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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Battling Islamic State
Re Ottawa Expanding IS Mission (Feb. 9): Islamic State is a global threat. Dealing with it will require a sustained, calm, determined and co-ordinated global response. It is unfortunate that our government has decided that Canada will not join in such response.
Peter Dykstra, Kanata, Ont.
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The government has stepped up with an approach more in tune with our Canadian values. No longer will we be sending our fighter jets to bomb from on high. We will change to a mission of putting more boots on the ground, which will provide much needed direct support to our allies. Many bombers from many countries may be what's on offer, but training and equipping troops on the ground is what is missing.
This, coupled with a robust financial commitment to help relieve the human misery, is much closer to the kind of contribution I want to see from my country.
John Kloosterboer, Kincardine, Ont.
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Does the government think all coalition partners should remove their fighter jets from the mission, or just Canada? Also, with more people providing training and humanitarian support on the ground and the increased odds of accidentally being caught in a firefight, who will cover our troops with air support?
Dan Petryk, Calgary
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Market probe
Re B.C. To Probe Profiteering By Real Estate Agents In Vancouver (Feb. 9): It seems difficult to imagine that it takes significant expenditure of time and resources by The Globe and Mail to get the City of Vancouver, the Real Estate Council of B.C., the provincial Superintendent of Real Estate, and probably others, to take action on issues that they all claim to already know about. What are these agencies doing when they are not protecting the people?
John Duncan, Peterborough, Ont.
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At every stage of the contract-assignment process, both the full land-transfer tax and a 100-per-cent capital gains tax should be levied. That should at least slow things down a bit.
Jan Conradi, Kelowna, B.C.
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Here's an idea for shedding some light on who is behind the profiteering in Vancouver's toxic real estate market: Name them. Real estate agents beam out at us from ubiquitous ads that usually offer some combination of trust, and results. According to the Globe investigation, some realtors profit from that trust through contract assignments that inflate prices and increase the agents' take.
We are told the practice is legal. In that case, let's put faces and names to the practice. Reporter Kathy Tomlinson knows who at least some of these realtors are. The Real Estate Council of B.C. can easily check its files and identify the rest.
Ian Gill, Vancouver
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Trying trial
Re The Ghomeshi Trial Turns Into A Fiasco, Feb. 9: Margaret Wente writes, "Many of us hoped [Jian] Ghomeshi's accusers would prevail …" which is just wrong; it would also be wrong to the hope that the defendant would prevail.
It is our justice system, as imperfect as it is, that we should hope will prevail and deliver the correct verdict, whatever it may be. The fact that accusers came forward and told their stories will hopefully "give voice to the many silent victims of sexual assault who have never been heard."
Jeff McGill, Victoria
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Ms. Wente writes that "not one of Mr. Ghomeshi's accusers behaved like people who'd been attacked." She seems to believe that women who are attacked all behave in a uniform and correct way, but there is no right way to behave after an attack.
Some women talk about it immediately, some don't tell for weeks, months, years later; some go to the police, some don't; some are devastated; some refuse to acknowledge the attack happened; some try to reconcile with their attacker, some never talk to the attacker again.
Louisa Russell, Vancouver
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Express rides
Re Metrolinx to Explore All Options To Save UPX (Feb. 9): Had Metrolinx explored all options for the Union-Pearson Express before it went into service between Pearson airport and downtown Union Station, it would have noted that the trip from Vancouver airport to downtown Vancouver on the SkyTrain costs less than $10.
Jane Crist, Collingwood, Ont.
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Friends in need
Stanley Coren is right to celebrate society recognizing dogs as sentient beings capable of fear, disgust, anger, joy, surprise and love (Law Finally Protects Humanity's Best Friend, Focus, Feb. 6). Why isn't the same regard shown for pigs, cows, sheep and other so-called food animals? We pet one; we eat the other. Why?
Nicholas Read, Vancouver
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I come from a family of dog lovers and we have always treated our dogs with the utmost respect and love. Research proves how much they give back to us, whether it be with people in seniors' residences, or children in hospital for long-term care, or with veterans suffering from PTSD. Dogs add value, and must be valued.
Wendy Pitblado, Toronto
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Japan's pacifism
Brahma Chellaney advocates Japan's recent departure from postwar pacifism as a precondition for peace in Asia (A Resurgent Japan Can Ensure Lasting Peace In Asia, Feb. 2). However, he fails to grasp the political conditions in Japan and neighbouring countries. Recent polls show that 75 per cent of the Japanese public are dissatisfied with the government ramming through legislation that would allow "self-defence forces" more active military roles outside Japan, and only 38 per cent support revision of the pacifist constitution.
With the constitutional pledge that renounces war (known as Article 9), the people of Japan have chosen to solve international disputes with diplomatic solutions. It is the people of Japan, not the United States, who decide how they defend their country and right to live in peace.
Tomoe Otsuki, Montreal (on behalf of Article 9 groups in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver)
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Family estate
I was interested to read about the upcoming sale of Conrad Black's estate on Park Lane Circle in Toronto (New Listing: Conrad Black's $21.8-Million Mansion, Report on Business, Feb. 5). You may be interested to know that the estate was built for my late parents, Eugene and Lillias Hawke, in 1941.
It was designed by Eric Arthur and originally sat on 12 acres of land. I spent many happy childhood years in the house. My parents sold it to Mr. Black's father in 1950; later, Conrad Black made major changes to the house over a number of years.
Tony Hawke, North York, Ont.