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Valuing income
Re: Minister Eyes Guaranteed Minimum Income To Tackle Poverty (Feb. 5): It truly is time to have a public discussion about a guaranteed annual, and adequate, income for all Canadians. We have some of the basic elements in place (social benefits, graduated income taxes). We agree that, in principle, no one should go hungry or without shelter, but the bare-bones nature of most of these supports means that we have to supplement public programs with food banks and shelters.
The only argument against some form of GAI appears to be a moral one – that people would grow lazy and not work. That could be resolved by allowing people who work and also get the GAI the opportunity to keep most of the money they earn through work. To really address poverty, we should stop pretending, by throwing money into welfare and homeless programs, and start investing in people through a guaranteed annual, adequate, income.
Melissa Dvorak, Winnipeg
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A GAI, yes, but not if it is financed by raising income, sales, business or any other deadweight, economy-damaging taxes. Rather, it should be financed by capturing some of the economic rent – wealth that is created by the community and which should, in any case, be returned to the community. I suggest we call it a "citizen's dividend."
Frank de Jong, Faro, Yukon
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Because it is universal, a GAI would avoid the discrimination and stigmatization suffered by many welfare recipients. Also, it would increase personal freedom because use of the money would not be directed in a specific way. And it would compensate those involved in unpaid care work (mostly women), unlike current income-support programs that tie eligibility to labour market attachment.
Sid Frankel, Winnipeg
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Classroom resources
Re: Resources Scarce For Special-Needs Students (Feb. 5): As a teacher of 30 years with a special-education degree, I feel that we are lying to parents. Each classroom today has massive classroom complexities. Even when a teacher uses all the tools in the toolbox, it is impossible to meet the needs of all students well.
Inclusive education is a utopia we have tried to achieve, but the reality of our challenging classrooms makes this impossible to do. It would be nice if policy makers and education gurus listened to the teachers in the trenches and see what it is really like.
Helena Grant, Calgary
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Making the switch
Re It's Now Or Never, Mr. Trudeau, editorial, Feb. 5: I hope my tax dollars go toward transitional infrastructure – changing our existing urban roads so that travel by foot, bicycle and transit becomes more comfortable, safer, and faster than travel by motor vehicle in all seasons.
Charles Feaver, Winnipeg
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We signed a climate accord in Paris but I don't see any action. Gas is 40-to-50 cents cheaper per litre than it was 18 months ago, so people are buying more SUVs and pickup trucks, fewer hybrids and compacts. Our governments need to impose higher taxes at the pump, now, while we still remember those prices of $1.30 a litre (and more). Such taxes could help reduce our deficits, too.
Kenneth Brown, Toronto
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Happier hens
The Egg Farmers of Canada say they'll stop raising hens in tiny cages in 20 years because it apparently will take two decades to transition to a new system (Egg Farmers Pledge to Stop Using Battery Cages By 2036, Feb. 5).
I'd wager they could make the switch in six months if there were a profit in it. How about this: Raise the artificially low price to cover the additional overhead, pass along the cost to consumers, and end the harm to hens.
Geoffrey Morgan, Toronto
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It's great news that Canada's egg farmers have finally started to transition away from cruel battery cages, but it would be a mistake if they switch to so-called enriched cages, which don't significantly improve hen welfare. Most of Canada's fast-food chains have announced they are going with cage-free eggs. Egg farmers should follow their lead.
Peter Fricker, projects and communications director, Vancouver Humane Society
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Assisted dying
Re Parliament Must Let Doctors Practise With A Clear Conscience (Feb. 5): Thank you to John Carpay for noting that physicians have been guided for millennia by their Hippocratic oath. Given that doctors are trained, and bound by oath and conscience, to preserve life, guidelines are being generated to help us along.
Unfortunately, this is resulting in a lot of bafflegab. For example, a set of recommendations for family doctors asks them to differentiate between suicidal ideation (which requires careful exploration and often treatment) and a request for physician-assisted suicide (which apparently requires complying with the patient's wishes). Having practised psychiatry for more than three decades, I have to admit that's Greek to me.
Making excellent care accessible for all suffering patients will take more effort and expense than assisting suicide; nonetheless, our patients deserve it.
J. Halpern, MD, Toronto
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The Canadian Medical Association would like to correct suggestions that timely patient access to assisted dying will be impeded by physicians either choosing not to provide the service, or not making a referral.
The debate is not one between patient access or the right to conscientious objection by health-care professionals; we can accomplish both. There are other ways besides a referral to ensure access, without requiring a physician to violate his or her moral integrity.
The CMA has articulated a strong duty that in no way compromises patient access or patient rights. It clearly outlines an objecting physician's positive obligations not to abandon their patients as part of the principle of solidarity and to transfer care at the patient's request.
The real issue here is the need to create systems and resources that support access, as has been done in other international jurisdictions that have legalized assisted dying, and where access is not an issue. Let's shift the focus to where it belongs.
Cindy Forbes, president, Canadian Medical Association, Ottawa
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Get out the duster
It's nice to see Senator Bernie Sanders referred to in the news media, as he refers to himself, as a "democratic socialist" (Democratic Hopefuls Sanders And Clinton Spar Over 'Progressive' Credentials, online, Feb. 4). Have we had a politician in Canada who embraced that label since Tommy Douglas? Maybe it's time for Canadians to dust off the s-word.
Simon Renouf, Edmonton