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President Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un of North Korea after a document signing ceremony on Sentosa Island in Singapore, June 12, 2018.DOUG MILLS/The New York Times News Service

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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Through the space portal

Re Trump, Kim Jong-un Begin Peace Talks (June 12): President Donald Trump calls our Prime Minister “dishonest and weak.” A day later, he meets North Korea’s Kim Jong-un and says, “It’s my honour and we will have a terrific relationship.” Lest we forget, Mr. Kim had his relatives killed and starved his own people.

There’s only one answer to this. Our planet has passed through some kind of space portal into a bizarro world universe. I’m going with that. No other explanation makes sense.

Martin Birt, Uxbridge, Ont.

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President Donald Trump is too busy meeting with Kim Jong-un to notice your naysayer letters to the editor (Readers Take On Donald Trump: Canada Will Not Be Bullied, June 12). Millions voted for him and support him, and all the insanity from the left is going to propel him into the White House again. The Obama administration, with smiles and soft appeasing words, allowed North Korea to develop its nuclear capability. Mr. Trump is trying to correct this, so North America won’t be blown off the map. He deserves credit for it.

Cherryl Katnich, Maple Ridge, B.C.

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As Donald Trump arrives home from Singapore, he should check whether he still has his trousers. In his poker game with Kim Jong-un, it sounds as if he lost them.

Michael Moore, Toronto

The company we keep

A week before Donald Trump’s G7 tantrum, I had had enough and was on the phone to Unilever and Procter & Gamble to find out where my favourite products were made. So the mayonnaise stays, but the toothpaste goes because it’s made in the U.S. No more U.S.-grown fruit or vegetables, no more occasional trips to Wal-Mart. Even though I have serious doubts whether my personal boycott will make any difference to Canada-U.S. relations, it makes me feel better!

Suzanne Gobeil, Ottawa

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I love America. It is the greatest country on Earth, and California is a special part of what makes it exceptional. My wife and I spent our honeymoon in the Napa Valley and Sonoma County. Since then, California wines have occupied a special place in our hearts (and wine cellar). Each year, we bring out a trophy bottle to celebrate our anniversary – a tradition for 16 years. But no more.

With some sadness, we’ve decided to end this tradition (as well as nascent plans for a 20th-anniversary vacation in California). To adapt a quote from the Trump administration, there is a special place in hell reserved for those who back down from bullies, and who allow their friends to abuse them. California and American wines are no longer welcome in my home. I would rather drink plonk. I think the American revolutionaries who spawned the Boston Tea Party and who knew something about bullies would understand.

As many know, Canada is one of California’s largest wine-export markets (and will likely remain so), but I don’t like their growth prospects. Not to worry, perhaps the U.S. can sell its products to its new friends in North Korea. After all, we should be judged by the company we keep.

A. Blair Sutherland, Ottawa

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Yesterday, we cancelled a 55-day cruise with our favourite line because it’s American-owned. We did this in response to the trade attacks on Canada by the U.S. administration. This is our small rebuke to the tariffs imposed on Canada on the specious grounds of “national security.” It is our hope others follow suit to send a message that Canada “will not be pushed around.”

Gordon and Patricia Hall, Toronto

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U.S. trade adviser Peter Navaro says there’s “a special place in hell” reserved for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. I wasn’t aware they had earmarked a position for Mr. Trudeau in the Trump White House.

Robert Cairns, Cobourg, Ont.

Sour milk? Sour grapes

Re Trump’s Sour Milk Shakedown (editorial, June 12): The U.S. and a number of other countries provide substantial taxpayer-based agricultural subsidies to farmers. Canada chooses supply management, allowing the federal and provincial governments to avoid subsidizing the sectors directly, unlike the U.S. (and European Union).

We consumers thus subsidize farmers through the higher, supply-managed prices paid for the end products. It would seem that all Canada needs to do is demand that Donald Trump stop wasteful farm subsidies and compete on a more level playing field.

The Union of Concerned Scientists contends that with farm subsidies, the U.S. public pays twice – once to subsidize outdated industrial farming practices, and then again to fix the resulting problems, which also include farmers making planting decisions that lead to poor outcomes for the wider environment.

Sharon Cooper, Lance Read; Vancouver

That’s so last century

Re Fax Machines Don’t Belong In 21st Century Health Care (June 12): As a member of the military, I can go to any doctor at any base and my medical history is available online for the doc. No more waiting for records to be sent to a new base and all the risks of losing them. My family, on the other hand, is lucky that their records from another province ever arrive at our new residence.

Fax machines are about as practical now as the hand-crank telephone. It’s high time the nation’s health authorities acquire a secure record system that is pan- Canadian. It’s not hard, and lots of options are already available.

Don Mitchell, Lieutenant-Commander, RCN; Ottawa

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In the past few years, our fax (largely used for business) has received transmissions of sensitive medical information from various clinics and doctors’ offices in Mississauga.

I have contacted the College of Physicians and Surgeons several times, explaining the situation and strongly suggesting that they send a message to their members stating that our fax number is private, and reminding them of the legal implications of breaches of privacy like these. In one instance, I hand delivered the errant fax pages to the doctor’s office from which they were sent.

In only one case was I contacted by a doctor (the same one who requested return of the pages), advising me she would contact the patient involved, and thanking me for letting her know of this serious issue. In other cases, I was met with suspicion (why was I in possession of sensitive paperwork?), a blasé attitude, and in one case a suggestion that we change our fax number.

While I am encouraged by the professional response of the office manager of a Mississauga clinic to our latest unwanted fax (June 8), I am disappointed this troubling breach of privacy has not been addressed once and for all by the governing body of Ontario’s doctors. I do have one suggestion for the College: When you send out your message to your members, perhaps fax should not be your preferred method of communication.

Sandy Blazier, Mississauga

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