The PM, the court
Jeffrey Simpson suggests that the Canadian Supreme Court appointment process is markedly flawed, in part because of our own "smugness" about serious checks on prime ministerial prerogatives for Supreme Court appointments (Here's The Value In The Nadon Appointment – March 21). He goes on to note the check that exists in the U.S. with Senate confirmation hearings.
Canadian justices typically act independently from the prime minister who appointed them. In the Bedford decision, all of Stephen Harper's appointees decided against his government by striking down aspects of the prostitution laws. In the Insite matter, Mr. Harper's appointees ruled against the government on safe injection sites.
On Friday, in what may be the court's most direct confrontation ever with a prime minister, all but one of Mr. Harper's appointees blocked his appointment of Marc Nadon (Supreme Court Rejects Harper's Appointment Of Nadon As Justice – online, March 21).
I'm proud to live in a country with such an independent judiciary. If thinking our court is superior to that of the United States makes me smug, so be it.
Michael Jason, Toronto
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ROC has fallacies, too
Much ink has been spilled – and justly so – on the nonsensical fallacy that all will be well in Quebec if separation ever comes to pass. The same fallacy exists, however, in the rest of Canada.
Should Quebec ever separate, the political, financial, geographic, social and cultural changes will be incredibly profound – and costly – for both sides.
A post-Quebec Canada will not be the same country, and not just because Quebec-ROC bickering will stop, but because what it means to be Canadian will be something entirely different, and not all for the good.
Canadians outside Quebec are understandably tired of the sovereigntist nonsense, but they cannot simply counter with their own version of the same.
Adam Green, Ottawa
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Re Would Quebec's Partition Go Back On The Table? (March 18): A decade before the views of Jean Chrétien and Stéphane Dion on the possibility of partitioning Quebec in the event of its separating from Canada, more compelling and logical arguments were made by William Shaw, a former member of the Quebec legislature, and Lionel Albert, a well-known Quebec businessman, in their book Partition, the Price of Quebec's Independence.
Among other points, the book suggests that all territory ceded to Quebec at the time of Confederation be returned to Canada, should the province decide to leave, and that those Quebeckers in areas with a large anglophone population be protected from losing their Canadian citizenship.
The volume should be compulsory reading for politicians of all federal parties.
Charles Morton, Manotick, Ont.
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Parti Québécois Leader Pauline Marois's claims that an independent Quebec would continue using the Canadian dollar and would want to have a representative on the Bank of Canada seem rather unrealistic.
How many divorced couples do you know who continue to have a joint bank account?
Steen Petersen, Nanaimo, B.C.
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Inside an enigma
Re Ottawa Mulls Stricter Sanctions (March 21): If we want to better understand Russian President Vladimir Putin and the situation in Crimea, we would be well served to once again consider Winston Churchill's observation: "I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma, but perhaps there is a key. That key is Russian national interest."
Boris G. Freesman, Thornhill, Ont.
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Little about the situation in Ukraine is strictly legal: Not in Kiev, where street mobs overthrew a duly elected government (even if it was a corrupt kleptocracy), and not in Crimea, effectively annexed by force of arms.
But it's useful to note that in both cases, the rough will of the majority has won out: in Kiev, a chance to get the Orange Revolution right this time; in Crimea, a return to Mother Russia.
If democracy can be reduced to ends – where means don't count and elections are mere formalities – the outcome isn't such an affront to world order and international law after all. No need to make this a one-upmanship contest between Vladimir Putin and the West.
Brian Green, Thunder Bay, Ont.
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It is about time the West stopped sabre-rattling and developed some serious compromises. This need not be a zero-sum situation. The hyperbole of the U.S. and Canada is just that: empty rhetoric. This is not a Russian anschluss; Crimea is not Austria or even the Sudetenland.
Yes, Vladimir Putin should have allowed the UN to oversee the vote in Crimea, if for no other reason than to silence the baying from the West. Nevertheless, the desire to join Russia seems legit.
There is a large Ukrainian-descended population in Canada, on the Prairies in particular, and in the U.S. Both countries' politicians are playing to the home base.
The Harper Conservatives are risking Canada's credibility with their trips to Ukraine – particularly Stephen Harper's personal appearance. It's plain foolishness. Domestic politics should be just that: domestic.
Sigmund Roseth, Mississauga
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Running in T.O.
A letter writer asks what the paparazzi chasing Toronto's mayor will say when he collapses on a staircase of a stroke or heart attack (A Premier, A Mayor – March 21). Paparazzi usually don't say much, they take pictures.
But if Rob Ford were to be so unfortunate, perhaps reporters would say he collapsed while running from journalists asking him questions about the police investigation into his activities.
Those reporters were doing their job. The mayor-in-name-only is not.
John Peck, Toronto
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Image choice panned
The Globe deserves nothing but praise for its recent articles and commentary on the reluctance – some would say stupidity – of a sizable number of parents who don't have their children vaccinated against measles.
But it's hard to see how the re-peated use of images of children both in print and on your website in obvious discomfort while being vaccinated could encourage undecided or reluctant parents.
Don't you have images that would better underscore the real and lasting impact of this awful and preventable disease instead of taking the easy way out and illustrating them with a picture of a child in obvious, but thankfully momentary, discomfort?
Frank King, Sydney, N.S.
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Hmm …
Whenever one runs across the word "principled" in present-day political discourse, one need only substitute the word "ideological" to discover its true meaning.
Normand Frenette, St. Catharines, Ont.