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
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House of Dion
Re Liberals Pulled Trigger On Saudi Arms Deal (April 13): I can't believe that Stéphane Dion has succumbed to Saudi manipulation and threats. I can't believe that he really thinks that the terrible human rights violations in Saudi Arabia could be influenced by Canadian sales. Who is he kidding?
Many of the House of Saud have already been educated at top public schools in the United Kingdom. That education did nothing to deter them from brutality and violence. Close friendship with the Houses of Bush and Cheney did not modify their Wahhabism.
Thank goodness that Canada still has people like University of Montreal law professor Daniel Turp, when our politicians are so happy to sell their souls for gold.
Margaret van Dijk, Toronto
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To paraphrase a famous line from The West Wing: Why are Saudi or Yemeni lives worth less than Canadian jobs?
I don't know, but they are.
Chris Clark, Uxbridge, Ont.
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Unequal donations
Re The Worst Of The Worst In The West (editorial, April 12): For years, I've heard that unions and corporations (unions usually referred to as "big unions") donated to B.C.'s political parties. The insinuation has always been that the donations were equal, therefore the playing field was level.
It's nonsense that there was a level field, and I am glad your editorial laid out the amounts – the example in 2015 being that the Liberals received $5.3-million from corporations and the NDP received $375,000 from unions.
I hope this is not the only time these figures are published in the press, and in particular The Globe.
David Shore, Richmond, B.C.
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Bury it, don't praise
Re Canadian Science Publisher Breaks New Ground (April 12): The changes under way in the publication of academic articles threaten academic freedom, facilitate profiteering by journal publishing giants, and embed conflict of interest practices in the world of scholarly publishing.
Charging academics big fees for the privilege of publishing their research is a form of extortion, especially of young, struggling scholars attempting to forge their careers. These publishers claim to be upholding scholarly quality by preserving peer review, but in the interest of the bottom line, will they be tempted to compromise this process if authors pay up? They will reject highly praised submissions if the authors can't or won't pay. This is a system without integrity.
Combined with the outrageous subscription fees major publishing houses are now charging university libraries, leading to the widespread cancellation of journal subscriptions, the world of academic scholarship faces a potential crisis. Let's bury, not praise such odious "experiments."
Paul Axelrod, Toronto
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Corporate sway
Re Citizens, Not Corporations, Must Sway Anti-LGBT policies (April 13): Would Molly Sauter make the same argument if we were talking about companies boycotting apartheid-era South Africa? A denial of a human right is a denial of a human right, and companies that do not want to support such discrimination in 2016 should be commended, not criticized.
Gilles Coughlan, Ottawa
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I look forward to the announcement from Paypal that it will no longer do business in countries like Nigeria and Zambia, where homosexuality is illegal and severely punished. Similarly, I'm scouring the daily news for an announcement from Apple that it will close its stores in Saudi Arabia, where gays are executed.
Fred Caprilli, Toronto
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Azerbaijan's view
Re Why The Armenian Conflict Should Remain In The Frozen Status Quo (online, April 6): Some 20 per cent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territories – which include not only Nagorno-Karabakh, but also seven adjacent regions that were never populated by Armenians – are currently under the occupation of the Armenian armed forces.
Four UN Security Council Resolutions adopted in 1993, reconfirming the respect for the territorial integrity and the sovereignty of my country, demand the immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of the occupying forces from all the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.
The author's claim that "any 'solution' that sees the return of Nagorno-Karabakh to full Azerbaijani control will see the forced removal – or killing – of roughly 150,000 Armenians" is beyond all reason. Azerbaijan has always held the position that both the Armenian and Azerbaijani communities of Nagorno-Karabakh should co-exist in peace within the Republic of Azerbaijan as part of the final solution.
In the first stage, Armenian armed forces should withdraw from all the occupied regions of Azerbaijan. After the return of Azerbaijani refugees to their homes, the final status of Nagorno-Karabakh within Azerbaijan should be determined. Implementation of the "step-by-step" solution could be guaranteed, inter alia, through international peacekeeping forces. Here Canada could play an important role.
Ramil Huseynli, Chargé d'Affaires, Embassy of Azerbaijan in Canada
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Leap. To conclusions
Judging by the hysterical tone taken by many critics of the NDP's Leap Manifesto, it's clear Canada needs to have a frank discussion about what will be required to meet the 2 C warming limit that we recently agreed to co-operate with other countries to achieve.
The manifesto calls for a gradual reduction in fossil fuel use over the next three decades, with a goal to eliminate its use by 2050. Far from being "radical," the manifesto's proposal is quite reasonable if we intend to meet the terms of the Paris agreement.
The Liberal government has embraced a 1.5 C warming limit, a target that would require even deeper emissions cuts than the Leap Manifesto is calling for. Once again, it is the Liberals who have taken the more "radical" position.
Mark Vicari, Toronto
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It's "déjà vu all over again," the late 1960s and 1970s in rerun. Waffle memories, black armbands after Kent State, teach–ins, demonstrations against Litton Industries, anti-Irving screeds.
No hope of electoral victory for the NDP, but the conscience of a nation: hydroponic locally grown oranges, a bicycle in every garage and a solar panel on every roof, all fired by social media. I hope they never change, because we really need the comic relief.
Ken Johnson, Lindsay, Ont.
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Bottom of the heap
Re Jays' VP Of Business Operations Resigns (Sports, April 13): It is fortunate that the Blue Jays are able to find replacements for their departing executives from the Cleveland Indians. It is unfortunate that so far this season, they are playing baseball like the Cleveland Indians.
David M. Pelz, London, Ont.