Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland speaks at a news conference in Ottawa on Feb. 17.PATRICK DOYLE/Reuters
Keep your Opinions sharp and informed. Get the Opinion newsletter. Sign up today.
Ravaged by war
Re Ukrainians Near Kyiv Deal With The Carnage Left Behind By Russia (April 5): The horror … the horror ….
Jim Regan Hamilton
Re Putin’s War Will Destroy Russia (April 5): Contributor Nina L. Khrushcheva states that the war will end in one of four ways. I believe she has missed another possibility, perhaps the most likely one: The war never really ends, but drags on as a “frozen conflict.”
This is what has happened in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions for the past eight years, and also in Georgia. In practice, Russian forces would withdraw from most of western and central Ukraine, but remain in eastern and southern regions bordering the Black Sea.
There would be no peace treaty, but sporadic fighting where Ukrainian forces try to regain territory. It is a bleak prospect, especially for Ukraine, but not a great one for Russia, either.
Vladimir Putin would be able to claim victory, but Russia would remain an international pariah. His hope would be that Western countries, over time, resume business with Russia as before.
William Reed Victoria
Contributor Nina L. Khrushcheva’s travelling joke about Russian tanks reminds me of an even more dire quip from my days in Russia before glasnost and perestroika.
A Canadian says: “We can travel outside Canada whenever we want.” A Russian replies: “We travel every 12 years: We went to Hungary in 1956, Czechoslovakia in 1968 and Afghanistan in 1980.”
In those days, Russians had many morbid jokes to lighten their spirits.
Jon Baird Uxbridge, Ont.
In response
Re Police Response To Nova Scotia Mass Shooting Was ‘Textbook,’ RCMP Union Boss Says (April 4): If National Police Federation president Brian Sauvé believes the RCMP response in Nova Scotia was “almost textbook,” all I can say is that he needs a new textbook.
I find that communication during the mass shooting was sorely lacking, internally within the RCMP and externally to the public – hindsight not required.
Peter Hambly Hanover, Ont.
Who benefits?
Re The Big Rift (Report on Business, April 2): Royal Bank of Canada CEO Dave McKay compares tax-and-spend programs with “eating Sugar Pops for breakfast. You feel really good for an hour and you feel crappy by noon.” For many who rely on spending programs, they are more akin to basic nutrition.
Think of a parent who can’t enter the low- to medium-wage work force without subsidized child care, or a young adult who must choose paying rent over obtaining expensive medications. Mr. McKay’s analogy shows me a lack of perspective and empathy for those who would benefit from more spending programs.
It is clear to me that corporate executives have their eyes on other spending programs – the kinds that subsidize investment decisions by large corporations.
Chris Badenoch Toronto
Climate math
Re UN Report On Climate Crisis Warns That Change Needs To Happen Fast (April 5): United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that “the science is clear. To keep the 1.5 C limit agreed in Paris within reach, we need to cut global emissions by 45 per cent this decade.”
Fossil fuels are the main cause of global emissions. British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador are all planning to increase fossil fuel production.
Is Canada a rational country?
Larry Barzelai Vancouver
Pumped up
Re Your Car Shouldn’t Get A Subsidy (Editorial, April 5): The Globe and Mail’s editorial points out that a better use of provincial taxpayer money would be to improve public transit instead of further subsidizing the car. The federal government already offered up to $750-million in matching funds to help transit operations across Canada, the hardest hit by the pandemic, recover lost revenue.
I guess there are no vote-grabbing headlines in sensible, long-term transportation strategies.
Jim Young National Keep Transit Moving Coalition; Burlington, Ont.
Cutting gas taxes sends exactly the wrong price signal as far as gas use (and consequent greenhouse gas emissions) is concerned: The more gas used, the larger the subsidy.
By contrast, the governments of New Brunswick and Canada return carbon pricing revenue to residents in a manner that does not encourage gas consumption. These programs provide the same benefit (through the income tax system in New Brunswick and direct federal payment to households) regardless of how much people drive or how many vehicles they own.
These governments demonstrate that it is possible to provide financial support in a manner that recognizes the urgent need to discourage fossil fuel use and address global warming.
Jeffrey Levitt Toronto
No one should expect an actual price drop at the pump, at least for no more than a few days.
The summer driving season always brings higher gas prices. Drivers should assume that oil companies will quickly jack up prices, thereby pocketing any tax cut and leaving motorists no better off.
I thought our governments were supposed to spend money on climate-change alleviation, not on measures to put more carbon waste into the atmosphere.
Ray Argyle Kingston
Pay it forward
Re Extension To Phoenix Pay Deal Boosts Price Tag To $650-million (April 5): Are you kidding me? More than $650-million and 10 years to install a pay system? Good lord, scrap it and start over.
Government often wonders why competent business people are hesitant to trust it to handle their tax money. I wouldn’t mind paying my fair share of taxes, but it drives me crazy to think how badly my money is being handled.
For this reason, I will always look for tax-avoidance strategies.
Chris McCabe Blue Mountains, Ont.
Thirty years ago, I was director of special projects in what was then the customs and excise branch of the Canada Revenue Agency. The push was on to computerize the pay system.
A junior pay clerk explained to me that this was probably an unworkable idea because there were so many individual permutations, which had to be calculated by hand before being inputted. She accompanied me to a senior management committee meeting to explain this.
Initially skeptical, they nonetheless decided, wisely, to continue with the existing hybrid system. As I understand it, Phoenix is a “Holy Grail” solution that has resulted in thousands of inaccurate files which have to be fixed manually, to the tune of exponentially rising millions of dollars.
The moral of the story: Listen to those on the front line who know how costly messes can happen if a one-size-fits-all computer program is enthusiastically, or prematurely, implemented.
Nancy Marley-Clarke Cochrane, Alta.
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