Canadian soldiers attack during Silver Arrow 2017, the multinational military drills involving 11 NATO member countries in Adazi, Latvia, in 2017.Ints Kalnins
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Defence dues. And don’ts
Re U.S. Accuses Canada Of Lagging On Defence (July 4): The defence establishment in the U.S. does not exist to serve America’s defence needs. America exists to serve the needs of the defence establishment. What the Americans are really saying is that the rest of the world should expand defence spending and import more hardware from American defence contractors. Canada’s defence requirements are an issue apart.
With oceans on three sides and significant inland waterways, Canada might be expected to have a strong navy. We don’t. With such a large land area, Canada might be expected to have significant air capability. We don’t. With the Americans for neighbours, Canada might be expected to have a population trained to defend itself. We don’t. With the imbalance of power between Canada and the U.S., Canada might be expected to maintain a firm alliance with other nations of significance for balance. We don’t.
We do have allies in NATO, which is led by the U.S., the No. 1 threat to our peace and security. These allies include the likes of Turkey, which can be counted on for virtually nothing. We do have an important neighbour to the north which might receive more consideration.
C.R. (Ray) Luft, Mississauga
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I have never agreed with Donald Trump but he is correct that many nations, including Canada, are not meeting minimum requirements for defence spending under NATO. Canada should raise its military budget now – but not for the reason Mr. Trump states.
NATO countries, including Canada, can no longer rely on the U.S. to meet its defence commitments, and somehow we need to ensure there’s a deterrent to Russia just walking in and annexing another country. Canada does not need a large military, but it needs one potent enough to defend our borders and be able to help defend other alliance members.
How do we expect our men and women to fight with old, inferior equipment? This weakness will be tested by some country one day, and unless we do something radical today to fix our military, we will pay the price. Our forces need to have the most current equipment available and to be ready on a moment’s notice to deploy. We aren’t even close to that.
David Bell, Toronto
Doomed to drab
Re Are We Doomed To A Future Of Mediocre Public Buildings? (July 2): Architect Toon Dreessen is right that built form and infrastructure are intertwined, and that many new buildings are drab and fail to serve the community.
Toronto has an influx of new towers that meet the street with glass lobbies that kill any neighbourhood feeling. They contain no retail or amenities for the community; many, only built for office workers, are closed on weekends.
Why do developers do that?
Because they can.
The city desperately needs new urban planning bylaws that bind developers in solid contracts to include shops, theatres, restaurants, health facilities, playgrounds, benches etc., so that every building animates the street and becomes a positive addition to the neighbourhood.
If developers don’t comply, no building permit should be issued.
Ulla Colgrass, Toronto
T.O. shoot-outs
Re Toronto Mayor Pleads For Help From Ontario, Ottawa As 10 Shot In Five Days (July 4): The recent increase in gang-related gun violence in Toronto and Surrey, B.C., has resulted in the usual uptick in hand-wringing among municipal politicians casting about for solutions: more policing, a return to carding practices, more money from the province and the feds, addressing joblessness among youth and rhetoric about gun violence as a mere symptom of larger problems. To be sure, there is no one isolated cause or solution.
But a well-researched, obvious symptom that is consistently ignored is the link between violence in popular culture involving rap music which celebrates drug use and glorifies guns.
Russell Smith says that music is now an integral part of mainstream culture but argues against a police initiative in London, England, to make a particularly violent subgenre of hip hop illegal (A Hip-Hop Case In Britain Raises Questions About Making Art Illegal – July 3). To conclude that “an unregulated pop culture is actually self-regulating” and more effective than legal remedies is wishful thinking.
This problem’s been allowed to grow over the years. As has been said, doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity.
Rose A. Dyson, president, Canadians Concerned About Violence in Entertainment
Man Vs. Sense
Re Man Vs. Fire My Day In Barbecue-Assembly Hell (June 29): I was very amused by Ian Brown’s article about assembling a barbecue. All dads have an assembling story. Here’s mine: In 1985, when my kids were young, I bought one of those simple metal swing sets that seemed to be in every yard. I brought it home from a major department store, opened the box, laid out the parts, including a plastic bag of nuts and bolts, reviewed the instructions, and reluctantly started assembling.
Everything was fine until I got to a critical juncture where I needed the last two special-diameter, special-length, special-thread bolts – not the kind you can get at a hardware store – but there was only one bolt left in the package. Stymied and frustrated, I headed back and explained my situation to the guy on the counter. “Oh,” he said, “I can help you with that.” My face went from grim to happy.
He walked over to the pallet of boxes of unassembled swing sets sitting on the floor, carefully cut it open, reached knowingly inside and – presto! – pulled out the bag of nuts and bolts. He tore it open, found the one I needed and handed it to me. “There you are, Sir. Sorry for the inconvenience.”
I started to laugh. As I turned to leave – and I swear this is true – he said, “You know, you wouldn’t believe the number of customers who come in here complaining about that missing bolt!”
Don Lane, St. John’s
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I know Ian Brown’s piece is meant to be funny but there is something grotesquely absurd about modern man and the quest to get back to his caveman roots. A souped-up 80,000 BTU machine with 900 square inches of cooking surface, capable via bluetooth of telling the “chef” when his meat is cooked – and which, upon unpacking, produces 30 pounds of cardboard and plastic garbage. All for a few burgers. Caveman indeed. I’d go for the kitchen fry pan.
Rob Dykstra, Nanaimo, B.C.
Hmm ...
Re How To Fight Trump’s Trade War, Part 2 (editorial, July 3): How brilliant and prescient was Sir John A. Macdonald in 1891 to portray freer trade with the Yankees as “a plot to turn Canada into the 51st state,” given that there were only 44 U.S. states at the time.
Patrick Martin, Westmount, Que.
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To make such a quip, Sir John A. Macdonald would have had to wait … until after August, 1959, when Hawaii joined the Union and became the 50th state.
Nigel Waters, Calgary