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
.................................................................................................................................................
Legislated face time
Re Quebec Bans Face Covering In Public Services, Raising Worries Among Muslims (Oct. 19): Human beings often engage in irrational behaviour. Covering female faces is one example. Forcing the uncovering of female faces is another.
David Schatzky, Toronto
..................................
I am in favour of Muslim immigration to Canada and have no problem with headscarves or other forms of religious headgear. But the face covering is different. It is a strong symbol of women as second-class citizens, unequal to men in our purportedly egalitarian country.
I would not go bare-armed or bareheaded in a Muslim country; I think Muslim women should consider showing their faces here.
Margot Gibb-Clark, Toronto
..................................
As an Ahmadi Muslim woman, I categorically stand against this law, which stipulates the dress code of women in a progressive and multicultural society. This nonsensical law goes against the "fabric" of Canadian culture. Both the federal Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms protect freedom of religion and expression.
This law will isolate Muslim women and fuel existing Islamophobia.
Imrana Qudrat, Toronto
..................................
Assuming I lived in Quebec and still had hair, would the government regulate the length of my bangs, or the design and length of my beard?
What happens if I choose to brush my beard so that it covers my entire face, except for my eyes? With a Canadian winter approaching, I see a great opportunity for civil disobedience by men in support of Muslim women who choose to cover their faces.
This law is a great example of idle politicians wasting time and money to infringe on the rights of citizens, and it invites the ridicule it deserves.
Victor Emerson, Ottawa
..................................
Your editorials have become a bastion of political correctness. Take the latest, Quebec's Plan To Unveil Women (Oct. 19), your attack on Quebec's law on face covering (I would point out this only deals with coverings hiding the face, not scarves or turbans or other religious symbols).
Rather than beginning with the actual act and then considering whether the prohibition is appropriate – and raising the question of under what circumstances it is or is not appropriate – we get a diatribe on freedom of religion.
A reasonable editorial would begin with the action: public space shared with someone who can see you, but you cannot see; a public message that says that a woman's face is to be hidden from view. Then it would ask if freedom of religious expression is sufficient basis for making this acceptable in our society. This, after all, is the way we approach marriage at puberty, or polygamy – or should these also be deemed acceptable in the name of freedom of religion?
Frances Boylston, Montreal
..................................
Your editorial denouncing "Quebec's Plan to Unveil Women" must have been written by a man. In a modern, secular country and in Quebec, where women won the hard-fought battle for the vote as late as 1940, allowing the veil, not a religious symbol, but a symbol of the oppression of women, is political correctness gone berserk.
Natalie Litwin, Toronto
..................................
Nenshi scores
Re Flames Of Fury Follow Nenshi Victory (Oct. 18): Newly re-elected Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi should send flowers to Calgary Sports and Entertainment president Ken King and NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman to thank them for his decisive victory, which resulted from their threatening, condescending and clumsy efforts to defeat him.
Flames executives are now demonstrating similar disrespect for the democratic outcome.
Terry Downey, Calgary
..................................
Trade? Milk it
So now Donald Trump wants major changes to Canada's supply management system (U.S. Demands Major Changes On Dairy – Report on Business, Oct. 17).
Is there no end to Mr. Trump's demands? A short while ago, we got slapped with a 220-per-cent tariff on Bombardier's C Series jets. Atrocious, of course. Entirely unreasonable for certain. After all, Canada only slapped 300-per-cent tariffs on some dairy imports to protect our dairy farmers in Ontario and Quebec.
Well, for the first time since our favourite bogeyman was elected President and proceeded to disunite the United States of America, I agree with him. Like many Canadians I am fed up with paying excessively high prices for dairy. Mr. Trump may have failed on pretty much every major executive order he's tackled to date, but I hope he wins this issue!
Gerry Stephenson, Canmore, Alta.
..................................
As a consumer, I value the high quality of Canadian dairy products (no bovine growth hormones, antibiotic-free milk). If we have to give up some percentage of our dairy market to U.S. milk products, when that milk reaches the consumer here, it should be clearly labelled as a product of the United States, which does allow growth hormones.
I'm guessing that there would be a fair number of Canadian consumers who would, like myself, consciously avoid American milk. Consumer rejection of American milk and dairy products would stall U.S. penetration of our dairy market.
Austin Rand, Vancouver
..................................
Delisting logic
I find it interesting and odd that the Toronto Stock Exchange is talking about delisting marijuana-related companies that have business segments in the United States – "if you're violating federal law, you're out" – while, at the same time, accepting for listing companies based in countries rampant with corruption and almost entirely lacking in what we view as the rule of law (Pot Stocks Fall Amid Listing Uncertainty – Report on Business, Oct. 18).
Time and again, we have seen companies from Russia and China, to give two examples, raise money and list on the TSX or its junior exchange, the TSX Venture Exchange, only to be shown to be outright frauds, whose principals are beyond the reach of our justice systems and whose home countries are not about to co-operate in bringing the guilty to justice.
If the TSX is concerned about its brand, perhaps it should consider refusing to list companies from countries far down the scale on the World Justice Project's "Rule of Law Index."
Nelson Smith, former member, Ontario Local Advisory Committee, TSX Venture Exchange
..................................
Tragically … gone
In the early 1990s, the Hip arrived as a gift to those of us in the Canadian rock radio business. It was obvious we would support them – every record was an instant add, heavy rotation. They deserved it, not because we were mandated to play them, but because they were original and astonishing and loud and weird and unbelievably great songs.
Gord was a very important artist, critically important to art and culture and general Canadian decency. The 11 million people who paused their lives to watch the broadcast of that last amazing Hip show in Kingston affirm that art, culture and decency still matter in this country.
Canadians are fortunate to have shared a part of the genius that was Gord Downie.
Leigh (Luzzi) Zych, Oakville, Ont.
..................................
I had my hands in the river,
My feet back up on the banks,
Looked up to the Gord above
And said, "hey man, thanks."
Lachlin McKinnon, Calgary