It's all about fear
The life-without-parole bill, which the government will push through while it rides the wave of fear it has created, is fundamentally inhumane.
It takes away all hope for the individual caught in the vicious circle of crime and incarceration. As well, it destroys all hope for society of an end to paying to house and feed the sentenced person.
The bill follows the destruction of one life with the complete destruction of a second life: To be imprisoned forever is a sentence some will find worse than execution.
This won't do anything tangible for our security, only for the illusion of it. The bill is wrong on several counts – morally, economically, psychologically. Its measures are all based on promoting fear.
Franz Knoll, Laval, Que.
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Re Without Big Changes, Bill C-51 Means Big Data (March 6): Canada's Privacy Commissioner writes that "Bill C-51 opens the door to collecting, analyzing and potentially keeping forever the personal information of all Canadians in order to find the virtual needle in the haystack." The bill gives 17 government agencies almost limitless powers to monitor and profile ordinary Canadians in a bid to identify security threats among us (including collating tax information with details about business activities and vacation travel) and without new capacities for review and oversight.
And this from the government party that cancelled the long-form census on the grounds that some questions were an invasion of privacy. Such hypocrisy.
Gordon Darroch, Toronto
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Conservative election platform: Terror "R" Us.
Dan Turner, Ottawa
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Make it public, CBC
Re CBC Backs Lang In Review Of RBC Story (March 6): I'm really pleased CBC has done its review and found that Amanda Lang "adhered to its journalistic standards" in her coverage. I'd be even more pleased if the CBC explained how it came to that conclusion, considering that Ms. Lang covered a company – RBC – while having a personal relationship with an RBC board member and while speaking for pay at RBC-sponsored events.
As our public broadcaster, it would seem obvious that CBC should make its findings, well, public; then loyal CBC listeners like me can decide for ourselves if journalistic standards were met.
Paul Benedetti, faculty member, Master of Arts in Journalism Program, University of Western Ontario
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Prentice is right
Premier Jim Prentice has it right, not only about Albertans but all Canadians (Backlash Erupts after Prentice Points Finger at Albertans for Fiscal Woes – March 6).
Citizens elect their governments at all levels. Increasingly, voters choose parties or candidates who promise the lowest level of taxes and the highest level of services. When the inevitable crunch comes and debts rise and infrastructure crumbles, citizens whine that the government has misspent their money, money that the government never had.
Get real, Canadians. You really do get what you pay for.
Wayne Dowler, Toronto
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Until death do us …
Re More RRSP, Not More TFSA, Please (editorial, March 6): Though I appreciate your efforts to examine the state of Canada's pension system and its future, I can't help thinking that you are somehow missing the point.
What all levels of government need to appreciate is that a huge percentage of the Canadian population will never have a registered retirement savings plan (RRSP), let alone be able to contribute to a tax free savings account (TFSA).
These are the people who have to work at two or three different jobs simply to make ends meet, and who have, frankly, no hope of ever saving for a pension. The people who serve you coffee in Tims, who clear away glasses in your favourite bar, who clean your home. These are the people who will never be able to retire, the people who have to depend on our mean, Dickensian state pension.
It should be a national embarrassment that Canada's yearly sum of pension-related benefits totals less than working for a year at minimum wage, let alone working for a year at a living wage. So, don't talk to me about RRSPs or TFSAs. Deal with the real, systemic problem and enable all people who have worked hard all their lives to retire with dignity and a degree of comfort.
Nigel Bennett, Stratford, Ont.
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You recommend a greater deferral of current income taxes by upping the maximum RRSP contribution limit (benefits wealthier Canadians more) and deferring the eventual collection of such taxes by giving seniors the flexibility, through amount and timing, to withdraw RRIFs up until death. These proposals could result in the non-collection of taxes on RRSP contributions – often at lower rates, given pension income-splitting – for 50 to 70 years.
Just how do governments bring in the much needed tax revenue to run the country and reduce their debts?
Also, since provincial nursing home subsidies for residents are income based, a greater financial burden is placed on the provinces if seniors are allowed to defer RRIF income up until death.
Bob Wornell, Dartmouth, N.S.
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'Exciting?' Well …
Re For Low-Tech Toronto, Green P Parking App Is 'Exciting' (March 6): Wow, Torontonians can use an app at parking lots. How about one that works for street parking, like in Vancouver and Montreal; an app that reminds you when your time is almost up and allows you to renew your parking. And let's not forget the trees we'd save without those paper slips. Maybe then we'll catch up – a bit.
Joel Dubin, Toronto
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Taxing proposition
Re Will Vancouver Think Big On Transit? I am leaning toward being a naysayer. I am not concerned about TransLink management. I am concerned about drawing the attention of drivers away from the central issue – getting them out of their cars.
Raising the sales tax is easy and quickly forgotten by car owners, but not by tourists or those with low income. Let's propose instead an ongoing, graduated vehicle levy and increase in the gas tax for the Lower Mainland. Then owners of vehicles, and I have one, could pay for the privilege of driving based on the weight and engine size of their cars and the energy they consume. This would put the pressure where it belongs: on choosing to drive, and on building alternatives to driving.
Clarke Morrison, Vancouver
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Side started brightly
Re Chelsea Flourishes In The Garden Of Eden (March 5): As an aficionado of soccer and the English language, I enjoy listening to British announcers: It's a massive fixture … the side started brightly … imposed themselves … saw some joy down the left channel … sublime passing … became easily dispossessed and were punished … under the cosh after the interval … but equalized at the death with a cheeky back heel.
Tim Jeffery, Toronto