Ontario Premier Doug Ford takes questions during a news conference at the Ontario Legislature on Sept 5.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
Declassified
Re “For Pierre Trudeau, the ends justified the means in combatting Quebec separatism” (Opinion, Sept. 2): Indeed, the War Measures Act’s impact and destabilization included a unit within the RCMP that “conducted an illicit no holds-barred operation against the separatist movement.” Outside of Quebec, there was as well an impact on organizations and people working for economic and social change.
I encountered people and communities that were frightened of fighting for their rights. It deflated the momentum, before the War Measures Act, of wanting to make more equitable changes in Canadian society.
Don Kossick Saskatoon
Columnist Konrad Yakabuski says that Canadians “deserve to know why” the McDonald Commission “ignored” the creation of G Branch within the RCMP Security Service, code-named FAN TAN. I was the director of research, and I can assure Canadians that the commission had access to all government documents, no matter how highly classified, pertaining to the RCMP Security Service, and ignored none of them.
I had access to all documents and can report that we received no document about G Branch or FAN TAN. In any case, from what I read about it, the activities described were similar to other activities reported by the commission.
Peter Russell Toronto
That the RCMP and other security services collected intelligence on the Quebec separatist movement should be of no surprise. Since the interwar period and through the Cold War, the RCMP and other agencies collected information on – and occasionally held, interrogated, blackmailed and assaulted – suffragettes, socialists, communists, gays, lesbians, feminists, members of minority rights groups and Indigenous advocacy groups, supporters of leftist political parties, and pretty well any group that was held to threaten the settler, heteronormative, patriarchal and established political structure.
Tanya Grodzinski Kingston
High hopes
Re “New Ontario housing minister pledges open Greenbelt review” (Sept. 7): I look forward to Ontario Attorney-General Doug Downey’s announcement of the increased funding and powers that will be allocated to the Integrity Commissioner to ensure that cases of illegal or improper lobbying are not just punished tougher, but also caught in the first place.
I’m sure this government would welcome such scrutiny of its dealings past, present and future, and not shy away from any perception of impropriety.
David Thomas Devine Aurora, Ont.
Love…
Re “When we lose a beloved product, we lose a part of ourselves. Call that what it is: grief” (Opinion, Sept. 2): One important aspect of our attachment to brands and products: aging.
Just as youth is wasted on the young, comfort and familiarity with brands and products is deceptively subconscious, until we have lived long enough to experience the feeling of loss when something that we’ve become attached to is discontinued. The older we get, the more uncomfortable these (inevitable, constant) changes can become for us (for many of us, anyway).
It goes without saying that I’ve considered this phenomenon only as I have become solidly middle-aged. The discontinuation and disappearance of products, services, appliances (the list is endless) serves to demonstrate that the number of my years keeps rising, while the world around us, gradually but inevitably, becomes unrecognizable from the one I grew up in.
Jennifer Halyk Vancouver
…and lost
Re “The grief that endures, 25 years after the Swissair disaster” (Opinion, Sept. 2): “Grief becomes us.” Oh, if only.
As mortals, and as people, we are forever chained to our wounds. Like Prometheus to the rock, we serve our eternal sentence for having given the ancient fire of passion, of love, to someone or something that the world eventually must take away from us.
Old wounds become part of us. Like scars, they never fully heal; they only stop hurting, only to sting with pain again at the thought of a memory: of a scent of summers past, of a voice we will never hear again.
No, I don’t believe that grief becomes us, that the grief of the past can be replaced with a fresh one. We just learn to better carry the weight of the losses that define us.
We become grief.
Marco Amatangelo Toronto
Sign off
Re “Learning cursive might not be a waste of time after all” (Opinion, Sept. 2): When I was a teacher, I learned the importance of cursive writing when our school’s occupational therapist used it regularly with assigned students to assist in developing fine motor skills. It was called “handwriting without tears.” Hence, cursive writing was always done informally in my classroom.
When my Grade 8 students were completing their Grade 9 applications, they needed a “signature” and all they had to offer was the primary way they printed their name. So I taught them how to sign their names in “grown-up” fashion.
I still remember the look of delight on their faces when they saw how beautiful their names looked in cursive.
Nora Alexander Parry Sound, Ont.
With thanks
Re “Thank you” (Editorial Cartoon, Sept. 5): Never has my morning routine been so disrupted.
The first thing I do, after climbing back into bed with my morning coffee, is open The Globe and Mail to get my first smile of the day thanks to Brian Gable. He did it again this week with the clever announcement of his retirement.
Even though I am inconsolable, I wish him happy trails.
Brian Caines Ottawa
No, no, no! I rely on Brian Gable’s wit, insights and cleverness to get me going and keep me functioning.
Whatever shall I do now without his clarities?
Marion Raycheba Toronto
It is hard to sum up in words what Globe and Mail cartoonist Brian Gable meant to the country and to me, personally. He always had the perfect commentary on the issues of the day with his often shrewd, sometimes elegiac but also biting illustrations, if I can frame it that way.
As a history teacher, however, “Gable” was particularly useful, as many of his cartoons made it into my classrooms. Whether it was his annual invocation of Sir John A. Macdonald on Canada Day, beleaguered beavers or his sharp take on the nature of history itself, Mr. Gable was often the start or centrepiece of a lesson for further analysis and delighted both me and my students.
So, congratulations to Mr. Gable on an outstanding career. His snapshots on the state of the Great Dominion will be missed by all Globe readers.
J.D.M. Stewart Toronto
..................................................................................................................................
Letters to the Editor should be exclusive to The Globe and Mail. Include your name, address and daytime phone number. Keep letters to 150 words or fewer. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. To submit a letter by e-mail, click here: letters@globeandmail.com