Naming conventions
Re Gay-Straight Alliances Should Be Allowed Their Own Name (editorial, May 30): Amen.
Alison Ratchford, Santiago
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The Liberal government's proposed amendment to its anti-bullying law demonstrates a lack of understanding of core Judeo-Christian teachings and how important those teachings are to the welfare of society as a whole. To force "gay-straight alliances" into Catholic schools is to say, "You cannot continue to be Catholic."
In Ontario, Catholics are a very big part of the tax-paying public – the single largest religious denomination here by far. And they obviously want Catholic schools – which do a much better job of teaching morality than public schools, and all of Ontario reaps the benefits.
Bill 13 is politically motivated. It is riding a wave, at the expense of Ontario's Catholic schools and the long-term welfare of the province. Bill 13 won't diminish gay-bashing and it can't change the truth. But it will diminish the ability of the Catholic Church to resist any form of bullying. Who is bullying whom?
William V. Reid, Toronto
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Embedding the right to gay-straight alliance clubs, by name, in anti-bullying legislation is nanny-ist micromanagement by the government and could become anachronistic very quickly. Already, U.S. schools are moving to more inclusive, less provocative names for these kinds of clubs – Project Rainbow, Common Ground or Spectrum. Who knows what the term will be in five or 10 years? Laws should be relevant for decades – not months.
Adrian O'Connor, Mississauga
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Dream carriers
Did other readers love Lorna Dueck's column (Liberia Proves The Power Of Prayer – May 30) as much as I did?
The woman who heard in a dream "Gather the women to pray for peace" did what we all do when we get a command from God. She tried to fob the job off on someone else, pleading unworthiness. It didn't work: They told Leymah Gbowee, "The dream bearer is the dream carrier."
However, somebody acted to help and arranged a pulpit for her. A Muslim in the congregation acted, supporting the initiative with Muslim warlords fighting Liberian dictator Charles Taylor. While they prayed, the women "bolstered each other in courage and strategy." They acted, too. Some lobbied imams, some the government. They met with Mr. Taylor to demand peace talks. When nothing came of the talks, they acted more boldly. They "refused to let the warlords and Mr. Taylor's representatives out of the conference room until an agreement was reached. They went on to drive the election of Africa's first female head of state, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf …" No wonder the "unworthy one" and the new President shared in the Nobel Peace Prize.
Donna Stewart, North Vancouver
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To test Lorna Dueck's hypothesis about the efficacy of prayer, I invite The Globe's readers to help me "document that the power of God is real" by fervently petitioning that He save Ms. Dueck from the fallacious "post hoc" fallacy.
Brian A. Shaw, London, Ont.
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Savings v. pensions
You state that employees in a defined-benefit plan "do not share the risks with the company" (Let Talks Roll In CP Rail Dispute – editorial, May 26).
Not so: In a defined-benefit plan, the on-going actuarial and market risks are borne by the employer – as long as the employer is able to adequately fund the plan. If the plan becomes inadequately funded and fails, a very severe risk falls to the employees because they lose their pensions, as we've seen in many recent cases.
In a defined-contribution plan, the employee bears the entire risk. In substance, a defined-contribution plan is a savings plan, not really a pension plan. The only exception is in the rather rare situation in which a defined-contribution plan is combined with an employer-guaranteed minimum pension. Only in that case is there any genuine risk-sharing between employee and employer.
Tom Beechy, Toronto
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Francly speaking …
It has been suggested elsewhere that it would be cheaper for Switzerland simply to pay off the Greek debt rather than battle to support the exchange rate. That is about as likely as Swiss voters voting in a referendum to join the euro. The franc is inevitably tied to the euro, but actually to join would be perceived as getting on a sinking ship (It's Time For Swiss To Join Euro – May 29). It's hard enough to maintain the (weak) bilateral ties that Switzerland already has with the EU.
Currency is an emotional issue at the best of times. Can you imagine the Canadian dollar becoming part of the American?
David Dunkley, Geneva
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The starved frog
As Lawrence Martin (The Time Has Come For A Progressive Revival – May 29) points out, each small cut to a federal program seems, in itself, if not reasonable, at least acceptable in the name of austerity. A science group eliminated here, fisheries protection reduced there, regional archival funding gone – each day we learn of a new cut. Gradualism renders it more tolerable – the frog doesn't notice the water's getting hotter until it's too late.
But austerity is only needed because the Harper government put into practice that right-wing adage for minimal government, "starve the beast," the most egregious example of which was cutting the GST against all economic advice. That now justifies the small, visionless federal government we are to be left with, running an army and little else.
The objective is clear: Boil the starved frog.
John Edmond, Ottawa
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Constitutional battles
The use of the "peace, order and good government" power (the POGG power) by successive federal governments has changed radically since 1945. That power, as developed by the Supreme Court has, on the whole, been used with great care and has respected provincial legislative powers – for example, to uphold aspects of federal legislation protecting the environment when the particular issue was deemed to be "of national concern."
Contrary to Neil Reynolds's example of EI (formerly Unemployment Insurance), the power to enact in that field was granted to the feds by way of a constitutional amendment enacted in 1940, with the required consent of all provinces (Canada's Constitutional Cudgel – May 28). It was not decided by the Supreme Court or usurped by the feds. It may be that the next constitutional battles concerning the use of POGG and other legislative powers by the feds will be the result of the unseemly haste with which the Harper government is dumping important matters of national concern, particularly the protection of the environment, on the provinces.
Roland Penner, senior scholar, University of Manitoba Faculty of Law
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That 'richer' bit
After reading Shrinking Profit Margins Hit Scotiabank (Report on Business – May 30), I am puzzled: Is Scotiabank still richer than it thinks?
Morley Gorsky, Toronto