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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The price of 'better'
I would have a lot more sympathy for the provincial health ministers if they were able to show that 6-per-cent annual increases over the past 10 years or 5-per-cent annual increases over the next
10 years would have had or will have a corresponding improvement in the health of Canadians (Provinces Irate Over Health Funding Talks – Dec. 19).
Ivan McMorris, Winnipeg
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Private: It's yes or no
Re Mystery Pricing (editorial, Dec. 19): I've never understood the Toronto Real Estate Board's privacy argument. If a property's sale price is private information, why do I keep receiving flyers from realtors telling me how much "Over Asking" every address in my neighbourhood sold for? Information is either private, or it isn't.
Tim I.G. Hyde, Oakville, Ont.
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Owe, owe, owe
Re Buying Votes, With Cash For Home Buyers (editorial, Dec. 19): If Christy Clark really believes that owning the place you live is what being a Canadian is about, why didn't her government act in a timely manner to control some of the excesses of the housing market that The Globe and Mail has documented?
The B.C. Premier's failure to act has ensured that home ownership in Vancouver will be unavailable to many and contributed to a growing population of permanent renters. If free money is to be made available, perhaps it would be more wisely directed at housing for renters, rather than those who have the financial ability to take advantage of the B.C. Home Owner Mortgage and Equity Partnership program.
Ms. Clark is living in the past if she believes owning the place where you live is a reasonable goal for an ever-increasing number of people.
Jim Braunagel, Vancouver
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The B.C. government is showing little appreciation for the causes of the outrageous real-estate inflation – chiefly rock bottom interest rates, with the side effect of growing massive personal debt.
The maximum loan under this program ($37,500) is available to those with a combined maximum income of $150,000 – a figure that suggests they are fairly affluent.
These initially interest-free loans will increase the number of eligible buyers, therefore increasing demand and putting additional upward pressure on prices.
Rate increases when they come will place a further debt burden on mortgage holders, with foreclosures if the higher payments cannot be met.
There is a crying need in this province for affordable housing for the homeless and treatment facilities for the mentally ill and for people addicted to drugs.
It seems to me that the $700-million this program is slated to loan would be better spent on trying to alleviate these problems, rather than contributing to escalating housing prices and growing household debt.
Gordon Catherwood, Gibsons, B.C.
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Delicate masterpiece
Re The Widowhood Effect (Folio, Dec. 17): Of all the articles I have read in The Globe and Mail over the years, Christina Frangou's is the most powerful and hauntingly beautiful of them all.
I feel graced by her decision to share her observations and her honesty. The white bathmat, the photograph of the white rose taped to the door "to indicate someone was dying in the room" and the packed-away ornaments: Her insights range from the most profound to the seemingly mundane – all of which reinforce the power of her words, the beauty of her marriage and the jagged edges of grief.
I will keep this article. Such a delicate masterpiece; I know I will return to it again and again.
Wendy Morton, Manotick, Ont.
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'New' cybernormal
Re Cyberaggression Is The 'New Normal' Trump Can't Ignore (Dec. 15): When foreign state actors (the Russians) use hacked digital information to influence the U.S. election, it's called a cyberattack.
When a domestic state actor (the FBI) uses suspicious digital information, and a non-state actor (Breitbart News) uses mis-information to influence the U.S. election, it's called democracy.
I think I know what George Orwell would have called it.
Les Bowser, Omemee, Ont.
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Scientists' influence
Re Program Defends Science 'In A World With Many Truths' (Dec. 14): I applaud the efforts of scientists to bring more science-based thinking to bear on public policy. However, besides writing the Prime Minister, scientists might also consider: attending more political meetings and conferences where public discussion of policy occurs; translating science-based recommendations into their politically communicable form; helping to recruit, encourage, and support science-literate candidates for public office; and utilizing the scientific method itself (observing, hypothesizing, and testing) to better understand and address those factors which currently limit scientific influence on public policy.
Preston Manning, Calgary
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It's for a pal
Re Pot-Purchasing Age Should Match Drinking Age, PM says (Dec. 16): Through my work as a lawyer and social worker, I am aware that large numbers of teens are already using alcohol and weed on a regular basis – and both are "illegal."
How can we possibly not expect that a "legal" consumer of marijuana at age 18 or 19 will not trickle weed down to friends, acquaintances or siblings, as is already the case with alcohol?!
We may unwittingly make them "dealers" to their friends.
Linda Perlis, Toronto
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Bombardier's world
Re Bombardier's Mysterious Russian Middleman (Report on Business, Dec. 17): Kudos to Mark MacKinnon for his patience, persistence and expertise in doing the research and producing this article. He describes a pathetically embarrassing and shameful example of international finance through a series of shell companies connecting one of Canada's biggest international players, the Canadian government of Stephen Harper and now of Justin Trudeau, Russian Railways and shell companies in the U.K., Cyprus, Seychelles, the state of Wyoming, Belize, Panama and the British Virgin Islands. What a world.
Alex C. Michalos, professor emeritus, political science, University of Northern British Columbia
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Having just read Mark MacKinnon's article on the mysterious role of Vladimir Yakunin in expediting Bombardier's booming business with Russian Railways, might I suggest that Toronto Mayor John Tory contact Vlad ASAP. Perhaps with his help, we might actually get delivery of the oft-delayed TTC streetcars.
Hugh McDougall, Toronto