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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Unhealthy ledgers
I know the media delight in holding governments to account, but Tuesday's front-page headline – Liberals Fail To Clinch 10-Year Health Deal – while correct could just as easily have been written as: Provinces Fail To Clinch 10-Year Health Deal. Who failed is all in the eye of the beholder.
Reid Robinson, Regina
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There is only one payer – the taxpayer. If this funding for health care is needed, the Prime Minister and the premiers should have been discussing tax increases, not how to divide a pie that is not large enough and half-eaten.
Martin Wale, North Vancouver
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Kudos to Justin Trudeau for trying to improve Canada's health-care system. Now, let's encourage him to be even tougher.
Canada's health-care delivery comes in at No. 30, according to the World Health Organization's detailed rankings for outcomes and costs in 190 countries. Yet we delude ourselves that we are doing a good job by comparing ourselves to the United States, which consistently comes in below Canada and ranks No. 37.
So enough with the provincial ministers' crocodile tears. We spend as much or more per capita as many of the countries that rank above us in delivering quality health care to their citizens.
The Prime Minister and his provincial counterparts need to understand that Canada's health-care system is nowhere near as good as we – or they – think it is. Mr. Trudeau should make federal health transfers to the provinces conditional on improved results, with the goal of putting Canada into the world's top five systems.
Elizabeth McAllister, Ottawa
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Dear Mr. Trudeau …
In defending "cash for access," Justin Trudeau has said he will listen to anyone who wants to speak with him about issues that are important to them. Since shortly after the election, I've sent a daily handwritten postcard to Mr. Trudeau, mostly urging him on in respect for First Nations, human rights and the environment.
I have also sent him two books on climate change, along with the occasional typewritten letter expressing my concern about the Site C dam in northeastern B.C.
People ask if I ever receive replies. Not a word. In the days of Pierre Elliott, you'd at least get a "PRA" (please-rest-assured) letter.
This letter to the editor will constitute my daily missive to Mr. Trudeau. I guess it would help if I enclosed a cheque for no less than $1,500 when I forward it to him.
I'm curious how much it would cost to stop the Site C dam? With my limited income, I wonder if I could I pay by layaway?
Anne Hansen, Victoria
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Someone bid $72,888 for a coffee with Ivanka Trump. Eat your heart out, Justin.
N.J. Cameron, Vancouver
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Fundraising allows parties to survive so they can, collectively, represent a broad range of public opinion and values. I agree with Tom Flanagan that this important democratic outcome is not something we should jeopardize with wrong-headed, overly restrictive fundraising rules (Slam Liberals For Their Morals, Not Their Methods – Dec. 16).
He has persuaded me donor dinners are not likely to influence public policy. Until public opinion accords with his, however, these events will be the focus of attention. Perhaps we should shift our attention to the perennial question of how powerful stakeholders influence policy through means far more consequential than dinners, and how we can persuade governments to be more transparent on that score.
Patricia Wolkowicz, Victoria
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Wealth One Bank
Re Money And Lawsuits: The Early Backers Of A Canadian Bank (Report on Business, Dec. 19): Like every other Schedule 1 bank in Canada, Wealth One Bank of Canada was subject to an exacting and rigorous process under the Bank Act and OSFI. It's one of the toughest processes in the world.
This process took place long before any recent controversies over political party fundraising. Indeed, all the demanding conditions that Wealth One Bank of Canada successfully met were laid out during the mandate of the previous federal government.
Neither Xu Chang'an nor Gui Fang Zhu are investors in or directors of our bank. Morris Chen is indeed a director. He is an outstanding Canadian and successful entrepreneur in his own right.
Commercial disputes – including litigation – are not uncommon for successful enterprises. What is remarkable is that these particular disputes merit coverage in The Globe and Mail.
Charles Lambert, CEO, Wealth One Bank of Canada
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Struggling to thrive
Re Syrian Refugees Need Better Ways To Reunite Their Families (Dec. 19): The authors say that "Along with adequate language training, employment support, mental-health counselling and other settlement services, reuniting families is a key part of ensuring this was a job well done."
Such services are important for these refugees. We should ensure that any disadvantaged individual, family, or community struggling to thrive in Canada has access to the same.
Jennie Preuss, Victoria
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Death, by choice
Re Should Hospices Be Made To Kill? (Dec. 20): Margaret Wente has it backward when she says "Now that assisted death is on the table, a lot of old people are going to ask for it – and not always because they fear the pain and agony of dying."
Since by all counts I have less than a year to live, I won't need to seek an assisted death. I can't speak for "a lot of old people," but I can speak for myself. My every waking hour is spent in pain, pain that gets worse every day. If I were to seek an assisted death, it would not be because I "fear the pain and agony of dying." It would be because I fear prolonging the pain and agony of living.
Daniel J. Christie, Port Hope, Ont.
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I agree wholeheartedly with Margaret Wente. If people had access to good palliative care they would be far less likely to hasten their death. I worked at St. Paul's in Vancouver for 33 years. It has one of the best palliative care programs in the country.
In recent years, with the advent of palliative outreach services, I have seen very few patients die in pain and anxiety. If people get good palliative care they can die well. For their families, this can be an illuminating and life-changing experience. I am not against assisted death, but I do think people should think carefully about their options.
Jane McCall, Delta, B.C.
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Optimism lives here
Re Trump Spurs Executive Optimism (Report on Business, Dec. 19): Christmas has come early indeed. The president-elect isn't even in office and stock markets are up, Fidel Castro is dead, the Keystone pipeline is (likely) about to be built, Carrier Corp. is staying in America and Canada is about to be forced into competitiveness. So far so good!
Beth Lawton, Barrie, Ont.