Ford Claims ‘Huge Victory’ For Tiny Cuts – Sept. 28: It would seem to me that the quickest way to raise $65-million is to reinstate the vehicle registration fee of $60 per car. Cancelling it was an empty-headed move by Toronto Mayor Rob Ford to garner favour with the public.
Mr. Ford cancelled the fee saying that it hurt the poorer classes. Terminating social programs and cutting hundreds of jobs not only strains the poorer classes, but increases their numbers as well.
Rita Rayman, Toronto
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Glass ceiling
Margaret Wente (What Glass Ceiling? It’s the Mommy Track – Sept. 22) notes that the careers of female MBAs slow down after having kids. But Catalyst research shows that female MBAs without kids lagged men on both pay and advancement. Regardless of family status, women start at lower positions and earn $4,600 less than men in their first job out of business school – and the gap widens throughout their careers.
May Jeong (Imposter Syndrome: The Flip Side of Success for Women – Sept 23) speculates that a fear of failure is behind the lack of women in the boardroom, but ignores abundant evidence on double binds facing women as they advance, as well as organizational barriers including a lack of role models, limited access to informal networks, and stereotypes around what leaders should look like.
Unfortunately, an all-too-familiar focus on “fixing the women” absolves organizations from the need to eradicate gender bias that creeps, often unintentionally, into talent management systems, limiting opportunities for talented women.
Deborah Gillis, senior vice-president, Catalyst, Toronto
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Blowing hard
Re Banks, Regulators Square Off Amid Turmoil – Sept. 27: Too bad that Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase had not been warned by his mentors that:
a) those who are in doubt shout
b) those who truly know do not blow
Ken Murray, Guelph, Ont.
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Retirement solution
Unlike most Canadians, I think the new crime legislation could be a blessing in disguise. Brand spanking new prisons and retro anti-drug laws will be just the ticket for retiring boomers. Most of them won’t have enough money to retire, nor will they find an available bed in already overcrowded eldercare facilities. But, thanks to Justice Minister Rob Nicholson, all they have to do is wander down to a police station, offer to sell a few joints to a cop and boom – they get in-house health care, three hot meals a day and, best of all, no worries about all that unreported crime out there in the streets! Win-win-win.
Jim Lang, Thornbury, Ont.
