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
.................................................................................................................................................
Right-wing renewal
Re Why The Right Needs To Recharge, And How To Do It (Jan. 18): Preston Manning's prescription for right-wing renewal is growing a bit threadbare.
Handbills passed out by the infant Reform Party 30 years ago contained much the same text: We ended up with 10 years of Stephen Harper.
The Conservative Party might do well to ask Joe Clark or Pat Carney – or better yet a Canadian under 30 for their views on renewal.
Jon Blair, Sidney, B.C.
.........
It appears that Preston Manning pines for a new, gentler Stephen Harper with Justin Trudeau's style to lead the "conservative-oriented" federal party back from the frontier.
This small-c conservative voter does not plan to come back to the fold until they reinstall the "P" word in front of conservative.
John Dickin, Red Deer, Alta.
.........
Is it irony or hypocrisy that Preston Manning, the man who split the Canadian conservative movement into two pieces with the creation of the Reform Party, is now lecturing the post-Harper Conservative Party on how to recharge itself by embracing the values of freedom, responsibility, stewardship, respect for life, and democratic accountability with side-plate notions of openness, honesty, transparency, integrity, compassion and humility?
Perhaps with a touch of thugism to help retain former party leadership values?
M.P. Martin, Ottawa
.........
Inaction on terror
Re Ottawa Urges Action On Terror Attacks (Jan. 18): Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion tells us that Canada is not safe from terror threats in response to the tragic loss of lives, including six Canadians, in Burkina Faso. He goes on to say that "we need to fight with our allies."
How do he and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau square that position with the election campaign promise to withdraw Canada's CF-18s from the air war against IS?
They insist Canada is in the fight, but all we know is the plan for withdrawal.
Paul Clarry, Aurora, Ont.
.........
Suffering in the land
"The wealth of the richest 62 people has risen by 44 per cent since 2010, while the wealth of the poorest 3.5 billion fell 41 per cent" (Inequality By Numbers – Jan. 18). I guess that's why "trickle up" is a theory. As the great Jimmy Cliff sang, Suffering In The Land.
We are simply pathetic.
Martin Aller-Stead, Toronto
.........
1-hydroxy-ethane
In response to your recent string of articles on the legalization of cannabis sativa (marijuana), I'd like to point out that right now I can go into my basement and legally concoct a virtually unlimited amount of 1-hydroxy-ethane – a neuro-toxic, highly addictive substance known on as "alcohol," whose (ab)use is causing enormous social and economic damage to our society on an ongoing basis. Yep, I am talking about brewing beer and making wine.
Contrast this with cannabis and its active ingredients, which arguably are far less harmful or, in many cases, likely even beneficial.
So in my opinion, "legalization" means that aunt Emma and uncle Charlie can grow a handful of plants in their backyard and use them as they see fit, without harassment or prosecution.
It does not mean the creation of another highly regulated, taxed monopoly that benefits the few at the expense of the many.
Marcel Schlaf, Department of Chemistry, University of Guelph
.........
Germany's big divide
Re Sex Attacks Inflame Germany's Great Divide (Jan. 16): It is no wonder that the West can't have an open and honest debate about the refugee crisis when Gokce Yurdakul, the Georg Simmel Professor of diversity and social conflict at Humboldt University of Berlin, so predictably states that "the Cologne incident is being used by the right wing to start a racist debate."
Perhaps this isn't so much about racism, and more to do with the way different cultures view and treat women?
John Clench, Vancouver
.........
An exacerbating factor in the divide over refugees is the insertion of disinformation by the right into the situation. An example is cited in Der Spiegel on Jan. 5, headlined The Case of the Murdered Goats: Exploring Germany's Far-Right Rumour Mill.
Reporters investigated "outrage over an incident in the eastern German town of Lostau. Locals had accused refugees of plundering a petting zoo, slaughtering some goats and eating them around a campfire."
The story, said the writers, "aimed directly at the heart of German animal lovers, taxpayers and immigration opponents. But there was just one problem: It wasn't true." It turns out that there hadn't been a petting zoo in Lostau for years. And this was just one example among many.
The reporters quote Roland Keilen, "an expert in far-right extremism" at the state office of Criminal Investigation (LKA) in Rhineland-Palatinate as saying: "We are registering an increasing amount of hate speech coming from thus far respectable citizens." His words are borne out by the hateful online comments.
Barrie Zwicker, Toronto
.........
O'Leary? O, weary
The Harper dragon was back in its den; I had racked the lance, retired my assistant and stabled the horse and donkey. I had just laid my weary head down to rest when you rang the alarm: Kevin "Greed is Good" O'Leary is considering entering the Conservative leadership race (O'Leary Mulls Tory Leadership Bid – Jan. 15).
I could deride and sneer when the slimy underbelly of the American culture threw up Donald Trump as the leading Republican candidate because, as we know, whoever they choose will be a mistake and, with Stephen Harper gone, there will be no strong voice leading Canada to follow them over the cliff.
As someone who has had to negotiate with venture capitalists all my working life, I learned to cross the street or change the channel whenever I saw one approach. Mr. O'Leary was harder to avoid simply because he was the darling of those strange and anonymous people who decide what we will see on the public media box.
Then he disappeared – I now find to his Boston hideaway, only to emerge to disturb my sleep.
It looks like I may just have to repaint my Stop Harper signs and tilt all over again.
John Olsen, Parksville, B.C.
.........
Pass (on) the plate
Re Bring Back The Days When I Had A Lot On My Plate (Focus, Jan. 16): Tabatha Southey's lament for the demise of plates as a way to serve food reminds me of a restaurant I heard about last month which always serves eggs Benedict on a hubcap.
Apparently the chef believes there's no plate like chrome for the hollandaise.
Rebeccah Love, Toronto