June 25: ‘Fear not, the federal government is busy banning plastic straws.’ Amid crisis, what are the Liberals’ priorities? Plus other letters to the editor

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Priorities in order

People are camped out on sidewalks for days to get passports (Unions Urged Ottawa To Boost Staffing Before Passport Backlog – June 23), our airports are “hell on earth” (Airlines Must Offer Refunds, Alternative Flights Under New Rules – Report on Business, June 23), the RCMP is under investigation (RCMP Veterans Defend Officer Behind Lucki Allegations – June 23) and our health care system is reaching “code blue” (Calling Code Blue For Canadian Health Care – June 21).

But fear not, the federal government is busy banning plastic straws and forks (Federal Government Puts Final Motions In Place To Ban Some Single-use Plastics – Online, June 20). We need them to get back to work.

Jennifer Camelford Toronto

Interfering or responsive?

Re Liberal Interference Is All Too Familiar (June 23): Columnist John Ibbitson demonstrates government interference by listing examples of its responses to current events and catastrophes.

Identifying the weapons used in the 2020 mass shooting in Nova Scotia, he writes, is an example of Liberal interference in an investigation “to advance their agenda on gun control.” I suggest this is an example of respect for the public’s right to know the facts, albeit facts that support gun control. This should not be a question of ethics or interference.

Likewise an increase in funds for abortion services, coinciding with word that the U.S. Supreme Court would overturn Roe v. Wade, perhaps demonstrates government awareness of a possible increase in the need for these services by women from south of the border (assuming it was not already in the works).

Why should these actions be viewed as interference, rather than responsive governance in the face of changing circumstances in Canada and elsewhere?

Cheryl Hill Mississauga

Ancient history

Re One Act (Letters, June 22): A letter-writer’s suggestion that Parliament use the power of disallowance to stop Quebec’s language and laity laws would discard a binding constitutional convention. The federal government’s literal power under the 1867 British North America Act reflected Westminster’s own power at the time to overrule laws passed by its colonial governments.

Before becoming completely obsolete nearly a century ago, only a handful of the hundred-plus disallowances concerned Quebec; even that province’s notorious Padlock Act of 1937 was not disallowed. Thanks to the post-colonial obsolescence of the power of disallowance, the country can be spared the irony of the government, which made and enforces the Indian Act, purporting to overrule a province’s legislation on the basis of civil rights.

Eric Groody Calgary

Cleanup time

Re Canada Has To Stop Washing Dirty Money (Editorial, June 18): The Cullen Commission report makes an important contribution to addressing Canada’s woeful efforts to combat money laundering. Unfortunately, it seems to provide answers to the wrong question.

As The Globe and Mail editorial points out, “how” to address the problem is “simple.” The question that requires an urgent and comprehensive answer is why we don’t implement already available solutions? Why is something described as simple not also easy?

One is left to conclude that protecting powerful, national vested interests is more important than our country’s responsibility to play a serious role in combating international money laundering. That is a shame.

James McSherry Clearview, Ont.

I am currently reading a book called Moneyland: The Inside Story of the Crooks and Kleptocrats Who Rule the World by Oliver Bullough.

It describes how money is stolen from already poor countries (Ukraine is a case in point), hidden with the help of lawyers in Western countries, then spent. Canada is mentioned too many times as a haven for these crooks.

What the book also outlines is how hard it is to do anything about it, and why.

Ruth Miller Toronto

Reading in

Re How Should Children Be Taught To Read? (June 18): Preschool and kindergarten are the places for strict phonics.

Once a child has a mastery of letters and their sounds and can read any three-letter word that complies with the basic rules – cat, dog, pin, etc. – various other approaches to reading can usually be employed with great success. Unless they are recent immigrants not fluent in English, children in higher grades should not have to attend remedial programs to acquire this knowledge.

It is important, however, to constantly check comprehension. As a volunteer tutor, I was surprised to encounter children who read fluently and with great expression, but with little idea of what the words mean, even if their grasp of English seems reasonable.

It should be especially important for parents to read to and with their children every day, even in other languages, as this is how they come to connect meaning with printed words and acquire large vocabularies.

Anita Dermer Toronto

In the late 1840s, Egerton Ryerson expelled phonics from Ontario’s new public schools. His was part of a broad attack on spelling books, seen as dangerous political instruments.

Phonics, and the spelling books used to teach it, taught people to read for sound, not for sense. So, the argument went, readers would not understand what they were reading or saying. Hence the popular taste for thrilling novels and the existence of socialist speeches and radical political opinions.

For a quarter-century, students were taught to read whole words and were given lessons on “useful knowledge.” Teachers were to interrogate them to ensure they got it right. It took two decades for popular demand to result in the reintroduction of phonics.

In fact, not everyone learns to read in the same way.

Bruce Curtis Ottawa

It seems a yearly tradition to debate the merits of a phonetical versus whole language approach to early reading instruction. To my mind, it’s a false dichotomy. Children need both.

Quality teacher education in literacy instruction and programming offered to families through public libraries, early learning centres and other literacy organizations help ensure this is the case. As it has always been, some children need additional help, especially if they have special needs, are new language learners or lack a literacy-rich home environment.

Let’s give teachers, parents and caregivers, as well as those working tirelessly in the field, credit for the success they have, year in and out, untangling the beautiful science of learning how to read for all children.

Mary Ladky Executive director, The Children’s Book Bank Toronto

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