A hospital emergency sign on Sept. 27.Alex Lupul/The Canadian Press
Health check
Re It’s Well Past Time To Get Serious About Health Reform (Nov. 15): I sympathize with columnist André Picard’s view that the federal government is right to demand provincial accountability before handing over new health care funds. But even if the Constitution is not crystal clear about health care, I believe it is time to accept provincial jurisdiction here, and to stop looking to Ottawa to fix the mess.
Instead, Ottawa should simply transfer a fixed percentage of tax revenues every year on a Per-capita basis. As federal tax revenue rises, so does federal support for health care.
Then we all should to turn to our provincial premiers and demand that they fix health care. Any national co-ordination, such as for licensing, should come from them.
I believe it is only when the premiers feel heat from the public, and can no longer hide in the confusion of split jurisdiction, that serious action on health care will happen.
Jim Paulin Ottawa
About 30 years ago, I participated in meetings to try unifying criteria for physician licensing in Canada.
During a particularly boring meeting, I jotted down a list of various organizations (governments, medical schools, colleges, licensing bodies, medical associations) that were legitimate stakeholders or had vetoes. The total came to 75.
Needless to say, the criteria were not changed then or since. A similar obstacle faces attempts to unify the administration or organization of health care in Canada.
A huge paradigm shift in governance has to occur before change can be contemplated.
John Forster MD (retired), former chair of family medicine, Memorial University and the University of Ottawa
Re Nearly One In Five Doctors Ponder Closing Shop (Nov. 15): Based on the January, 2021, survey date “at the height of the second wave of the pandemic,” I was surprised that four in five doctors had not considered closing their practices.
Richard Dowling Hamilton
Timeout
Re Lucki Didn’t Share Other Options Before Emergencies Act Invoked (Nov. 16): The refrain of police leaders, that they had a plan just hours before the government employed the Emergencies Act (but did not share it) sounds so childish.
“Just five more minutes and I can finish this test.” They had three weeks. Time was up. They failed.
Richard McFarlane Edmonton
It ain’t easy
Re Cutting Into The Greenbelt Won’t Solve The Housing Crisis (Nov. 14): Doug Ford is unlikely to back down on Bill 23. The solution should be for the federal government to disallow the bill, which it has the power to do under the Constitution.
Thomas Beckett Founding chairman, Hamilton Conservation Authority
So we need leadership to “think outside the box.” This has several problems.
The first is that the provincial government in Ontario seems more concerned with politics than effective planning. The second, and perhaps most important issue, is that Ontario doesn’t have a master plan or big-picture mentality on land use.
In Copenhagen, they have removed parking spaces from the city centre every year, but do this with related changes: more public transit, better bicycle lanes.
Here, there seems like no political will to look at our living environment for the future and plan accordingly.
Robert Morrow Hamilton
Re Ontario Conservation Authorities Lose Powers With Bill 23 (Nov. 15): This is particularly tragic, because Ontario’s conservation authorities are world leaders in river basin management.
Two authorities, Grand River and Lake Simcoe Region, have been bestowed the prestigious Thiess Interntional Riverprize. The Lake Simcoe authority was cited for working “in partnership with communities and municipal, provincial and federal governments to deliver practical and cost-effective local solutions to address a range of natural resource challenges, delivering programs in science and research, protection and restoration, and education and outreach.”
Experts and officials come here to learn how to heal rivers in their own countries. Since 1946, Ontario conservation authorities have developed and flourished under a dozen-plus premiers from three political parties. Now Doug Ford will likely kill them.
Greg Michalenko Waterloo, Ont.
Re The Greenbelt Needs To Stay Green (Editorial, Nov. 14): This a lot of noise regarding the taking of around 5,000 hectares to provide needed housing. This out of 810,000 hectares.
Philip Beaudoin Brock, Ont.
News flash: More affordable housing can only happen if certain interest groups are offended. The latest looks to be conservation authorities.
Whenever discussing approvals required from these authorities, I roll my eyes. Primarily because their mandate is “conservation,” not housing. We as a society should push up, push out and push around to get quality homes to serve the needs of the many.
Our population is forecast to grow substantially over the next five years. Sorry, that is just the way it is.
Brian Johnston Toronto
Cuban crisis?
Re Rights Group Asks Ottawa To Sanction Cuba (Nov. 14): Some more context for protests in Cuba: COVID-19, fuel shortages, tourism freezes and, in particular, the more than 240 anti-Cuba measures introduced by the Trump administration (and maintained by Joe Biden) that caused widespread hunger.
Washington still maintains the Trading with the Enemy Act in dealings with Cuba and has placed it on a list of countries that “support terrorism.” Just last week, the massive impact of U.S. embargoes was condemned by 185 countries at the United Nations General Assembly.
Anti-Cuba activists compare the 2021 street protests with human-rights abuses in China and Russia, a premise I find absurd. Their time would be better spent lobbying Washington to return to the policies of the Obama administration, when there was greater prosperity on the island, much less bilateral tension and more common sense in U.S. policy.
John Kirk Professor emeritus, Latin American studies, Dalhousie University Halifax
Face value
Re The Real World (Letters, Nov. 15): One letter-writer wonders why does Meta “with quarterly profit of US$4.4-billion have to lay off anyone?” Another letter-writer rebuts, asserting that Meta’s share price has gone down by 50 per cent. So what? Share price should be irrelevant.
The stock market is an expectations market, and frequently fluctuates for reasons unconnected to day-to-day operations of a company. Salaries are paid out of revenue; as long as they remain strong, share price should not be a factor in layoffs.
Less attention should be paid to share value and more to the efficient running of business.
James Duthie Nanaimo, B.C.
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