Mr. Péladeau's bid
Re Péladeau's Election Bid Threatens To Shake Canada (March 10): Pierre Karl Péladeau may yet suffer the fate of other "star" candidates. (For example, need I rub salt in Liberal Party wounds by mentioning the fate of another "star" candidate, Michael Ignatieff?)
First, Mr. Péladeau will have to win a seat in a riding where he may not be all that popular, particularly because of his anti-union stance, before he can go on to glory with the Parti Québécois – a dubious honour in any event.
In the future, we'll probably regard this recent bit of amateur political adventurism not as a "seismic shock" or a "bomb shell," but a "bomb-out."
George A. Reilly, Winnipeg
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Pierre Karl Péladeau is a bored multimillionaire who has made his money and is looking around for something else to do. Running for the Parti Québécois is pure opportunism: It's the party that the polls suggest has the best chance of forming government. Mr. Péladeau is not the type to sit on the opposition bench.
As for the threat to Canada from a separatist majority government? Ho hum: been there, done that. Wake me up when it comes time to negotiate the terms of Quebec's separation.
Curt Shalapata, Oshawa, Ont.
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Quebec in Canada?
I'm proud to be Canadian and my Canada includes Quebec. I speak passable French. But if Quebec votes to separate, let it go – and Quebec must take its share of the debt with it. I'm sick of Quebec's spoiled child routine, "give us more of [insert anything here] or we'll leave" and I. don't. care. any more.
Kathleen Collin, Vancouver
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So Quebeckers dislike the Tories for, among other things, their indifference to climate change, "tough on crime" legislation, embrace of fossil fuel industries, and tin ear to Quebec's sensitivities? Sounds like a list of good reasons to fight to keep Quebec in Canada.
John Stewart, Ancaster, Ont.
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Picture (im)perfect
Re The Breakup Artist (March 8): For the past while, the news has been dominated by the steely, implacable, ruthless face of Vladimir Putin and all he represents.
On Saturday, it appears The Globe thought a change was in order, ergo we got the steely, implacable, ruthless face of Quebec Premier Pauline Marois. Well, at least it wasn't Rob Ford.
Pamela Jackson, Victoria
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To show Pauline Marois in such an unflattering closeup accompanied by the headline "The breakup artist" editorializes the news. Keep editorializing where it is appropriate, and let the public form its own opinion about Quebec's Premier.
Jean-Pierre Allard, Winnipeg
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Democracy Q&A
Re Slow It Down, Mr. Poilievre (editorial, March 10): How does the government of a country disengage its citizens from participation in democracy?
Answer: One act of Parliament and one regulatory change at a time. To name a few: the Fair Elections Act, omnibus budget bills, regulatory changes that limit participation at pipeline and other public hearing processes, the elimination of long form census data for evidence-based planning and decision making.
What's next on this is dangerous and slippery slope?
Gary MacIsaac, Vancouver
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Missing, murdered
Re Inquiry Into Violence Against Native Women Rejected (March 8): Justice Minister Peter MacKay is defending the Harper government's decision not to fund a public inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women. Apparently the Conservatives' "tough on crime" agenda has it covered.
This from the government that spent $30-million to celebrate the bicentennial of the War of 1812. Ironically, the British would have lost that war were it not for their First Nations allies.
Canadians deserve better.
Cindy Derkaz, Salmon Arm, B.C.
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Russia in charge
Re Welcome Them To The West (editorial, March 8): Your editorial declaims that Vladimir Putin "is not playing from a position of strength. We are." Really?
In a series of clever political chess moves, he just secured Crimea – with no loss of Russian lives. Westerners are given to underestimating the Russians. If history is any guide, this is not a smart thing to do.
Claudia Cornwall, North Vancouver
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If Barack Obama wants to promote tensions between Ukraine and Russia, he will meet with the new Ukrainian leaders. If he wants to promote a solution, he will meet with Vladimir Putin.
Michael Moore, Minaki, Ont.
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It wasn't arrogance
Re Chrysler's Arrogance (March 7): I did not interpret Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne comments at all like letter writer Tim Jeffery did.
It seemed to me that the CEO was acknowledging that if he takes public money, he is obliged to answer for how that money is invested. All he did was walk away from a deal he found unattractive, as any responsible CEO should do.
He wasn't saying, "Give me your money, but don't ask what I will do with it." He was saying, "I can't satisfy your objectives of how I will spend the money, so keep it."
Darryl Squires, Ottawa
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Statue of limitations
Re The Battle Over 'Mother Canada' (March 8): Alexander Graham Bell famously said: "I have travelled around the globe. I have seen the Canadian and American Rockies, the Andes, the Alps and the Highlands of Scotland, but for simple beauty, Cape Breton outrivals them all."
Why a Toronto businessman would want to desecrate that simple beauty with a kitschy, 30-metre statue of "Mother Canada" is beyond me. Worse, why would Parks Canada, which presumably has a mandate to preserve our wild places, allow him to do so?
Andrew David Terris, Halifax
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Think of the possibilities: As well as having Mother Canada, the We See Thee Rise Observation Deck, and the Commemorative Ring of True Patriot Love, the beauty of Cape Breton can be destroyed even more by, say, the Far and Wide B&B, the God Keep Our Land Interdenominational Temple of Conservative Worship, the Stand on Guard security system, the All Our Sons Pub, the Glorious and Free Nudist Colony. And so much more!
I can't wait until Toronto businessman Tony Trigiani starts on the second verse of our national anthem. But not to worry. He'll have all the help he needs with the backing of the Harper Tories.
Maybe they can set up locally in a closed Veterans Affairs office. Plenty to choose from.
Nancy Murphy, Ottawa