Safety shortcomings
Re Tragedy In L'Isle-Verte (Jan. 24): Retirement homes have the most vulnerable of citizens living in them. After I complained about a particular home to the Retirement Homes Regulatory Authority, the Ontario agency overseeing private retirement homes, I was sent to the local fire chief.
An inspection took place; the home was subsequently granted a licence although it has no sprinklers in rooms and no clear way to evacuate patients who are immobile, as there is only one elevator and three floors. This elevator would take at most two wheelchairs and a caregiver. It has disaster written all over it.
I was delighted when the law was changed last year so that as of Jan. 1, 2014, all private retirement homes in Ontario were required to have sprinklers. But to my utmost anger, these facilities have been granted up to five years to comply. How many seniors have to die and suffer before anything is done? Shame on our system.
Andrea Marcus, Toronto
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RC schools' shutouts
Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne can lead the province, but her sexual orientation could easily bar her from teaching in the publicly funded Catholic school system (Chapter And Verse, Catholic School Funding Is Unfair – Jan. 23). Bravo to Konrad Yakabuski for his entreaty to Ms. Wynne to end the discriminatory and economically wasteful anachronism that is the Catholic school system.
Mr. Yakabuski says Ontarians need to have a conversation about what kind of education system they want. That conversation also needs to take place here in Alberta – and every other jurisdiction that pays for a two-track system of public eduction.
Paul Moore, Calgary
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Telco sticker shock
Re For The Telcos, The Whipping Goes On (Jan 24): Jeffrey Simpson nailed it! After the American FCC (Federal Communications Commission) concluded that the U.S. (with its market 10 times larger than Canada's) would benefit from another national carrier, the Harper Conservatives, smelling easy voter pickings, jumped on the bandwagon. When the telcos pushed back with facts, they became the Conservatives' No. 1 enemy, which subsequently prompted the taxpayer-funded attack ads. As Mr. Simpson notes, "politics rules when perception becomes reality."
But not all voters are fooled by the Conservatives' playbook. As a Chinese proverb cautions: Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.
Vic Bornell, Niagara on the Lake, Ont.
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The price of my telecom services, already exorbitant and becoming more so annually, more credibly supports collusion than Jeffrey Simpson's claim the Big Three are competing. More companies in the mix might at least eliminate the perception of collusion, leaving the field to be judged unambiguously on the evidence alone.
Charlie Sager, Ottawa
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What kids teach us
I laughed with Leah McLaren when I read her piece Let's Be Honest About Our Burdens (Life & Arts, Jan. 24). I remember well the struggle my wife and I had as two working parents with two young kids. I, too, felt at the time that they were a burden.
One day, I read an essay in Facts & Arguments about a couple who desperately wanted and already loved their child-to-be. In the ninth month, the woman miscarried. I put the article on my fridge.
Then came the "wonder years," when my kids could sleep properly and retaught me what matters by their joyous innocence. For all the work, the best thing I learned from them is that it's not all about me or a so-called career.
Robert Girvan, Toronto
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Leah McLaren sets out to illustrate the trials and tribulations of parenting, especially that of motherhood, in this day and age.
Well, as one who is a generation beyond Ms. McLaren's – our kids now have little kids – I took note of her daily calendar, especially the part about the arrival of the nanny at 9 a.m. and her departure at 5 p.m. If Ms. McLaren wants a real dose of honesty, I suggest she subtract the nanny.
Jerry Amernic, Toronto
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Flu fighters
Re Deadly Bugs Don't Just Attack Other People (Jan. 23): On a single January day in the 1970s, I saw 57 people with the flu. It was something I will never forget. Streams of people just appeared at my office, sick, coughing, feverish and miserable. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, January was always the busiest month; week after week, we simply coped with the serious and not-so-serious symptoms the flu brought.
The introduction of flu vaccine resulted in a dramatic decrease in the incidence of flu during the traditional first month of the year and, as the years wore on, January became a month that was no busier than any other.
People are forgetting what flu epidemics were like. Some have the misconception that a healthy lifestyle, dietary control or regular exercise will protect them. Some just let time go by. Others have the same irrational fears about immunization that were common in my grandmother's time. But the fact remains that immunization saves lives, and this simply cannot be disputed.
I had my flu shot in early November, the best time, so I practise what I preach.
George B. Miller, MD, Waterloo, Ont.
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While it's true some nursing unions take issue with policies to encourage better vaccination rates against the flu, the Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario believes all health professionals have an obligation to protect their patients and themselves.
The flu can be deadly. The smart approach is to minimize risk. That's why we strongly recommend all nurses do so.
Rhonda Seidman-Carlson, president, Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario
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Health-care rights
In Ontario 'Wrong' On Refugee Health Care, Immigration Minister Says (Jan. 24), Immigration Minister Chris Alexander criticizes Ontario Health Minister Deb Matthews for providing health care to refugee claimants cut off from federal funding. He should instead thank her for upholding fundamental human rights that the federal government has turned its back on.
The federal decision to cut health care for large numbers of refugee claimants violates many of Canada's international human-rights obligations dealing with access to health care, non-discrimination and refugee protection. Ontario's decision to step in rights those wrongs. Several other provinces have done the same.
If the rights at stake were taken seriously, it's a step that wouldn't have been necessary.
Alex Neve, secretary general, Amnesty International Canada
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Hogtown: Next up?
Re Bieber's Arrest One Of Many Troubles (Jan. 24): Does this mean Justin Bieber is running for mayor of Toronto?
Robert Morrow, Dundas, Ont.