Trade, human rights
Canada's policy engagement with China should recognize the linkages between trade and human-rights standards, as Pitman Potter ( The Integrated Approach To Engaging Beijing – Feb. 6) quite rightly emphasizes.
Many Canadian companies doing business in China are uncomfortable with the human-rights agenda because they don't see its relevance to their own dealings. Often, they believe pressing for improved human-rights performance by China risks their prospects for success.
The fundamentals of human-rights protection, which include the rule of law and an industrial relations policy based on basic labour rights, are also key elements of successful economic and trade relations. China's engagement with the global economy over the past 20 years has moved it slowly toward an acceptable standard of performance on these fundamentals. Canada's government and its community can help move it further along this continuum.
Lesley Jacobs, leader, Canadian delegation for the first Canada-China Forum on Industrial Relations and Labour Rights, Beijing, 2011
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Over the past 12 months, nearly 20 Tibetans have burned themselves alive (Tibetan Herders Self-Immolate – Feb. 6). With no other avenue of meaningful political expression open to them, and with their lives becoming more and more unbearable, these Tibetans burned themselves alive to make their voice heard in Beijing, and to try to influence opinion outside China, with the aim of pressuring Beijing into changing its Tibetan policies. Beijing's response has been to characterize the self-immolations as acts of terrorism.
As our Prime Minister travels to Beijing to advance business interests with the same people who govern Tibet, we should remind ourselves there has to be a balance between ideals and pragmatism. Practically speaking, even if those in Beijing are, indeed, the functionaries of a brutal, totalitarian dictatorship, that does not mean we should never do business with them. Canada has entered into negotiations with such people before and will again. But where does the balance lie between right and wrong? We all want to get rich. The question is what price we are willing, as Canadians, to pay.
Gareth Sparham, Tibetan language program, University of California at Berkeley
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Testing times
Rest assured, the original "lie back and think of [England] quote is not a reference to rape (Sad And Shocking – letters, Feb. 6). It's a reference to doing one's duty and is said ostensibly to originate with Queen Victoria advising one of her daughters on said daughter's wedding night. The marriage, apparently, was one of convenience, hence the necessity to view conjugal rights as a duty. The saying merely means one should grit one's teeth in testing times and do one's best.
M. Whitfield, Ottawa
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Fierce resistance
Enough already with "truculent" (Truculent Standards – letters, Feb. 6). Few of us knows what it means and it's a pain to have to look it up. Having done so, I now know that truculent means "aggressively defiant." Synonyms include fierce, ferocious, savage, aggressive, brutal and cruel. Take your pick but, please, no more "truculent."
Paula McPherson, St. Catharines, Ont.
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What happens?
Many Canadians work for companies with "group" insurance policies/benefit plans that include life insurance, health benefits (drug, dental, vision, etc.) and short-term and long-term disability coverage. What happens when these group policies terminate at age 65?
If we move the age of entitlement to government pension benefits to age 67, this will leave those Canadians without coverage or sick leave entitlement between the ages of 65 and 67. What happens if a 66-year-old has a minor injury (broken arm, for example) that requires them to take several weeks off work? Where does the money they require to live come from if they have no entitlement to short-term disability for the period they are incapacitated?
While the terms of private insurance coverage contracted for between employees and insurers are not the purview of the government, this issue must be taken into account when considering pension reform.
Joan LaRoche, Stittsville, Ont.
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King Charles
Agnostics? Why, even atheists would be tempted to say "God Save the Queen" on the occasion of her Diamond Jubilee (Long To Reign Over Us – editorial, Feb. 6). A major concern for believers and non-believers alike, however, is the prospect of one day having to say: "God Save that King."
Louis Desjardins, Belleville, Ont.
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A cautionary tale
My experience with an online university education is a cautionary tale (We're Ripe For A Great Disruption In Education – Feb. 4). Last year, I enrolled in an accredited, online Masters Degree program at an Illinois university. The fall semester consisted of two courses. One course basically gave me credit for keeping a log of patients I see in my job as a physician assistant, so I was paying the university to do work I already do. The other consisted of the instructor posting one website link for students to look at. That's it.
There were no lectures, no assignments, no quizzes, no exams, no online discussions or tutorials. And for that I paid the university about $16,000, charged as an out-of-state student (even though I had no access to any campus services). When the bill came for the winter session, I withdrew from the program rather than waste more of my money. When professors don't have to actually show up in a classroom and teach, it's all too easy for them to provide online students with nothing. I have hired a lawyer to try to get my money back.
Maureen Taylor, Toronto
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Canada is behind
Living donor paired exchange programs should indeed be encouraged, but this is relevant mostly for living donation for kidney transplantation (Organ Donation – editorial, Feb. 3). Generally, other life-saving transplants require deceased donor donations. Canada has steadily fallen behind other countries in efforts to increase such donation, and still lacks a national strategy for donation and transplantation.
A comprehensive report generated through the efforts of a number of dedicated individuals in the organ donation and transplantation communities working through Canadian Blood Services (CBS) was submitted to the federal, provincial and territorial conference of deputy ministers of health in June, 2011. This report has yet to be released or acted upon. The transplant community strongly supports the solutions proposed by CBS, and urges the government to act.
Lori J. West, MD, president, International Society of Heart and Lung Transplantation, Edmonton
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Panda diplomacy
Pandas Cheng Cheng and Bing Bing came from Chengdu and stayed at the Assiniboine Park Zoo in Winnipeg from May to September in 1989 (Panda Fever – letters, Feb. 6). I don't know if they were diplomatic, but they were certainly cute.
Linda Heslegrave, Toronto