Oct. 1: CF-18s’ long flight – and other letters to the editor

CF-18s' long flight

Re Ottawa To Keep CF-18s Flying Longer (Sept. 30): On average, these planes are nearly 28 years old. The government wants to keep them flying another decade. That means our forces will be flying jets that are closing in on 40 – and that's the average age.

The average age at which passenger jets are retired is 25 years. Not the same thing, I know, but would Stephen Harper and his MPs want to fly in 40-year-old planes? If not, why are they asking our pilots to do just that?

Michelle Cousins, Calgary

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Hit 'delete'

Re CRTC To Strike Netflix, Google Testimony From 'Let's Talk TV' Record (Report on Business, Sept. 30): Brilliant, hit the delete button. Oh, sorry, this is the CRTC: The applicable analogy is to burn the long-hand transcript.

Peter Clendinneng, Ajax, Ont.

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Isn't the CRTC's decision to expunge Netflix and Google's "Let's Talk TV" testimony from the record a bit like the Roman Catholic Church excommunicating Martin Luther? Both forces provide direct lines of communication and significantly fragment their respective institutions.

Rob Young, Toronto

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What a mess

The picture on the front page of the Sports section with Jose Bautista walking down the nearly empty dugout says much more than the end of another season for the Blue Jays (Definitely Things Will Change. Maybe – Sept. 29). In the picture, the dugout is littered with garbage, paper cups, plastic bottles and wrappers. It looks like a pigpen.

Surely it would not be asking too much for the Jays organization to supply more garbage cans and recycling bins – and surely it would not be asking too much for these high-priced athletes to get off their backsides, take a couple of steps and toss their garbage in a can. I thought these players were supposed to be role models for their young fans.

Michael Gilman, Toronto

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Where there's smoke

Re Tobacco Firms Say $17.8-Billion Suit Circumvents Parliament (Sept. 29): The Quebec class action lawsuit against tobacco companies differs from the yet-to-be-tried provincial health-care cost-recovery lawsuits in one way that is significant to public health: The Quebec judge is being asked to apply consumer protection laws to cigarette makers in the same way they are applied to manufacturers of other products on the market.

Would that ban cigarettes? Not directly – but it would end the special status that tobacco companies have enjoyed. The Quebec laws that protect citizens from harm have no exemption for tobacco manufacturers.

Michael Perley, director, Ontario Campaign for Action on Tobacco

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Hong Kong's will

Re Hong Kong Protests Challenge Xi Jinping's Rule (Sept. 30): It appears that China's government is afraid of the will of the people of Hong Kong and is forcing "One Country, One System" down their throats. How … Communist.

Martin Aller-Stead, Toronto

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Questions, too

As anyone who regularly follows Question Period can attest, most of the criticism of answers could be applied equally to questions.

Almost all are read from prepared texts. Most contain partisan barbs, many are long, excoriating statements ending in a travesty of a question. A favourite tactic is to make a partisan statement about the answer to an earlier question before continuing with the next one. This hardly encourages factual, non-partisan answers.

If questions were put clearly and without political preamble, there might be an incentive to reply in kind. Where are the cries to require real questions, as well as demanding real answers?

Allan McLellan, Halifax

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Promised billions?

Your editorial about B.C. liquefied natural gas, A Taxing Negotiation (Sept. 29), says that the B.C. Premier, Minister of Finance and Minister of Energy "may have good explanations for what looks like double taxation on a particular industry."

They do – it's political! – but we'll never hear it from them. Natural gas royalties have plummeted under their watch, while production levels have increased dramatically.

If LNG plants are permitted to recover their billions in costs before paying even the "extra tax" that you wonder about, it seems unlikely that the exporters will ever have to pay it, and even more unlikely that the Premier's promise of "billions" to the provincial treasury will be realized.

Justus Havelaar, Campbell River, B.C.

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T.O.'s death race

Re Welcome to Toronto's Death Race 2014 (Sept. 29): A thank you to Elizabeth Renzetti for telling us of Vancouver's sane, simple idea of lowering the speed limit to 30 kilometres an hour in busy auto/pedestrian areas.

The result: a dramatic lowering of the pedestrian death rate. I walk daily in central Toronto and applaud this idea.

But what to do about the bicycle? In crosswalks, I can at least see or hear errant drivers coming my way. But what of errant bicyclists? I've nearly been hit by cyclists suddenly whizzing past, even in the centre of crosswalks. No licence, no identifying markings, no bell warnings, no repercussions – only my expletives.

Diana Chastain, Toronto

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Pedestrian casualties are up in Toronto. One might anticipate remedies to this problem to include better enforcement of existing traffic laws for drivers and education campaigns to improve pedestrian skills. One might, but that would require effort – something we seem averse to these days. Instead, there have been proposals to lower the speed limit for vehicles.

How does that solve the problem? The collisions can be more gentle? Is this as silly as it sounds?

Rather than make Toronto's already congested streets even more clogged with slow-moving vehicles, let's step up to this problem as responsible adults. If drivers drive better, pedestrians navigate the streets better and the police pay attention to both, our streets would be safer for us all.

David Kister, Toronto

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Sorry? No, sorry

A letter writer says the word "sorry" has two distinct uses (Meanings Of 'Sorry' – Sept. 29). The British have many meanings for the word, including: sorry – you're completely wrong; sorry – that's not what I meant; sorry – oh, shut up; sorry – you can't mean what you said; sorry – I'm ignoring you; sorry – get out of the way.

Always listen carefully when speaking with British friends and colleagues.

John D. O'Leary, Toronto