The Bank of Canada building in Ottawa on Dec. 6, 2022.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
About-face
Re As Xi Faces A Crisis, Ottawa Finally Takes The China Threat Seriously (Jan. 6): Leaders who face trouble at home look to actions abroad to distract their unsettled populace.
Xi Jinping looks to be no different. The West should be prepared.
Martin Wale Dorval, Que.
Voter profile
Re Poilievre Must Win Over Female Voters, Press ‘Anger Button’ Less Often For Majority: Observers (Jan. 9): Against my better judgment, I offer this free advice to Conservative backroom pooh-bahs: Stop labelling women, no matter the demographic, “soccer moms.”
Crass politics aside, reducing women to stereotypes only highlights to me the lack of sincerity in their efforts.
Patricia Phillips Toronto
When can you start?
Re Surge In Hiring Paves Way For Another BoC Rate Hike (Report on Business, Jan. 7): Hard to believe that with nearly one million job vacancies, the Bank of Canada is aiming to have more unemployment. Is its aim to increase household debt, personal bankruptcies and visits to food banks?
After seven rate hikes last year and inflation still around 7 per cent, it’s clear to me that the outdated strategy of punishing Canadians is not working. The central bank should implement a sound fiscal plan and stop the rate hikes.
Kip Wood Nanaimo, B.C.
Re BoC Needs To Figure Out Why Hiring Is So Strong (Report on Business, Jan. 9): It seems like the appointment of Bank of Canada Governor is similar to that of a meteorologist: They can be wrong all the time and still keep their job.
Cam Kourany Kelowna, B.C.
In the plans
Re An Immigration Plan That Isn’t Really A Plan (Opinion, Jan. 7): If each new citizen represents an opportunity to add another productive taxpayer, then immigration is of profound value to any country. But the country must be prepared to foster success with the proper infrastructure to ensure immigrants have as much opportunity for that success as possible.
However, each day The Globe and Mail contains stories about the lack of affordable housing, overcrowded shelters, lack of clean water for First Nations, immigrant difficulties in having professional standards recognized, crumbling health care and underfunded schools. Suggesting we are “ready” to properly support 400,000-plus new citizens each year (about the size of Kitchener, Ont., Surrey, B.C., or Laval, Que.) seems ridiculous.
The current plan ensures that new Canadians have substantially lower chances of success than required for our immigration policy to actually work and benefit all Canadians. The federal government should fix the “product” before it starts selling it to prospective new citizens.
Graham Farrell Toronto
Kudos for pointing out what many Canadians are concerned about: Are we attracting immigrants who can fill positions urgently needed, or are we simply involved in a numbers game?
With massive shortages of doctors and nurses across Canada, surely attracting immigrants to help alleviate that rising problem, rather than labourers, should be a top priority. And how will provinces accommodate millions of newcomers when there is a shortage of affordable housing in urban centres, school classrooms are maxed out and inflation is at a 40-year high?
Let’s hope your views will be taken seriously by the Trudeau government, directing its immigration priority more at the professional classes.
Larry Comeau Ottawa
Which comes first: well-trained, highly skilled immigrants, or the jobs that will employ those immigrants? My own observations suggest that jobs must come first.
Anyone leaving their nation for another will want to go to a place which offers the best chance for success. If our federal government hopes to draw ever-larger numbers of new Canadians, the most effective immigration plan would be an industrial plan designed to create good jobs.
In many quarters, Canada’s economy is still viewed as hewing wood and drawing water. And far too often I read about some Canadian startup that ends up sold to foreign interests. Prospective immigrants would justifiably go where those companies, and the jobs that go with them, are ending up.
I think The Globe is correct in saying our government lacks any cohesive immigration plan. Create good jobs, and the immigrants will come.
Steve Soloman Toronto
Welcome home
Re As A Refugee, I Will Always Live Between Worlds – But I’m Planting My Flag In Canada (Opinion, Jan. 7): Today, I will celebrate the new citizenship of contributor Hassan Al Kontar. I thank him for his writing.
This is a country of great writers and we are adding another to be proud of publishing.
Daniel Parkinson Toronto
Closer to home
Re A Shrinking Map: With Global Instability On The Rise, Travellers’ Options Have Narrowed (Jan. 4): Better late than never.
Since the end of the Second World War, places like Russia and China have been authoritarian states where locals may be brutally repressed. The list of such countries is long, but including places with debatable travellers’ safety would make it even longer. Eastern Europe, now largely freed from dictatorial control, is a bright spot, although Vladimir Putin’s attempt to recreate a lost empire might make some visitors think twice about Russia today.
For Canadians, all is not lost. We live in a vast country with a huge and diverse geography. Our culture and history give ample opportunities for interesting travel, with security built in. Short-haul flights are almost bearable and it is even possible our government starts to enforce laws regarding passenger rights (just kidding).
See Canada first, where a Canadian dollar is still worth a dollar, and a warm welcome is near-guaranteed.
Colin Lowe Nanaimo, B.C.
We need to talk about…
Re Only The NFL Can Turn A Near-death Incident Into A Positive (Sports, Jan. 7): Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin’s presumptive diagnosis is commotio cordis, agitation of the heart caused by “blunt force trauma to the chest wall that affects the electrical system of the heart,” as per James Borchers, chief medical officer for the Big Ten Conference.
This condition is quite rare in football. However a 2010 review published in the New England Journal of Medicine found 122 cases were in competitive sports and 48 in recreational sports.
Why is there not a discussion on how to more effectively protect the hearts of athletes from blunt force trauma to the chest in all major sports activities?
Moses Shuldiner Toronto
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