Quebec's climate strategy
I'd have more sympathy for Quebec Premier Jean Charest's noble position on climate change if his province weren't destroying the lungs and lives of so many people in developing countries by exporting asbestos to them ( As Charest Heats Up Battle Over Climate Change, Tories Stand To Lose In Quebec - Feb. 4).
Dan Turner, Ottawa
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Federal Environment Minister Jim Prentice is right; environmental regulations in Quebec are going to put Canada at a competitive disadvantage. Come to think of it, we should cut all our emissions regulations to gain a competitive advantage. Then we should gut our labour laws and get rid of minimum-wage controls.
Our model for success has been wrong all along. We shouldn't mimic the U.S., we should be trying to achieve England at the start of the Industrial Revolution. That would guarantee the competitive advantage the Conservatives have been seeking for us - for our own good, of course.
John Gzowski, Toronto
Yielding the rights of way
Re Ignoring Supreme Court Khadr's Ruling, Ottawa Won't Request Repatriation (Feb. 4): Good!
Claude Gannon, Markham, Ont.
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The Harper government's contempt for the Supreme Court's ruling in the Omar Khadr case is more proof the court was wrong to defer to the government. The rule of law requires that a government exercise its discretionary power in a way that complies with the Charter. When a prime minister abuses that power, Canadians deserve to have courts that will stop him, instead of meekly standing aside.
Derek Smith, Toronto
The March (break) of time
Twenty years ago, I abandoned a family vacation because my boss guilted me into it. From the moment my husband and daughters boarded the plane, to this day, I've regretted that decision. I never had to be reminded again that family comes first.
Now, shortly after our PM declared women and children first, he's putting our parliamentarians in the same position I was in - and for no other reason than political gamesmanship ( Harper Asks MPs To Give Up March Break - Feb. 4).
It reveals, yet again, his true nature.
Elizabeth Clarke, Toronto
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Anger over prorogation, which was done to avoid the detainee enquiry, cannot be assuaged by Stephen Harper's recalibration of the parliamentary calendar to suit his whim.
Jeannie Hayley, North Vancouver
Health care's many judges
Whether or not one believes Danny Williams should be going to the U.S. for medical treatment, we need to be careful not to take every case of this kind as a reflection on our health-care system ( Health Care And The Premier - letters, Feb. 4). A health-care system should be judged not on the basis of individual cases, but on the large body of research on mortality rates, recovery times and wait times for all members of a country's population. On these measures, the Canadian system does well.
Samuel Clark, London, Ont.
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Contrary to your views ( Health Care And The Public's Trust - editorial, Feb. 3), as a voter from Newfoundland and Labrador I don't recall placing any restrictions, as part of the electoral process, on Danny Williams in terms of where he can get medical services.
You report (Access To Angioplasty Is An Hour Away For Most Canadians - Life, Feb. 3) that 80 per cent of U.S. citizens can get primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) within an hour of a heart attack, while just 64 per cent of Canadians would get the same service; 15.8 per cent of New Brunswickers and 72.6 per cent of Ontarians can get a PCI within the 90-minute prescribed limit. Perhaps your editorial should focus on the real problem - the health-care system in Canada is not working as well as it should.
Ken Browne, Placentia, Nfld.
Life and joy with an autistic child
Along with hysteria around vaccines and other possible "causes" of autism, we need to address the general hysteria around what it means having a child with autism. Unfortunately, Margaret Wente's column ( Autism, Vaccines And Fear - Feb. 4) fuels that hysteria by stating, "Life with an autistic child is unrelentingly hard." As the mother of one autistic child and two "neuro-typical" (non-autistic) children, I can state that life with an autistic child is not unrelentingly hard. My autistic child is no more challenging than my other two children. Frankly, he's often the most easygoing of the three.
Parenting is challenging; it is not for the weak. Expect to be challenged and frustrated and exhausted at times. But also expect happiness and a different awareness of the world. This is true of parenting children who are autistic, and those who aren't.
Virginia Eichhorn, Owen Sound, Ont.
