Tough question
A 1,300-kilometre road costing $1.3-billion from Gillam, Man., to Baker Lake, Nunavut, would link people in the north with those in the south and open up a huge area to resource development (Have Road, Will Travel - April 5). A 13.5-km subway line costing $4.2-billion along Sheppard Avenue would provide rapid transit to a small low-density area of Toronto. So how should Canada's limited dollars be best spent?
Walter Blackwell, Toronto
Election excitation
With Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff so keen for a one-on-one debate, and Green Leader Elizabeth May so desperate to be allowed to debate, why don't they debate each other? My guess is, NDP Leader Jack Layton would be quick to demand inclusion. And whoever played host could leave an empty chair with Stephen Harper's name on it.
At the very least, the debate could explain why the Canadian political spectrum's progressive side - which polling shows holds a combined majority of the electorate - is so intent on allowing Mr. Harper to continue governing. Given that the differences among the three on the left are trumped by their collective differences with the Conservatives, two of those parties would need to explain why they exist at all.
And let the winner of the debate be the one to stay.
Brendan Poirier, Ottawa
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Bob Plamondon (A Surplus Of Parties Means A Deficit Of Democracy - online, April 5) thinks we need to get down to two parties. And the evidence that a two-party system works better is - the United States? The land about to shut down government because those same parties are locked in a death struggle over the budget? I hate our "first past the post" system, but if the U.S. way of "functioning" is our alternative, let's leave well enough alone.
Andrew Sullivan, London, Ont.
Brand-name reality
Paul Grootendorst (How To Reduce Our Ruinous Drug Costs - April 5) is under the illusion that brand-name drug companies engage in significant research on new drugs in Canada. The sad reality is, most basic research is undertaken in the company's home country (i.e., the U.S., France, Germany, Switzerland etc.).
Most of what goes under the heading of pharmaceutical R&D in Canada consists of drug trials demonstrating the efficacy of existing drugs as required by our government. In fact, more R&D in Canada is carried out by Apotex, a Canadian-owned firm, than by any of the brand-name companies, almost all of whom are foreign-owned.
George Fleischmann, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto
No Chinese wall
Letter writer Rick Walker (China On Notice - April 5) says the test for Chinese investment in mining in Canada should be whether a Canadian firm could do the same in China. For the record, there are more than three dozen Canadian resource companies carrying out mining and exploration operations in China, including Eldorado Gold Corp., Entrée Gold Inc., Goldrea Resources Inc., Majestic Gold Corp., Spartan Resources Inc. and Silvercorp Metals Inc.
Conversely, Chinese "companies" already hold significant "investment" interests in Canadian resource companies, including Vancouver-based Teck Resources.
Neil Willoughby, chief geologist, Gedex International Inc., Toronto
Amnesty denial
Letter writer David Busheikin (Denial Of Amnesty - April 4) suggests Amnesty International has lost its way and thus shouldn't raise concerns about Canada's human-rights record. Canada has been an important human-rights leader in the past, and it should concern Canadians when that leadership declines. That's why we issued a human- rights agenda deserving of debate during the election campaign.
Mr. Busheikin says we're off the rights track because, in 2009, we issued reports on Israel but none on Libya, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain or Syria, giving the impression that reports are the only measure of Amnesty's activity. In Syria in 2009, we issued close to 50 urgent actions, news releases, public statements and other materials dealing with human rights. We published four documents on Bahrain and nearly a dozen on the UAE.
And we produced a great deal on Libya, setting the stage for a major report in mid-2010 that expressed grave misgivings about so-called reforms in that country.
Alex Neve, secretary-general, Amnesty International Canada, Ottawa
Can't see the forest
Re Taking An Axe To Canada's Oldest Forestry School (April 4): I was a graduate student at the University of Toronto when its undergraduate forestry program was cut. At that time (like today), the university was undergoing a period of financial stress, and it was all too clear that forestry was an easy program to cut. Unlike other professional degrees, forestry doesn't have a ready-made urban constituency. At parties, I'd get comments such as: "Oh, forestry - why do you guys want to cut down all the trees."
Forestry's lack of popularity is not helped by two other factors: the public's staggering ignorance of Canada's vast forest estate, and the attenuated knowledge base of high-school counsellors. Most Canadians wouldn't know a black spruce from a jack pine if they ran into them in their cars. They have even less idea of what goes on in forest management. High-school counsellors compound the problem by being unaware of any alternative in the natural sciences that doesn't involve medicine, health sciences or genetics.
Andrew Park, associate professor, forest ecology, University of Winnipeg
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I'm very surprised by the U of T's plan to close its forestry school. At the University of Freiburg, the forestry faculty has an increasing number of students and a high level of research funding even though Germany's total forest area is about 1/30th the size of Canada's. It's a dream for any German forest science student to visit Canada's magnificent forests. So I don't undertsand why Canada isn't able to maintain a high-quality forestry school.
Heinrich Spiecker, director, Institute for Forest Growth, Freiburg, Germany
Do we not bleed?
Kudos to Diane Haggerty (Guess What? Working This Job Is Not A Gas - Facts & Arguments, April 4) for her painful account of life as a "guest service attendant." In defending herself and her fellow workers by saying, "We are not stupid, or something you stepped in," she neatly sums up the attitude many people take to those employed in the service industry.
Kathie Johnson, Thunder Bay, Ont.
Do we not breathe?
Re How To Detox Your Home (Life, April 4): I get it. You've got the same writers for Tip of the Day you had for Laugh of the Day. Why else would you tell people to hang their fresh dry cleaning in the garage for three days to avoid toxic fumes? It seems a real tip would be to stop wearing clothing requiring dry cleaning.
Rob Vanderkam, Ottawa