News

Meltdown over Chalk River

Stephen Harper can be content he’ll go down in history as a worthy successor to John Diefenbaker, now that he has his own version of the Avro Arrow (Canada’s Medical Isotope Industry In Peril As U.S. Moves To Make Its Own Supply - July 10).

His thoughtless suggestion that we get out of the isotope industry will soon bear fruit. The U.S. is responding and Canadian expertise and creativity will drain south, just as our aerospace talent did after the Arrow to fuel the success of NASA and the U.S. aeronautical industry.

James Wadsley, Hamilton, Ont.

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The front page of yesterday’s Globe was classic Canadian government: An exceptional President Barack Obama at the top of the page (Obama Bends To Bring Emerging Nations On Side), and a Canadian government leadership screw-up at the bottom of the page (Canada’s Medical Isotope Industry In Peril As U.S. Moves To Make Its Own Supply).

Leaders make history, they don’t let history happen.

Mike Matulewicz, Mississauga, Ont.

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Stephen Harper makes a big deal of attacking Michael Ignatieff’s credentials as a Canadian because of his time spent outside the country.

Meanwhile, he as much as hands our medical isotope industry to the Americans by walking away from it. If that’s his idea of being a Canadian, he needs to spend some time outside the country.

J.W. Villiers, Fredericton

Baring the costs?

Not all opposition to federal funding of Toronto’s Pride parade comes from Conservatives or social conservatives (Veteran Tory Defends Ablonczy Over Grant To Gay Pride Event - July 10). Some comes from Canadians who don’t want to see their federal tax dollars spent on an event that permits Israel-bashing.

When parade grand marshal El-Farouk Khaki allowed the participation of a group called Queers Against Israeli Apartheid, he changed the nature of the parade from a celebration to a protest march.

Manuel Matas, Winnipeg

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Both the Pride parade and the Calgary Stampede receive funding from the federal government; both are cultural events with ethical dimensions attached. There are, however, some important differences. In Stampede rodeo events, horses and bulls buck because of bucking straps tightly wrapped around highly sensitive flank areas. The animals buck because they are trying to escape.

“Cowboys” chase terrified three-month-old calves, lasso them around the neck, then slam them against the ground and tie their legs as quickly as possible. Dozens of horses and other animals and several people have died at Calgary Stampedes.

Pride celebrates the triumph of co-existence over persecution, of understanding over ignorance. So, yes, Tory MP Brad Trost is quite right to call Pride Week a political event. Maybe the Calgary Stampede should become a lot more “political,” too.

Peter Reinecke, Ottawa

Death of the famous

I’m confused. A pop star, whose accomplishments far exceed those of Mohammed, Newton, Christ, Gutenberg, Pasteur, Michelangelo and Euclid combined, passes away, and yet you insist on devoting space in your newspaper to G8 summit meetings among world leaders that could determine whether or not the human race will survive the next three decades. What’s that all about?

Ted Wright, Antigonish, N.S.

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Since Michael Jackson’s death, I’ve thought often of the untimely passing in 1962 of Marilyn Monroe, only 36, another great performer, and I recall the words of Arthur Miller. When he was told his former wife had died, probably of an accidental drug overdose, Mr. Miller said, quite simply, “It was inevitable.”

The same might be said of Michael Jackson’s sudden death after a life full of triumphs, but as well, marked by abuse, uncertainties, and public humiliation: “It was inevitable.”

Muriel Abrams Nelson, Edmonton

Children need to mourn

As a former executive director of Bereaved Families of Ontario, I commend The Globe for Kids Need To ‘Say Goodbye’ (Life, July 9). I’d like to stress the importance of children attending a parent’s funeral if they wish. Children need support and honesty when a parent dies, but especially an opportunity to say goodbye.

Margaret J. McGovern, Toronto

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I was 9 when my 41-year-old father died. The shock of it - I am in my 80s - remains to this day. He fell ill on a Thursday, was taken to hospital and died on Sunday. In my nightclothes, at the top of the stairs, I was told by a family member my father was dead - just like that. After a sleepless night, I begged to go to my mother, but was told she was not to be disturbed.