Hold up there, mate
And what, pray, is The Guardian saying about the already horrendous cost overruns of London's Summer Olympics in 2012 ( An Olympic Disaster? Complete Rubbish - Feb. 4)?
The infrastructure budget has almost quadrupled, to £9.3-billion ($15.8-billion), despite major cutbacks. All of this amount is to be footed by the British public. (The staging of the Games themselves, a further £2-billion, is in private hands and is self-financing.)
When London was awarded the Games, then-mayor Ken Livingstone attested that the Games would make a profit. But a former chairman of Britain's Olympic Delivery Authority, Jack Lemley, stated in 2008 that politicians were hiding costs and that the final bill would top £20-billion.
At $6-billion, the 2010 Olympics will cost Canadians about $180 per capita. So far, each U.K. resident is on the hook for about $260. If Mr. Lemley is right, the figure more than doubles. Some Games, some variance!
John Grimley, Toronto
Abortion and the health pledge
In arguing for funding for abortion, Michael Ignatieff is reported as saying, "Let's keep the ideology [he means the pro-life stance]out of this and move forward" ( Harper Must Make Abortion Part Of Health Pledge, Ignatieff Says - Feb. 3).
That's impossible, because the pro-choice stance is just as much ideologically based - that is, promotes a certain set of values and beliefs - as the pro-life one. What Mr. Ignatieff is saying, therefore, is that his pro-choice values should not only prevail, but not be opposed.
Mr. Ignatieff has done harm in instantly politicizing this Harper government initiative. As Mr. Harper's press secretary said, "saving lives of mothers and children should not be a political football." We should all act accordingly. There's an unlimited amount of good we can do in this regard that we can all agree should be done. Let's focus on that to start this essential humanitarian work.
Where we disagree, however, is whether the lives we try to save should include unborn babies or, at the very least, that we should not be funding their destruction.
Margaret Somerville, McGill Centre for Medicine, Ethics and Law
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If the Prime Minister is serious about improving women's health internationally, his initiatives must address the comprehensive maternal and reproductive health care needs of women, including access to safe abortion care. As we've seen here and in other countries around the world, access to safe, legal abortion care preserves women's health and saves women's lives. Unsafe abortion remains one of the leading causes of maternal mortality in developing nations. According to the World Health Organization, nearly 70,000 women worldwide die from unsafe abortions annually and millions more are injured, many permanently.
This is a critical opportunity for Mr. Harper to champion the health of some of the world's poorest women. We join Mr. Ignatieff in urging the Prime Minister to include access to contraception and abortion care in his efforts to improve maternal health care.
Vicki Saporta, president, National Abortion Federation Canada
Uncle Sam's driving preferences
GM's majority owner, the U.S. government, is now also Toyota's regulator ( U.S. Turns Up The Pressure On Troubled Toyota - Feb. 4). The appearance of unfairness is striking.
First U.S. domestic motor-vehicle manufactures died, now they've gone to heaven: Their most powerful owner is their rivals' regulator. No doubt most Americans will (again) be unable to conceive that their government is acting in anything other than the public's best interest. The rest of us should be more skeptical.
Peter van den Bergh, Toronto
Dane-geld for the Taliban
When it comes to bribing fighters away from the Taliban ( Canadian Envoy Warns Against NATO Plan For Taliban Peace - Feb. 1), Kipling said it best: "And that is called paying the Dane-geld;/ But we've proved it again and again,/ That if once you have paid him the Dane-geld/ You never get rid of the Dane.
Ken Hymas, Toronto
Lookin' great in a parallel world
For anyone who doesn't have a beeping reverse parking aid, here's a tip to look as good as Colleen Rusholme when parallel parking ( Reverse Parking Aid Is Radio Host's Secret Weapon - Feb. 4). First, pull up beside the car behind which you are going to park. Then, back up and turn the wheel hard right, watching your progress in the driver's side mirror until you see both headlights of the car behind. Next, immediately turn hard left and pull in. Works almost every time and looks great.
Boris Krivy, Toronto