Voters, M.I.A.
Re 7% Support: Enough To Win With Record-Low Voter Turnout (July 2): I wonder how low the turnout will go before something is done about getting more people interested in voting.
One per cent?
It is time to set a quorum for an election to be valid. At the least, it will push the parties to get more voters into the booths.
Sudhir Jain, Calgary
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After the recent by-elections, no one who cares about the integrity of Canadian democracy should be celebrating with voter turnout numbers this low. These numbers signal a desperate need to empower Elections Canada to encourage voting, bring back the per-vote subsidy and implement proportional representation so that Canadians are guaranteed that their vote will make a difference, no matter where they live or what party they support.
Nathan Grills, Victoria
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147 reasons, plus
What a wonderful way to start Canada Day: Reading and loving 147 Reasons To Love Canada under a perfect blue Prairie sky, with the Rocky Mountains to the west.
Ted Best, Calgary
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Rob Ford: He's back
Re Ford Sees Support, Jeers During Holiday Tour (July 2): Toronto Mayor Rob Ford may or may not be on the road to recovery as concerns his addiction to alcohol and other substances – but that is only the small part of the problem. The far greater problem is: Has the mayor tamed his egocentric and combative personality to the point that he can work with other members of city council?
Governing bodies can and have tolerated alcoholic leaders, but no governing body can get things done if the leader quarrels with his fellows.
Robert Farquharson, Toronto
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By covering Rob Ford's every move, the media, including The Globe and Mail, contribute to his "celebrity" popularity and hand him a competitive advantage over serious Toronto mayoral candidates. Mr. Ford has already proved why he is not fit for public office.
Amnon Zohar, Thornhill, Ont.
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Once again, Rob Ford has apologized to the citizens of Toronto ('I Am Ashamed, Embarrassed And Humiliated' – July 1).
Unfortunately, multiple apologies do not have a cumulative positive effect. Each new one underscores how insincere all the previous ones were.
Douglas Johnson, Toronto
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100 years on ...
Re Lessons, 100 Years On (editorial, June 30): There's a third lesson from the First World War: Don't trust the media. Newspapers today are full of articles describing the First World War as a senseless slaughter, but back then they were busy fanning the flames and branding anyone reluctant to fight a coward.
Historically, when we've made major blunders, the news media often either shepherded us in that direction or were silent about the danger. As a people, we need to be wary of group think, which is what the media generally represent and what, as often as not, gets us into trouble.
Dale Lovell, Victoria
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It's all very well to try to learn from the catastrophe of the summer of 1914, but what if we have our eyes on the wrong parallel? What if the autumn of 1917 is repeating itself, as the 21st century's equivalent of Bolshevism – Islamic fundamentalism – suddenly seizes a very large territorial base in collapsing war-weakened states?
The first consequence of the Bolshevik Revolution was years of ghastly, bloody civil war spiced by clumsy Western interventions.
Michael Bliss, professor emeritus, University of Toronto
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Tory tough love
In his letter to the editor, Minister of National Defence Rob Nicholson, touts the government's record in acquiring new equipment for the military, in particular C-17 and C-130J transport planes and Chinook helicopters (Case For The Defence – July 1).
But all those contracts were signed quite some time ago. The last of them, for the Chinooks, dates from 2009. Since then, there has still been no acquisition of a new fixed-wing search-and-rescue aircraft, a project that was a "top priority" in 2003 for the Liberal government. Consider also the Cyclone new maritime helicopters. That contract was signed in 2004; 10 years later, the Conservatives still have not managed to get an operational chopper aboard a ship.
Speaking of ships, no construction contracts have been signed for the navy's new Arctic/offshore patrol ships or for its Joint Support ships. The same applies for the Coast Guard's – one only – new icebreaker. All three projects are several years behind schedule.
And of course there is the delay in the Air Force's new fighter. In fact, the government's acquisition record since 2009 has been dismal. Nor is its current funding for the Forces worth crowing about. Adjusted for inflation, spending is at the same level it was in 2005.
It would seem that, if the Conservatives love our military, it is tough love indeed.
Mark Collins, Fellow, Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute
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So take a vacation
Re Canada Needs To Relax (Life & Arts, July 1): Ellen Himelfarb makes an excellent point that technology is not fully to blame for our lack of vacation time, but the problem is not just us.
Employers are also responsible for fostering workplace cultures that treat paid vacation time as an indulgence and not as a right.
The General Social Survey shows that in 2010, fully 36 per cent of Canadian employees took fewer than 10 days paid vacation – the minimum amount to which they were legally entitled. Occupational sector plays an important role. More than half of all agricultural, construction, and accommodation and food-services workers did not take their full vacation time, compared to just 11.1 per cent of utilities-sector employees.
We need to examine sector-specific workplace cultures and management practices in order to encourage employee uptake of paid vacation time. Not only do the well-being benefits of vacations extend to workers and their families, they extend to managers and businesses as well.
Margo Hilbrecht, associate director, research, Canadian Index of Wellbeing, University of Waterloo
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Deep-six the Jonahs
Given that Bluenose II is now actually Bluenose 3.0, and given it now has no historical or open-sea-sailing value, I propose scuppering the doomed ship and turning it into a diving attraction that honours the foundering of the original Bluenose (Foundering In A Sea Of Waste And Squabbles – July 2). It will not just attract diving business – and thus revenue for years to come – it will be a safe and watery testament to man's corporate folly without requiring any further investment from the public purse. And no further Jonahs will board.
Mark Christian Burgess, Cobourg, Ont.