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Pride and honour

If Remembrance Day becomes a statutory holiday, I worry that with time it will turn into just another day off to have a party, sleep in, or go away for a long weekend. The day's meaning will be lost (A Holiday To Remember – editorial, Nov. 6).

If the kids have a day off, will they put down the iPad or video game to go to a Remembrance Day event? Will adults stop watching TV or doing the laundry and stand to remember for two minutes in silence?

It is so important that we take those two minutes on the actual day to remember a lifetime of freedom, rights and privileges. We cannot allow the death of thousands of Canadians troops to be forgotten. We cannot forget why this country is "glorious and free."

Danielle Marchese, Burlington, Ont.

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Thanks for your excellent editorial concerning the status of Remembrance Day. It's past time that all provinces make it a statutory holiday. Twelve years ago, I also wrote to you on this subject, expressing the hope that "the provinces can soon pass legislation to ensure that this very significant day is properly honoured." Here we are in 2014 with no progress. The only thing slower than political change is the Leafs' march to the cup.

Peter D. Hambly, Hanover, Ont.

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As a member of the Royal Canadian Legion, I spent the weekend giving out poppies and collecting donations. It seems not everyone knows what the poppy campaign is all about.

Canadians wear the poppy on the left lapel to honour all soldiers who put their lives on the line at their country's call in the various conflicts over the past century. The poppy is a symbol of respect for living vets and shows our commitment to remembering those who died.

A few people told me they didn't want a poppy as it supported war. Not so: The poppy is a symbol of remembrance, not war. The best example of this symbolism is the Canadian National Vimy Memorial at Vimy Ridge in France. This magnificent monument commemorates the fallen soldiers of war. It is not a symbol of war, victory or conflict but of remembrance and peace, just like the poppy.

Canadians should wear a poppy with pride and honour, remembering those who have fallen and those still alive who served with the aim of making this world a better place for all.

David A. Jones, West Vancouver

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Your editorial reminded me of my visit this week to one of the buildings at U of T Mississauga. I was sporting my poppy and noted a poppy box on the reception counter. But with all the people coming and going, I didn't spot a single other person wearing a poppy. So, I'm on the side of the vets who say that making Nov. 11 a stat will mean that apathetic people won't get even a basic exposure to the meaning of the day that companies and institutions tend to provide.

David Gelder, Mississauga

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Outrageous rates

Re An Opaque Deal On Hidden Fees (editorial, Nov. 5): A bigger question is why the government allows the banks to charge 20-plus per cent interest on credit card debt. It's morally criminal.

I've asked ministers of finance this question without ever getting a reasonable answer.

The government is kowtowing to the financial institutions, whose "priceless" business model is essentially forcing multiple cards on customers through insidious ad campaigns and personnel rewards programs that lead to mountains of consumer debt that carries outrageous interest rates – all to the terrible disadvantage of the Canadian public.

Marc Whittemore, Kelowna, B.C.

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Survivor politics

Re Do The Republicans Just Understand Voters Better? (Nov. 6): Margaret Wente is reading too much into in the U.S. midterm results. The Democrats lost while defending seats in red states to an electorate that was older, whiter and smaller. Come 2016, the coalition of college grads, women, millennials and minorities will be back, while the GOP will be defending gains in blue states. Like it or not, demography is on the side of the Dems, the six-year itch notwithstanding.

Sean Sunderland, Ottawa

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As long as ignorance, pettiness and misplaced allegiance predominate among voters, while greed, cynicism and intractable dogmatism drive politicians (in other words, as long as human beings are a part of the process), results such as these are inevitable. And the people's "representatives" will no more reflect the total population than do the participants on Survivor.

Or perhaps they do?

Allan Medad, Caledon, Ont.

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He's on the board

At the beginning of Frank McKenna's commentary, Truly In The National Interest (Nov. 6), it says he is the "former premier of New Brunswick and former ambassador to the United States." So far, so good. But it should also have said that Mr. McKenna is on the board of directors of Canadian Natural, which describes itself as "one of the largest independent crude oil and natural gas producers in the world." That strikes me as pertinent information when he is urging us to accept that Energy East is in our best interests.

Patrick Nichols, St. John's

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A-Rod's actions

Cathal Kelly contends that Alex Rodriguez, despite being a "liar and a drug cheat … may also be the greatest player in baseball history" (It's Not About Him Being Clean, It's About Him Coming Clean – Nov. 6). That's like saying Richard Nixon may be the greatest president in U.S. history.

Comparing A-Rod favourably with, or putting him above, all the baseball greats who played their entire careers within the rules and the code of ethics that govern their sport not only lowers the bar but clearly undermines their legendary achievements.

While the massive quantities of PEDs that he consumed may have turned a "skinny kid" into someone who resembles a "stand-up freezer," there is at least one thing that he will never be: A stand-up guy.

Jeffrey Peckitt, Oakville, Ont.

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It is not Alex Rodriguez's steroid use that will bar him from Cooperstown, but his hubris.

Connor Hammond, Oakville, Ont.

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Cathal Kelly lost me with his very first paragraph (on the front page, no less) with his premise that Alex Rodriguez "may also be the greatest baseball player in history." The greatest ballplayer was Willie Mays, a true quintuple threat. He could hit for average, hit for power, steal bases with gleeful abandon (and a high success rate), get anything in centrefield and throw rockets back in, keeping runners from advancing. All of this with an unbridled joy and a love for the game. Case (almost) closed.

Since Mr. Kelly also broaches the subject of A-Rod's character, let me add that, before the Giants moved to San Francisco, Mr. Mays routinely played stickball with the children in the streets of New York, outside the grounds where the Giants' home games took place. Try picturing Mr. Rodriguez doing that.

Now, case closed.

Alan Rosenberg, Toronto

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