Speaking frankly
Re The Undervaluing Of Skilled Newcomers (editorial, Nov. 2): Really? Did you read your front-page index Wednesday morning? Twelve per cent of Ontario law school grads cannot find articling jobs, yet, Canada still welcomes lawyers.
RIM stock is at a seven-year low, ripe for takeover and dissolution (we have already had Nortel); yet, yearly, Canada welcomes an equivalent of a new graduating class of immigrant engineers.
Earlier this year, The Globe highlighted the plight of graduating orthopedic surgeons, in particular, and any doctor who requires hospital services, in general, with underemployment rates that reach 80 per cent.
Where are the jobs? Who should be hired?
A frank conversation with prospective non-credentialed professional immigrants would be: Come to Canada, and sacrifice your career, so that your children may be integrated into society, and pay the taxes to cover the excesses of a baby-boom generation.
Stephen Halman, orthopedic surgeon, Toronto
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And Canada?
Just last week I read in a local Namibian newspaper about steps being taken to introduce indoor-toilet facilities in certain rural parts of Namibia. This week, I read that Canada may accomplish the same thing in Northern Manitoba within the next two years (Delays Hold Up Water Supply On Reserves – Nov. 1). How can a supposed Third World country, where apparently some 60 per cent of the population survive on less than a dollar a day, be so far ahead of one of the supposed richest countries in the world? Perhaps Canada should be seeking aid from Africa.
Richard B. Lindsay, Vancouver
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Truth in costing
Why the haste to push through sweeping crime legislation without a meaningful accounting of the expected costs, let alone demonstrating the need for such legislation (Quebec Attacks Tory Crime Bill – Nov. 2)? You reported earlier that just the Truth in Sentencing Act would cost almost $500-million a year – and that's only one act. No wonder Quebec is balking; common sense seems to have been put in lockdown.
Thomas Nguyen, Winnipeg
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Clean sweep
In response to the letter to the editor by Tom Stamatakis, the president of the Canadian Police Association (Boys In Blue), I have this to say:
- As a criminology student, I am concerned with the belief that the most effective way to deal with crime is through expanded policing, as opposed to less interventionist strategies that consistently show replicable value;
- As a law student, I am concerned with the suggestion that paperwork is perceived as an impediment as opposed to a check and balance on power;
- As a public policy student, once a child-and-youth worker, I am concerned with the suggestion that spending a significant amount of public funds is considered a necessary benefit for one group but not for others that face similar physically onerous and chemically hazardous circumstances in their daily work.
However, as a political science student, I am fascinated with the way the discussion was spun away from questionable overtime, high relative salaries, union power and the cost-saving potential of civilian participation, toward spit, blood and meth labs.
Alex McLellan, graduate student, York University
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Tom Stamatakis's letter is an example of the hyperbole that has come to be the norm when talking about policing. Margaret Wente challenged the generous allowance every officer gets for dry cleaning (Taking Us To The Cleaners – Nov. 1); Mr. Stamatakis defends the allowance citing the stink of having raided a grow-op. How many officers enter a grow-op every day? Why not expense the unusual and leave day-to-day cleaning to the employee?
He goes on the defend speed traps because speeding is often associated with major road accidents. Drivers know most speed traps are set up where the limit is low while the road is wide, with multiple lanes and no exits or entrances, what the police themselves call a "fishing hole." It's mostly about issuing tickets and very little about preventing accidents.
The police, through their unions, dramatize activities that make up little of an officer's normal duty in an attempt to scare their political bosses and the public into meeting blanket financial claims. Enough of the hyperbole, it is time to deconstruct the activities and responsibilities performed by the highly paid police and reassign or eliminate those of low value and risk that can easily be done by others.
David Kister, Toronto
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Medium, message
I applaud Mark Carney for quickly endorsing the proposed Greek referendum (Carney Says Greece Right On Referendum – Nov. 1). Finance minister Paul Martin certainly communicated well with Canadians when he tackled Canada's debt problem. The G20 should help Greece do an Internet-based referendum as quickly as possible – this month. Fast referendums may also be needed in Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ireland and even, perhaps, the U.S. Marshall McLuhan would be ecstatic.
Allen Coombs, Kingston, Ont.
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Sing out
Community choirs are often dogged by money woes (Top Glee Club Singing The Budget Blues – Nov. 2), but the reason to support them is much bigger than their occasional success in growing a professional musician. For every singer who becomes a celeb, there are thousands who don't. But every single chorister learns commitment, teamwork, responsibility, tolerance, patience, creativity, respect and pride in achievement. These are the life skills that build good citizens and communities, starting at age 5 and stopping never. Calgary, and all the other cities and towns across Canada, need to dig deep and keep their communities singing.
Claire Marshall, board member, Leading Note Foundation
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Just wondering
While it initially seems preposterous that Prince Charles has his shoelaces ironed every day – I mean, who thinks of such things? – its plausibility increases, given earlier reports that he has someone to put toothpaste on his toothbrush (Social Studies – Nov. 2). Where will this end? Does he have a "Chief hint-giver" for the daily crossword, perhaps?
Nigel Brachi, Edmonton
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Cain too, Cain not
Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain is not the first politician to suffer from punning on the theme of Cain and Abel (Cain's Struggles – Nov. 2). Lord Palmerston was the British prime minister in 1863. Political and social circles of the time were electrified by the news that Palmerston, who was 79, was being cited as co-respondent in a divorce case initiated by a journalist by the name of O'Kane.
Palmerston vigorously denied the accusations and the case was eventually withdrawn. Nevertheless, the gossip mill went into overtime with comments such as: We know she was Cain but was he Abel?
Reid Robinson, Regina