Skip to main content
letters

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

..................................................................................................................................

Flipping out

Re Flipping Prompts Call For Inquiry In B.C. (Feb. 8): Rapidly rising prices and plenty of willing buyers – it's not surprising that some are playing the flip game. And it sure helps to be a full-time player.

The nature of the alleged unfairness is that some non-professional sellers seem unaware that prices are rising rapidly, and are miffed when they discover that their property has resold in a flip for more than they got. People need to be aware of the market – its trends and its prices – and choose a real estate agent with care. Complaining that you did not get the eight-months-later sale price is somewhat disingenuous.

Vancouver real estate is well-known as one of the best investment plays in the world, and people will play until the bubble bursts. But such is the speculation game.

Ken Ohrn, Vancouver

-------------------------

The real estate agent has a fiduciary duty to act in the best interest of the party he is contracted to work for. If the same agent makes more than one commission on a sale of the same property, within the same contract, that agent has violated his fiduciary duty to the seller, and would be liable for the excess amount of any secondary sale. He could be sued by the seller. He could also lose his real estate licence, or have a disciplinary action against him by the real estate board.

A clause in the contract that allows assignment is not meant for the purpose of flipping the property; it is meant as a means of conveyance from the original purchaser to a differently named individual or corporation, without any change in the original contract, namely the purchase price.

Marc Pearsall, Toronto

-------------------------

Still learning?

Jenni Byrne tries to explain why the Conservatives lost the 2015 federal election (How To Avoid The Political Wilderness, Feb. 8). She should look no further than to her own statement, that the NDP was never the party's "enemy." The Conservatives lost because many Canadians – indigenous peoples, environmentalists, refugees, scientists, bureaucrats – were tired of being cast as an "enemy" of the state.

Unless Conservatives like Ms. Byrne learn this fundamental lesson, they may be left for years in the wilderness.

Isabella Tatar, Toronto

-------------------------

Ms. Byrne would have been better to answer the question she appears never to have asked herself: why there was "too great" a desire in the country for change. The list of answers would be quite long, but would have to include two of the elections she worked on, initiated through the proxy of prorogation.

Describing the media as bloodthirsty only underlines the fact that the Conservatives still haven't learned much since Oct. 19.

Robert Swain, Kingston

-------------------------

In touch

In a world awash with data and analytics, Norman Doidge's summary of Oliver Sacks's life hit the nail on the head (Awakenings, Focus, Feb. 6). We need more people like Dr. Sacks, those who acknowledge the immense complexity of human existence, while using science as just one tool to uncover new solutions.

As the son of a physician for leprosy patients around the world, I was heartened by this beautiful summary of Dr. Sacks's life. With leprosy patients, their disease is intricately connected to their mental and social well-being. As my dad, Frank Duerksen, says, "Each patient has their own story. I cannot separate the individual from their disease."

While some of us may be connected by common diseases, our individual histories and personalities will determine how we respond to the challenges ahead.

Ron Duerksen, Montreal

-------------------------

I retired from practising family medicine some time ago. The article about Dr. Sacks reminded me of an encounter I had with one of my ex-patients, who said: "My new doctor has never touched me."

Hans Berkhout, Calgary

-------------------------

Fired up

Having grown up on a farm in Ontario, I take umbrage with the editorial deploring the fate of animals facing "the statistical inevitability of caged incineration" in a recent spate of barn fires (Bring an End To The Horrors Of Barn Fires, editorial, Feb. 8). The insinuation that livestock farmers need to deeply self-examine their duty to care for animals is insulting to the vast majority.

I still vividly remember my father assisting a cow in a breach birth, and the quiet pride he had when the auctioneer at the livestock sales barn would proclaim a litter of weaner pigs were from his farm. These pigs were raised in pens, not cages, that he built himself with their comfort and well-being in mind.

There are many causes of barn fires that cannot be prevented by any animal rights legislation proposed by advocates who feel they must speak on their behalf.

Jim Meyers, St. Catharines, Ont.

-------------------------

Protecting privacy

Re Privacy Protection (letters, Feb. 3): Former Saskatchewan privacy commissioner Gary Dickson's suggestion that the Hubs (local service providers) in the province's crime-prevention program lack oversight is not true. Hub participants follow provincial government privacy and information-sharing guidelines and receive privacy training.

A four-filter approach is followed when information is shared and is centred on a need-to-know basis as recommended by the Privacy Commissioner.

Only four of our Hubs involve municipal police services; the rest involve the RCMP and are subject to federal privacy legislation. In more than four years of Hubs operation, there has never been a privacy complaint.

The provincial Justice Ministry has accepted a 2014 recommendation by current Privacy Commissioner Ronald Kruzeniski to consider the issue of municipal police not being subject to provincial privacy legislation, should that legislation be reviewed in future. Rest assured that all partners in the Hubs will continue to operate within the rigorous privacy framework already in place.

Dale McFee, Saskatchewan deputy minister of corrections and policing, Regina

-------------------------

Not so Super Bowl

Re Broncos Pull Off Sloppy, Dark-Horse Win (Feb. 8): Whether you agree or not with Cathal Kelly's analysis, the fact that he was able to submit a cohesive report on such a fragmented broadcast is deserving of a Most Focused Viewer award.

Somewhere along the Super Bowl's 50-year lifespan, the ads and rock shows began consuming more and more airtime. By increasing these distractions, producers have robbed the game of its momentum and decreased viewing enjoyment. One day, fans may wake up and decide that they will be the ones to take a pass.

Giselle Déziel, Cornwall, PEI

Interact with The Globe