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Budget principles
I am no economist but I admire the principle behind this budget: The country must go into debt in order to stimulate growth (Federal Budget 2016 – March 23).
I'm reminded of an old pop song about a thirsty person in the desert who comes upon a pump and bottle of water. On the pump is a note, "You've got to prime the pump … you've got to give … to receive." Justin Trudeau and his cohorts are probably too young to have encountered the old-fashioned water pump, once ubiquitous in country households. Nevertheless, they seem to have absorbed the principle.
Susan Evans Shaw, Hamilton
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I think the biggest winners from this budget will be the bankers who will be lending the Liberal government $30-billion this year and another hundred billion or more in just the next few years.
In the coming decades, these new loans will generate millions and millions in interest income, most of which will go straight into the pockets of the 1 per cent.
And that is not to mention the even larger profits that will be generated by all the new opportunities these loans will provide for additional leverage. It should be party time on Bay Street.
David Sherlock, Winnipeg
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There wasn't much excitement in the budget for me. Being an honest taxpayer (damn that T4) with income over $200K, my economic interests got thrown under the bus well before the budget. I'm an easy target, it would appear.
Now if I were among the 2.4 million self-employed, I would have more interest, to be sure. I guess if I were a general contractor, a lobbyist or had a pile of stock options, I would be happy.
It's going to be a long four years.
A. Murray Eastwood, Toronto
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Terror's aftermath
A close friend whose wife had been in Brussels for the past few months sat waiting for her flight on Tuesday, not knowing what would happen later that day (Brussels Bombings – March 23).
Whenever an act of terror occurs anywhere in the world, it hits you as if the victims were your own family.
As a Canadian-born convert to the Muslim faith, I am deeply saddened by the attacks in Brussels. The actions that took the lives that were lost are only fuelling hatred and ignorance toward Islam.
As a convert, I've learned that Islam is not what I once thought. Islam is not what I see in the media. Islam is not what happened at Brussels National Airport. So when I see these terrorists in the media, it breaks my heart. Not only for the victims of the tragedies, but for the peaceful Muslims who follow the true teachings of Islam.
James Sinclair, Vaughan, Ont.
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The terror attacks in France and Belgium show the vulnerability of the so-called multi-tier security framework of the EU, and highlight the failure of the intelligence network. These events likely show that no country is immune to terror attacks. Under these circumstances, one cannot refrain from asking: How secure are we?
The Parliament Hill attack clearly demonstrated big loopholes in the Canadian security platform, as well as a gross failure of the intelligence system. Are we adequately prepared to respond to or foil terror attacks in Canada? Is the government vigilant enough?
Saikat Kumar Basu, Lethbridge
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Re Grief, Pain Compel Militant's Mother To Leave Canada (March 22): We love to mock Donald Trump and the Americans for their overreaction to terrorist threats. We give Marine Le Pen the cold shoulder for her extreme views; we repeatedly congratulate ourselves on our own generosity to Syrian refugees.
One woman living in Calgary, Christianne Boudreau, through no fault of her own loses a son to the terrorist cause. She then can find no employment in this "generous" country of ours, is shunned at every turn because of the actions of her oldest son and ultimately feels she has no choice but to leave and goes to France.
I find it particularly appalling to learn that her MP at the time, Deepak Obhrai of Calgary Forest Lawn, parliamentary secretary to the foreign affairs minister in the then-Harper government, took months before he listened to her story and then did not help her.
Apparently Ms. Boudreau is guilty by association, and not one Canadian "anti-terrorist" offered her a hand to keep her here.
Tim Belliveau, Riverview, N.B.
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Mr. Mulcair's NDP
Re Why the NDP needs Mulcair (March 23): Millennials are turning out in droves for the bold leadership of Bernie Sanders, the current standard-bearer of left-wing politics in America. But in our recent election, Tom Mulcair tried to play it safe with budgets borrowed from the Conservative tool chest.
If "the public's aversion to social inequality has the wind at its back," isn't it time to throw caution to the winds?
No socially progressive party can renew itself without the youth vote. It's up to Mr. Mulcair to prove that the idealism of the young isn't wasted on the NDP.
Howard Greenfield, Montreal
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He was one of a kind
Rob Ford was indeed one of a kind, a politician who, despite his personal issues, cared about all Torontonians (Rob Ford Remembered – March 23).
Before he became mayor, when he was still a city councillor, I once wrote to him, suggesting installing a traffic light to ease congestion. He did not brush my suggestion aside, nor did he ignore me as someone who didn't live in his ward. He took the issue to heart, asked city officials and engineers to look into it, then responded to me personally. He even invited me to meet him and the officials to discuss the matter, not in the comfort of his office, but at the site of my proposal.
He was a real fighter who cared about the city and wasn't afraid to defend his ideas. He indeed managed to put Toronto on the map and made the entire world discuss it around their dinner tables.
Abubakar N. Kasim, Toronto
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My wishes for Rob Ford the father, husband, brother, son and uncle – rest in peace. That said, good riddance to a nightmarish mayoralty and the reprehensible international embarrassment he bestowed upon Toronto and which will take a generation to forget.
Dan Fraser, Toronto
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More studies? Hmm
Re Foreign Buyers Of Real Estate To Be Tracked By Statscan (Report on Business, March 23): Funding a year-long study "on how best to collect data"? We have it already. It's called FINTRAC, simply modify a version of it, make it law that all residential real estate transactions conducted with any foreign party involved are to be tracked. I can write the software in a week.
Where do I collect my $500K?
Steve Wildesmith, Ottawa
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An item in the federal budget may pose a danger to public safety: $3.3-million to study Via's proposal for high-frequency rail travel in the Quebec-Windsor corridor. Since 1991, there have been more than 10 studies on travel in the corridor, all shelved. Another might cause the shelf to collapse and injure a passer-by.
Cass Simons, Toronto