human rights that Canada professes to hold dear. Meting out 1,000 lashes to someone whose only crime was to publicly criticize the Saudi leadership should cause Canada to protest by every possible means.
Meanwhile, our economy has and will suffer significantly because "our good friend" Saudi Arabia unilaterally drove down the price of oil, causing massive economic instability on a global scale.
Should Canada's political leaders really be embracing and selling arms to the sheiks of Saudi Arabia while they ignore acceptable standards of human rights and effectively cause incredible disruption in the Canadian economy?
Rowland Fleming, Creemore, Ont.
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Hmm …
Re John Kerry Fined For Not Shovelling Snow By Boston Home After Blizzard (Jan. 30): When is John Kerry home long enough to shovel the snow? He's often away … shovelling something else.
Douglas Cornish, Ottawa