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A planned honorary doctorate from the University of Alberta for David Suzuki has angered many in the Oil Patch.Larry MacDougal

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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U of A? The cheques are in the mail

Re A Tempest In An Oil Patch (editorial, April 26): Like most Canadians, I support the Trans Mountain pipeline extension, which means I disagree with David Suzuki’s eco commando tactics. But I admire a university in the heart of oil country that is true to its core mission, even if it means its financial ox gets gored. My cheque to the U of A is the mail.

Laurel Williams, Halifax

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As a University of Alberta professor emeritus and donor, I strongly support its president’s view that freedom of inquiry and academic independence require U of A to proceed with honouring David Suzuki at convocation.

Dr. Suzuki was a renowned geneticist until he retired and has become an outstanding advocate for Canada’s environment. Oil companies have a commercial but not a scientific or academic basis for opposing this acknowledgment of his contributions to Canadian science and environmental concerns.

If a university begins to make decisions about recognition of academic achievement based on the interests of corporations, especially corporations working hard to extract bitumen from the oil sands and thus contribute to global warming, it will become unworthy of recognition as a place of free inquiry.

So all of us, scientists and citizens, should back the university in honoring Dr. Suzuki. One way of showing that support is to donate to the U of A to enhance its research and academic activities.

Edwin E. Daniel, Victoria

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The University of Alberta should invite David Suzuki to participate in a televised debate along these lines: Be it resolved that the death of the Trans Mountain expansion is beneficial to Canadians. This would show the university’s commitment to fostering significant debate, and Dr. Suzuki would have the opportunity to promote his views. If Kinder Morgan were allowed to nominate Dr. Suzuki’s opponent in the debate, the energy industry might be placated, and its philanthropy could continue to benefit all students.

Charles Ursenbach, Calgary

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Fidel Castro said, “The universities are available only to those who share my revolutionary beliefs.” It appears there are some followers of his approach at the University of Alberta.

Marty Cutler, Toronto

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Talk about a bad time to poke the (golden) bear.

Greg Sidebottom, Ottawa

Crisis at the border

Re Another Summer, Another Border Crisis (April 24): Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has put Canada in an untenable position. By frequently referencing our “welcoming country,” he has made a mockery of the immigration system.

Now thousands of persons are walking across our borders. Those who apply legally are left in limbo. When Quebec complains that it can’t carry the burden, the federal government’s solution is to let the immigrants “choose” where they want to go. Services in Ontario are at the bursting point.

How many Canadians realize that when the federal government acts like lady bountiful at the border, the provinces/cities pay much of the ensuing tab – and it is enormous. The proposed budgets to deal with the immigration crisis are understated by millions – billions? – per year.

Anne Robinson, Toronto

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Re Toronto Makes Urgent Call To Ottawa For Help Handling Homeless Refugees (online, April 26): What quality of life is there for refugees if they account for 40 per cent of the people in Toronto’s shelters? The financial costs are eye-popping: at this rate, an extra $64-million by year’s end just in Toronto.

But aside from the financial toll and the strains on the social-support system, what of the human toll?

Welcome to Canada. Welcome to what, exactly? Homelessness?

Jennifer Nguyen, Victoria

Tackling homelessness

Re Ontario’s Cities Need A New Approach To Homelessness (April 25): Janet Mason writes that “Simply building more traditional shelter beds in response to last year’s crisis will institutionalize homelessness in our society. People will be warehoused without access to services or a path out of chronic homelessness.”

Ontario shelters offer many programs that address the root causes of homelessness and enable clients to rebuild their lives. In addition to sheltering an average of 233 men every night and providing more than 1,300 meals every day, at the Ottawa Mission we provide health services, mental health and addiction treatment programs, hospice care, dental services, educational support, job training, second stage housing, spiritual care, and clothing to thousands in need.

Shelters are not “warehouses.” They are an essential part of the solution to homelessness.

Peter Tilley, executive director, Ottawa Mission

Creative accounting

Re Liberals Understated Deficits, Ontario Auditor-General Warns (April 26): There is a disconcerting parallel with the Auditor-General’s dispute with Finance Minister Charles Sousa and the French Revolution. In 1781, Jacques Necker, Louis XVI’s finance minister, published a summary of governmental income and expenditures called the compte-rendu au roi. Necker’s creative accounting showed a surplus when the reality was massive deficit. Necker hid the real cost of financing the American War of Independence in what he called “extraordinary accounts.” He continued to raise loans on this misrepresentation, eventually driving the French government into bankruptcy, a major factor in the origins of the French Revolution.

Perhaps our government ministers should read more history.

Suzette Blom, Toronto

Rosalind Franklin, also

Re DNA Discovery First Published (Moment In Time, April 25, 1953): It is most unfortunate that you did not mention the crucial contribution of Rosalind Franklin. There is general consensus that Francis Crick and James Watson’s work was dependent on her X-ray crystallography, and that if she hadn’t died, she would have shared in the Nobel prize.

You overlooked a great woman scientist. It’s no wonder young girls develop science phobia when their potential role models are not presented to them.

Douglas Björkman, Vancouver

Jets, too, of course

Re Third-Period Collapse Ends Leafs’ Hopes (Sports, April 26): I don’t care that the Toronto Maple Leafs lost Game 7 of their first-round playoff series to the Boston Bruins. Actually, that’s not true: I care deeply. But it doesn’t matter, because the Leafs are my team and no amount of postgame analysis, criticism and commentary is going to change that.

I hope the Leafs know that fans like me are out here, already looking forward to next season – and now cheering for the Winnipeg Jets, too, of course …

Jean Mills, Guelph, Ont.

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