I mooched about that day and the next, being told to be extra quiet when I was outside her door, where I did my crying. I saw her briefly the next day, dressed in black, which she never wore. My grandmother hugged me and said I couldn’t go to the funeral, it was for grownups only. Grieving for my beloved father took place in my head while I bit my nails to the quick.

All I wanted was to say goodbye.

Ruth St. Clair, Port Hope, Ont.

Editing is hell

Life is hell. On Thursday, CBC Newsworld’s graphics included the words “concensus” and “cemetary.” An item in The Globe (Open Ambition, True Grit Propel Teen To Victory In The Pool - July 10) spoke of a synthetic swim suit that helped swimmers break over 120 world records “in the past couple years.” Is there any hope?

James Gow, Fergus, Ont.

Transit torture

While it would be great to have an AVE train connecting Calgary and Edmonton, unless there’s a decent transit system at the Edmonton end, the exercise would be fruitless (Trains Like Spain’s Won’t Come Without Pains - July 10). Most European cities have seamless transit systems that make travel easy and affordable. Taking the bus in Edmonton is an exercise in inconvenience.

S. M. Steele, Victoria

First Nations accountability

All candidates for the AFN election for National Chief are required to submit a statement of expenses prior to the election that is scrutinized by the chief electoral officer and other candidates to ensure they are in compliance with AFN rules (Assembly Of First Nations Accountability At Stake - editorial, July 10).

Also, candidates must participate in a candidates’ forum the day before the election, where they must answer questions from voters, including questions about the source of donations. AFN elections are conducted according to rules in the AFN Charter set out by Chiefs in Assembly in 1990. The chiefs across Canada have the right to change or modify those rules as they see fit.

Donations to candidates have not been an issue in previous elections, nor have AFN elections been mired in charges of improper financing, “in-and-out” scandals or the other problems that seem to recur in federal and provincial elections.

Bob Watts, CEO, Assembly of First Nations

As time and money go by

Today’s seniors don’t follow trends, we set them (The Growing Cost Of An Aging World - Report on Business, July 9). Yesterday, as I walked to my gym to do the weight training that complements my dragon boating and cycling, I saw several fat moms pushing school-age children in strollers. Why aren’t these kids walking? My nieces and nephews are glued to TVs and computers; children I care for professionally are unquestionably sedentary. Let’s see how much these people will cost us as time goes by.

Kathleen Collin, Vancouver

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Since I turn 60 this year, sigh, I am watching seniors’ issues with great interest. Of course we have financial problems - a falling birth rate, more people 65-plus and fewer people to pay for pensions. Get this, seniors did not cause these problems. What did?

A tax climate with tunnel vision to say only earning matters, and made no allowance, financially or morally, for those who might take time away from earning to care for a child. The result: fewer children, fewer taxpayers, lopsided bills for those with paid work, and increasing resentment.

Solution? Balance the equation better. Create a birth bonus, universal maternity leave and family allowance to age 18. Permit income splitting. To change the outcome, change the income.

Beverley Smith, Calgary

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As a 62-year-old-and-counting Canadian male, I’ve been meaning, for some time, to apologize for getting older. I have no one to blame but myself and, of course, my parents’ bad timing in the late 1940s. They failed to understand having me and my sister would burden future systems to such a degree, governments would be hard pressed to manage the fiscal collapse they allowed by pathetically inept regulation of greed.

I also blame my employer for tempting me with early retirement when I was a mere pup of 55. They thought they could hire younger, quicker and, ultimately, cheaper staff and allow me to wander off to whatever pasture I had picked out. I can’t thank them enough for their lack of foresight.

Even though I eat well and exercise (thank God for aggravating articles like this for keeping me with a taste of stress), I imagine, with sufficient coddling, I have at least 20 years left.

Many on my little island are well into their dotage. We have a population cap that keeps out too many of the young. It brings me comfort, knowing I will be surrounded by peers as I grind, inexorably, to a halt.

Bill Engleson, Denman Island, B.C.