March 20: ‘As COVID-19 cases rise and the Ontario election approaches …’ Ontario rejects school board’s request to keep mask mandate, plus other letters to the editor

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In Ukraine

Re The Answer To Nuclear Anxiety Is To Get Rid Of Nuclear Weapons (Opinion, March 12): Canada, along with nuclear-armed states and NATO countries, has refused to sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Closed-minded politics and massive denial of this existential threat to mankind seem to override rational thinking.

In his farewell presidential address, Dwight Eisenhower warned Americans about the dangers of the military-industrial complex. He recognized how a military establishment linked with the arms industry could become politically institutionalized. Sadly, this has become the case.

Will Justin Trudeau wake up to the madness of nuclear addiction?

Gordon Yanchyshyn Toronto

In Ottawa

Re Governor-General Sought Briefing On Progress Around Indian Act (March 18): Hats off to Mary Simon for pursuing government officials regarding progress on amending the Indian Act.

The act is steeped in so much colonialism and paternalism. I believe there will never be true reconciliation unless it is rewritten using more inclusive language.

Kaz Shikaze Mississauga

Re A Message To Conservatives: Smarten Up – Serious Times Need Serious Leaders (Opinion, March 12): My fantasy for the next federal election is to have the Conservatives led by Michael Chong and the Liberals led by Chrystia Freeland.

Dale Mills Guelph, Ont.

In Alberta

Re Kenney’s Cut To Gas Taxes Won’t Help The Albertans Who Need It Most (March 11): Jason Kenney’s plan to suspend Alberta’s fuel excise tax, his so-called reverse carbon tax, will save households an average of $130 over three months. Albertans should remember that virtually all of the proceeds from federal carbon pricing on fossil fuels is returned to them in climate action incentive payments.

In 2021, these payments totalled $981 for an Albertan family of four, and the payments will be even higher in 2022. Looks like federal carbon pricing puts more money into the pockets of Albertans than Mr. Kenney’s “reverse carbon tax.”

Jeffrey Levitt Toronto

In B.C.

Re B.C. Coroner Says January Was Third-deadliest Month For Drug Deaths (Online, March 11): Since May, 2017, when John Horgan was elected B.C. Premier, more than 7,600 British Columbians have died from illicit toxic drugs. But Mr. Horgan believes it is “too early to commit” to a safer supply of drugs and improving health supports for drug users.

How many British Columbians have to die before Mr. Horgan’s government decides to take further action?

E. Wayne Ross Vancouver

Re Vancouver Ordered To Restore Police Budget (March 16): Vancouver has been ordered to reinstate $5.7-million to the police department’s 2021 budget. Who made that decision? The provincial director of police services.

So much for defunding the police.

Jim Duholke North Vancouver

Re Permanent Daylight Time Shift In B.C. Remains On Hold For Now (March 12): In 2008, a Swedish letter to the New England Journal of Medicine found a 5-per-cent increase in heart attacks in the week following a time switch.

A 2014 U.S. study showed a 24-per-cent increase in heart attacks on the Monday after a changeover.

In 2009, a study of data from the U.S. National Institute of Occupational Health and Safety showed that workers sustained more injuries of greater severity on the Monday after a transition.

A 2016 article in the American Economic Journal: Applied Economics documented increased fatal vehicle crashes after a change.

Despite the wishes of a majority of British Columbians, deferring the option to abandon time shifting may be the most unwise decision that the B.C. government has made this year.

Morley Lertzman MD FRCPC; North Vancouver

Daylight-saving time was a wartime invention to provide more daylight hours. It is my opinion that we stop this silly twice-a-year change of clocks.

As for keeping daylight time permanent, do I have to remind our legislators that is precisely the thing we should eliminate? Standard time year-round is simple to understand and follow, and it is all we should need.

David Cameron Anderson Surrey, B.C.

In Ontario

Re Coroner Looking Into Cold-related Homeless Deaths (March 14): In 1986, an Ontario coroner’s jury looked into the death of a woman who froze to death in an abandoned truck. It decried the failure of our support system to deal with homelessness, mental health and addictions.

While there has been some progress, notably the development of Housing First programs, few jurisdictions have devoted sufficient resources to ending homelessness. Toronto’s wait list for supportive housing has grown from 700 in 2009 to over 22,000 now.

The solution to deaths from cold and homelessness is more housing and support services. We have known this for many years. Let’s establish firm timelines and funding programs to end homelessness based on Housing First.

Steve Lurie CM; senior fellow, Wellesley Institute; Toronto

Re Ontario Rejects School Board’s Request To Keep Mask Mandate (March 18): One should never doubt Doug Ford’s gift for dubious pandemic-related decisions. Nor should one doubt the reversal ahead as COVID-19 cases rise and the Ontario election approaches.

As some famous observer once said, “It’s like déjà vu all over again.”

Richard Patterson Collingwood, Ont.

With winter comes an increase in health problems, particularly for schoolchildren: fevers, coughs, flu, etc. The situation has become more problematic with the presence of COVID-19.

To lessen these complications, shifting the academic year to be from March to December should be considered. With milder temperatures, classroom windows can be left open to improve air circulation, or classes even moved outdoors whenever possible to further decrease the spread of infections.

Students can walk to school and improve fitness. During the summer, days are long and children would still have plenty of time to play outdoors after school.

Sobhy Zaher Thornhill, Ont.

At the library

Re Parliament Passes Public Archives Act (Moment in Time, March 12): Douglas Brymner was Canada’s first Dominion Archivist. A journalist by trade, he was appointed in 1872 at a time when the profession of archivist barely existed. He quickly realized that Canada’s archives needed its own copies of many records located on the other side of the Atlantic.

Starting in 1881, he arranged for clerks to copy large numbers of documents, mostly in London and Paris, and send them to Ottawa. Thus Mr. Brymner gave Canada a wonderful collection of essential historical documents, mainly covering the first 200 years of European settlement, on our own soil.

In the 1950s, the paper copies were replaced by microfilm of the originals, but Mr. Brymner’s summaries remain a valuable guide to the contents of this vast resource. He deserves to be better known as the amateur-turned-professional who got what is now Library and Archives Canada off to such an excellent start.

Harry Duckworth Winnipeg

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