Letters to the Editor should be exclusive to The Globe and Mail. Include your name, address and daytime phone number. Try to keep letters to fewer than 150 words. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. To submit a letter by e-mail, click here: letters@globeandmail.com
.................................................................................................................................
Alberta's new look
Clear political lessons can be learned from Alberta's new NDP majority, earned by the collapse of the 44-year Conservative dynasty.
First, don't play backroom games and engineer a massive defection of the opposition, then ignore the fixed-date election law to call an early election to strike when the party you think is your main opponent is leaderless.
Second, don't dismiss the other opposition parties, condescend to their leaders, or insist on repeating erroneous comments about their platforms.
Jeff Buckstein, Kanata, Ont.
..........
On Tuesday night, Rachel Notley's New Democrats gained a majority, and swept Edmonton, where (after a few of weeks of quite springlike weather) we woke up Wednesday morning to about an inch of snow on the ground. I guess hell really did freeze over.
Nigel Brachi, Edmonton
..........
Another skewed election result courtesy of our wacky first-past-the-post voting system. With 41 per cent of the popular vote, the New Democrats got 53 of 87 seats (62 per cent). And the Conservatives drew more votes (28 per cent) than Wildrose (24 per cent), but got less than half the seats (10 seats and 21 seats, respectively).
Andrew Hodgson, Ottawa
..........
Alberta's New Democrats were not chosen to govern, they were the instrument of punishment for some very bad governing by the Conservatives. This was a punishment vote, not an endorsement of the federal NDP.
Clay Atcheson, North Vancouver
..........
Canada's leading conservative province overtaken by the socialist hordes ... Surely, it is all those Easterners who went west to Alberta for jobs and a better life who are responsible. Or could it simply be that fear as a political bullying tactic has had its day? Is there a lesson to be learned from this, come October?
M.P. Martin, Ottawa
..........
When Lester Pearson's wife, Maryon, told him, in the 1958 federal election, "We lost everything. We even won our own constituency," she said it because although he had lost miserably to Conservative John Diefenbaker, her husband had been elected as an MP, and couldn't even walk away from politics.
When Jim Prentice announced Tuesday night that he was stepping down as PC leader and giving up the seat he had just won, he dispensed with the need to respect the commitment he made to the voters, a move that just might constitute the most disappointing feature of a horrible campaign.
Adam Green, Ottawa
..........
After more than 40 per cent of voters in his Calgary-Foothills riding chose him to be their MLA, Jim Prentice resigned his seat to dedicate himself to his responsibilities as a "husband, father, and grandfather." The mistakes he made as premier pale in comparison with his naked contempt for the duty and privilege his constituents granted him to be their representative in the legislature and serve his province.
Tyler Hargreaves, Toronto
..........
The Globe's endorsement of Jim Prentice (Prentice Is The Best Choice – editorial, May 2) resulted in a wonderful outcome. Any chance you can endorse Stephen Harper in the fall election?
Angus McDuff, Chatham, Ont.
..........
Be afraid, Stephen Harper. Be very afraid.
Joseph Gougeon-Ryant, Victoria
..........
Security breach
"Safety of our troops is our No. 1 priority," says Stephen Harper's director of communications as part of an apology for releasing videos of Canada's special forces (PMO Forced To Admit Security Breach Over Videos Of Harper Visiting Troops – May 6). Well, perhaps our second priority. For a Prime Minister elected on accountability – remember that? – it will be interesting to see who pays the price for this gaffe.
Victor Emerson, Ottawa
..........
If Bill C-51 were law today, would members of the Prime Minister's Office be detained and interrogated for publishing pictures of Canadian soldiers in Iraq (Bill C-51: Soon To Be Law, Murky As Ever – editorial, May 6). Those actions were seen as a threat to the operational security of the Canadian mission. For the government's tough approach on security, surely not even the PMO would be above the law.
Deborah McLean, Napanee, Ont.
..........
Liberal tax cuts
The Liberal tax-cut plan depends on a tax hike that punishes Canadians who have worked hard to become successful. Most people in Justin Trudeau's 33 per-cent-tax bracket are not driving Bentleys or chartering private jets.
They live in regular homes and are using their hard-earned, already heavily taxed, incomes to pay their mortgages and their children's university tuition. If their taxes are sharply increased, it won't be long before they start looking abroad for places where they can thrive without fear of being punished for doing well.
Maria Christopoulos, Toronto
..........
Re Economists Warn of Tarnished 'Brand' If Liberals Raise Canada's Top Tax Rate (May 6): The 1996 Carter Commission proposed capping income tax rates at 50 per cent only if the many big tax avoidance loopholes of the day were closed. But versions of many of the mid-1960s loopholes are still with us as "creative" forms of tax compliance. Today's relatively low top tax rates haven't yet been paid for in the coin that the commission demanded.
Shirley Tillotson, Halifax
..........
Losing a watchdog
For 10 years, federal corrections investigator Howard Sapers has been shining light into dark and often tragic corners of our prisons (Ottawa To Replace Prison-Service Watchdog – May 6). Now the federal government, offering no reasons, is refusing to renew his appointment. Why?
Nancy Morrison, West Vancouver
..........
Bridge to Expo 67
Robert Everett-Green describes the new Champlain Bridge in Montreal as "the bridge Expo 67 seemed to dream about, showing up 50 years late." Is it ever, and congratulations on the design to Danish architect Poul Ove Jensen. Perhaps it was by accident, but the pairs of "Y-shaped" pillars that support the underside of the bridge scream their likeness to the interlocking "Ys" that, in a circle, made the Expo 67 logo.
Tim Hyde, Oakville, Ont.
..........
Inspired reading
Mark Kingwell triggers great memories of youthful inspiration (Celebrate The Anthology Over the Text Book – May 6). I still harbour one or two high-school Norton Anthologies. There, among the greats such as T.S. Eliot and W.H. Auden, I discovered Canadian poets such as Al Birney, A.M. Klein, and a young Leonard Cohen, who challenged us by painting the Canadian interior landscape with bold new colours.
Sheila Petzold, Ottawa