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Culture's landscape
Re The Challenge of Reshaping Canada's Cultural Landscape (Folio, May 2): What you presented wasn't about "heritage" – a term I loathe – but about technology in its many manifestations using industrial models to promote the bottom lines of media conglomerates and law firms.
Culture, on the other hand, has to do with creators and custodians of the material past, held in public trust. It's not about sitcoms and flaccid cop shows; these are the bottom feeders of our cultural expression. Left out of the discussion (again) are the prime agencies of support to culture, such as the Canada Council, the National Museums Corporation and the desiccated remains of cultural promotion in Global Affairs.
The issue is somewhat reflected in the article, Does Virtual Reality Belong In A Museum? (Life & Arts, May 2). Sure, use the virtual to illuminate, amplify. Museums have always done that in different modes. But the "virtual" can never compete with the "reality" of the hulking bulk of that magnificent 1936 locomotive CN 6400.
I was the first and not very good registrar of the National Museum of Science and Technology. School tours to the "railway shed" where CN 6400 was housed frequently questioned how these great beasts were fired. Coal, of course. "What's coal?" We had to go on a search for a few lumps of the black stuff to demonstrate.
Smell and feel are a long way from virtual reality.
Robert Swain, Kingston
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Millions still owed
Re Bennett Puts Settlement Onus On Catholics (May 2): As a person of faith, it saddens me deeply to read how the Catholic Church negotiated its way out of meeting its $25-million commitment to help residential school survivors.
It seems that the church with its lawyers and bureaucrats has forgotten what the ministry of Jesus was all about: forgiveness and reconciliation. How can the church be a witness to the Gospel message when it puts the interests of self-preservation and money before healing, and sharing God's love? As people of faith, the ones who sit in the pews on Sunday, we need to remind our leaders what Jesus teaches.
Robert Hayashi, Aurora, Ont.
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The Catholic Church needs to step up to the collection plate, honour an ethical responsibility and end the embarrassment for all Catholics, fervent or part-time.
Not shy about creating fundraisers for its own works, surely the church can designate one Sunday collection, let's say Father's Day, June 19, in every Canadian parish and address its own need for reconciliation in this messy affair.
I suspect that unless it does, it risks emptying more of its pews on Sunday mornings.
Bill Trudell, Toronto
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What real men do
Re Ontario Tries To Allay Auto Sector Fears Over Climate Change Plan (May 2): We need to get back to the old carrot and stick enticement. Give a subsidy to buyers of low-priced electric vehicles (say for those costing less than $35,000). Discourage buying recreational trucks: Put a higher tax on gas-guzzlers.
Ban those ridiculous TV ads which feature vehicles speeding around mountains and splashing through streams, destroying the environment as they go.
Let's get the message out: Real men save the planet.
Kate Chung, Toronto
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A soldier's children
I was shocked and deeply saddened when I read Renata D'Aliesio's moving feature, Left Behind (Folio, April 30). Canada Company pledged to assist children of the soldiers who died or were killed in the service of Canada. Yet we learn this "charity" denied assistance to Jake and Stephanie Elms, children of a respected, admired and "wounded" Canadian veteran – because their father's death was by suicide.
As retired general Rick Hillier points out, "Mental injuries are every bit as devastating as physical ones and we [should] look after their survivors in an appropriate manner."
The only hope in this otherwise-distressing – and shameful – story is the courage that Sherri Elms and her children have shown in spotlighting the terrible fate that their husband and father suffered after years of exemplary and dedicated military service.
If shame rests with anyone, it is not with Captain Elms or with the more than 200 military members who have taken their lives since 2002. It lies squarely on the shoulders of Canada Company.
Wanda Nowakowska, Toronto
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Label of shame
Re PM Waits For Bombardier Owners To Blink (May 26): In 1972, then-NDP leader David Lewis coined the phrase "corporate welfare bums" to denounce the millions of dollars in government subsidies paid to private corporations. The tactics being employed by Bombardier show why Mr. Lewis's memorable label of shame is alive and well in 2016.
Michael Kaczorowski, Ottawa
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If only. In Canada
Among others, these reports appeared in Saturday's Globe: our federal government waffling about apologizing to members of our public service persecuted because of their sexuality; the children of Canadian soldiers who died by suicide denied scholarships; the Catholic Church reneging on settlements over residential schools; Ontario taxpayers ripped off on electricity bills; a nearly 30-year-old man posing as a basketball-playing high school student; shoddy business accounting practices … and the list of bad conduct goes on.
I sincerely hope the perpetrators responsible for these disgraceful happenings saw the picture that accompanied another article on Saturday: X-Ray Telescope Is Lost In Space. There, we saw officials of JAXA (Japan's space agency) bowing deeply in apology. If only that would happen in Canada!
Peter A. Lewis-Watts, Barrie, Ont.
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To be a great PM …
Re Trudeau 'Crystal Clear' – And Completely Vague (April 30): If Justin Trudeau hopes to be remembered as a great prime minister, he should: okay the pipelines, fix the health-care system, increase the military budget – and acquire the Turks and Caicos Islands.
William Bedford, Newmarket, Ont.
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Pass the cereal
I was surprised to read that I (a millennial) "hate breakfast cereals" (Breakfast Is Fast Becoming Most Important Fast-Food Meal – May 2).
Cereal is usually a healthier choice than most of the fast-food breakfast options in the article. The nostalgia that millennials feel for cereal is the kicker: Sunday cartoons, morning hockey practices, baby boomer parents making their coffee in the kitchen. In fact, a bowl of cereal sounds like a good option right now.
Michael MacKeigan, Toronto