Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre speaks at a news conference in Toronto, on Aug. 15.Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press
Price is right
Re “Poilievre casts doubt on Liberal plan to shave $15-billion off spending” (Aug. 16): The Liberal government is planning a $15.4-billion spending reduction over five years. Even if the entire amount was saved in one year, it amounts to roughly 1 per cent of the federal debt, and still leaves annual deficits.
Hardly a serious effort, then, to reduce spending.
Joel Cohen FCPA Hamilton
Treasury Board President Anita Anand may or may not be successful in her attempt to save $15.4-billion in government spending. Meanwhile, Pierre Poilievre has yet to announce any specific policies that would accomplish the same thing – or anything else, for that matter.
Neil Maltin Sarnia, Ont.
On the road
Re “Pierre Poilievre, the class tourist who didn’t read the guidebook” (Aug. 12): The reporter reveals that Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., is where she grew up. I suppose that’s to suggest that she truly understands folks from there, and Pierre Poilievre does not.
I too am from the Soo, and I can attest folks there are indeed clamouring for a common-sense politician like Mr. Poilievre, who’s dedicated to issues important to them including community safety, affordability and freedom.
Having been an MP with him from 2015 to 2021 and having served as a key organizer on his leadership campaign, I know him well and can attest he’s genuine, resonates with people from all walks of life and is not a phony.
Mr. Poilievre is drawing enormous audiences nationwide for good reason, chiefly that he indeed resonates strongly with average Canadians.
Kerry Diotte Edmonton
Canadian commitment
Re “Two years after Taliban takeover, many Afghans who helped Canada’s military remain in limbo” (Aug. 15): Canada should honour offers to resettle Afghans who worked with the diplomatic and military Canadian missions in Afghanistan.
Their conditions and despair are deplorable. Every effort should be made to fast-track these individuals and families, whose lives are in jeopardy. Red tape cannot be an excuse for keeping them in limbo.
They should be attended to in a conscionable, timely and humane manner which they, and Canadians, expect from Canada.
Marie Elizabeth Smith Guelph, Ont.
Put another way
Re “Marathon wildfire season could persist into next month, Ottawa says” (Aug. 12): “The equivalent of more than one billion tonnes of carbon dioxide has been released by the blazes.” To put this number into perspective, consider the amount of carbon released by all the cars in Canada.
As reported by Statistics Canada, there were 24.1 million “light duty” vehicles registered in Canada in 2021. If a typical passenger vehicle emits about 4.6 tonnes of carbon per year, Canadian vehicles annually emit nearly 111 million tonnes. So, this year’s Canadian wildfires have so far released about 10 times as much carbon as all the cars in Canada.
While reducing current carbon emissions is important, we should also be investing in technology to remove the massive amount of man-made carbon from our atmosphere, in an attempt to reverse the natural dynamics of global heating.
David Wilton Guelph, Ont.
Push back
Re “Why more Quebec family doctors are leaving the public health system” (Aug. 8): The federal government has the duty – and the capacity – to stop provinces from sliding toward two-tier health care, yet for decades it has mostly looked the other way. One consequence: What’s happening in Quebec, and what is evolving in Ontario with Bill 60 and investor-driven surgical clinics.
Our federal government should step up, as it did when a Calgary clinic recently flirted with the idea of paid “memberships” for faster access to insured services. It swiftly threatened to claw back health money if Alberta allowed this practice (“Calgary medical clinic halts plans to charge for faster doctor access” – Aug. 2). This is the type of action nurses expect.
Allowing health-transfer dollars to be stripped away from our public system results in higher costs, lower quality and less access. If the provinces won’t stop, we will call on the federal government to use powers under the Canada Health Act to protect universal access to health care, from coast to coast to coast.
Doris Grinspun RN, O.Ont; CEO, Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario Toronto
Tax buckets
Re “High income earners in Canada are already paying their fair share of tax” (Report on Business, Aug. 10): To exercise the “deductions, credits and other tax preferences’” that “every Canadian has a right to claim,” Canadians need liquid assets, savings or a good credit rating. Many, perhaps most, don’t, but still pay all their income and sales taxes.
Not all legal “rights” are necessarily fair in a larger context, as growing inequalities in income illustrate.
Bill Jennings Kingston
Elsewhere
Re “Ontario government memo reminds political staffers to follow conflict rules after Greenbelt report” (Aug. 15): It astounds me how poor planning in the Greater Toronto Area has become. Stealing from greenbelts? Ask Britain about this.
There, developers cannot go an inch past the greenbelt line for any building. I have driven the outer ring road around London and been amazed at the green fields with cattle and crops, so close to the city.
Housing can still be built north of Ontario’s Greenbelt, so why the need to encroach on it? Put in proper transit and people can still commute, if needed.
We should keep the Greenbelt sacrosanct. The Ford government is starting on a slippery slope and should be stopped.
Chris McCabe The Blue Mountains, Ont.
According to Doug Ford, Ontario has a housing crisis and needs 1.5 million homes. His solution is to pave the Greenbelt and build 50,000 homes, which is only 3.3 per cent of the number required.
This still leaves another 1.45 million homes required to be built. Of course, the most important number in the math seems to be the $8-billion that developers will reap.
James Wigmore Toronto
Roll call
Re “Pulling off the greatest high-school ruse ever” (First Person, Aug. 11): Teachers can have fun, too.
As a young high-school staff in Brampton, Ont., in the 1970s, our favourite non-student was Victoria Day, whose name inevitably appeared on staff bulletins every spring. She was written in as an absentee on attendance sheets, blamed for many shenanigans and occasionally called to the office by an unsuspecting administrator.
Sadly, computer attendance put an end to the fun. I’ve always wondered if she ever graduated?
Wendy Kerr Hadley Mississauga
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