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A memorial in Toronto carries messages of condolences the day after a man drove a rented van down sidewalks along Yonge Street on Monday, April 23, 2018, striking pedestrians. At least 10 people were killed.Galit Rodan/The Canadian Press

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

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Pride in the police

Re Carnage In Toronto (April 24): In many countries, the van driver would have been shot dead. Today, at least we have someone who can be questioned, someone to answer the question: Why?

We have a police force that we can be proud of. The officer refused to shoot, and we have one less image for bystanders to be haunted by.

Sharon Gardner, St. Davids, Ont.

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I watched the video of the officer arresting the driver of the van. Truly remarkable. His actions showed amazing courage and a very level head, the Toronto Police at their very best. The officer deserves a commendation from the city’s mayor for his actions.

James W. Suttie, North Vancouver

Seeking solace

What an uplifting and inspiring message John Ibbitson sent us in his column, The Truths Canada Needs To Remember (April 24).

Every Canadian should read it.

Janet E. Harris, Ottawa

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Platitudes about standing together in the aftermath of rage attacks, whatever form those attacks take, offer slim comfort – if any.

Toronto has just joined a growing list of vehicle attacks: in Berlin, in Barcelona, in London, in New York, in Nice, in Stockholm … and counting.

Ellen Simpson, Calgary

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John Ibbitson’s reminder of who we are and the society we take pride in was a true public service at a time when people were unsure about whether the attack on Yonge Street signalled a security threat. Along with the superbly co-ordinated police and political responses, his column brought perspective and solace to Torontonians and to Canadians at large.

Erna Paris, Toronto

Betrayals? Consider

Re Canada’s Oil Workers (April 23): A letter writer suggests more pipeline capacity for Alberta’s oil is “an unbearable betrayal of our kids.” I’ll counter the betrayal she cites with several unbearable betrayals – of our children, grandchildren, and Indigenous and other rural communities – that are much more certain near-term outcomes if Canada does not exploit its oil resources: the diminution of well-paid resource and construction jobs; the lack of revenues for all levels of government that are vital for social, health and education services; the extreme stresses on our federation from isolating Albertan industry; the continued bleeding of oil profits to U.S. corporations from cheap Canadian oil; the loss of corporate and government revenues that sustain innovation in pollution-control technologies; the boon to other oil-marketing countries that employ far less environmentally sensitive practices in oil extraction; and finally the loss of confidence by investors in capital-intensive resource development projects in Canada.

Social democratic governments in Norway and other Western European countries have successfully balanced the industrial development/environment risks. Canada can, too, provided we aren’t in thrall to the “green” agenda, which has a very narrow view of risk.

Hugh Millar, North Vancouver

Hydro-meddling’s price

Re Bad Books (April 21): Your investigation into the “Fair Hydro Plan” (a.k.a. the Get Wynne Re-Elected Plan) was good to know, sad to read. Our increasing electricity rates were not due to Hydro One or solely to the Green Energy Act, but rather to political meddling in the energy sector.

Aside from billions in extra financing costs, we can look forward to the “Clean Energy Adjustment” on our bill in addition to the “Global Adjustment.” Equally, this “Market Distortion Plan” does nothing to promote conservation or stimulate innovation, in fact it does the opposite.

We need more fact-over-fiction debate in energy and other sectors if we hope to encourage sound policy and innovation, and in energy, to achieve our climate-change and affordability goals.

James Kennedy, Toronto

Canzuk’s place

Re Facing Brexit, Britain Dreams Of Empire (April 21): Quite obviously, empire-building entailed sinning, but the Canzuk bloc, a “bloc within a bloc,” should not be denigrated for sins of the past.

As noted, these countries – Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the U.K. – have significant linkages, notably language and legal structures that, along with history and level of economic development, make them natural candidates for closer relationships pertaining to trade and travel.

Our government is busy trying to develop formal ties with democratic, and not-so-democratic countries to enhance our international standing. Rather than insinuating supporters of a Canzuk bloc might have their moral compass out of date, your editorial should focus on practicalities and possibilities. Why excavate for foundations to build upon when they already exist?

T.J. Hiller, Kitchener, Ont.

Affordable. Wise, too

Given the trends in artificial intelligence, automation, and the use of robots, establishing a guaranteed annual share of the wealth generated by our communal productivity is an urgent issue.

Not only can Canada afford it in the mean-spirited accounting terms of your editorial, Affordable, But Wise? (April 23), the world can, too.

The world’s eight richest capitalists have as much wealth as 50 per cent of all the people on Earth combined. Newton’s reference to “standing on the shoulders of giants” seems apropos: These capitalists and the capitalist system are standing on the accumulated wealth of ordinary folks, and on the land and resources they have abrogated over time. Given this kind of wealth-to-poverty ratio, it’s obvious where the wealth should come from to pay for an annual guaranteed income.

Best we should do this reapportioning peacefully – via order and good government.

Alan Ball, New Westminster, B.C.

Monetizing data

Re Facebook: A Micro-Surveillance Monopoly (April 23): Facebook’s founders intuited that a platform fuelled by billions of egos couldn’t miss. They were right; Facebook offers us the opportunity to give free rein to broadcast truth and fiction to make ourselves ever more attractive. And then we fault Facebook for providing an easily accessed platform for gushers of freely provided, highly personal information that ends up being mined by those who can monetize the gusher.

Please, Big Brother, save us from ourselves. But, in assessing a penalty to Facebook for our own promiscuous provision of highly personal data, shouldn’t we consider that some of us around the globe have permitted our intelligence services a much more pervasive licence for data collection, one that doesn’t allow an opt-out?

Paul Bloustein, Cincinnati

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