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Tragedy's trajectory
Lindsay Jones's very detailed article, The War That Wouldn't End (Focus, June 17), about Corporal Lionel Desmond's killing of his daughter, wife and mother, is a sobering and disturbing telling of a murder-suicide tragedy that perhaps could have been avoided.
To say that Ms. Jones's article was impressive would be an understatement.
I believe this is the most important piece about the aftermath of the Afghan war written to date. I am a retired military officer with service in the Middle East and the Balkans, and as I read I picked out the points that indicate where the story of this tragedy took its various turns. I hope that the military's leadership, medical services and personnel administration take this article as a case study and a call to action.
I fear that the Desmond tragedy will continue the spiral of suicide and familial homicide, and I join so many others in the call for a joint federal-provincial inquiry that is formal, comprehensive and non-partisan (Calls Grow For Inquiry Into Veteran's Triple-Murder, Suicide Case, June 19).
Tim Dunne, research fellow, Royal United Services Institute of Nova Scotia
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Blowing smoke?
Re Morneau Pushes For Low Taxes On Legalized Cannabis (June 19): The Liberal cant that this is all to protect the children is wearing a bit thin.
Studies have shown that higher taxes and prices have helped keep tobacco and alcohol out of the hands of teens. Perhaps the sale of cannabis won't follow the laws of supply and demand, and low prices won't encourage consumption?
James G. Wigmore, forensic toxicologist, Toronto
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What about the likelihood that low taxes will increase how much cannabis Canadians use? The federal proposals have not established the level of use that is considered a tolerable trade-off for the benefits of legalization.
Substantial public-health risks are associated with the widespread use of illegal marijuana, but legalization only offers an opportunity to lower those risks if there are clear goals for consumption to which public policy can be directed. Finance and health ministers could start by setting goals for marijuana-use reduction, such as reducing dependency and the high rates of concurrent tobacco use.
Neil E. Collishaw, research director, Physicians for a Smoke-Free Canada
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Gender, academics
Re Science Is Still Sexist. I Know From My Own Experience (June 19): Science Minister Kirsty Duncan is right, and sexism is at least as bad in the social sciences.
When I sought funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council for my Florence Nightingale series, I got scarcely 10 per cent of what (male) researchers got for comparable projects on male theorists. My $65,400, to be doled out over three years, wasn't enough even for a research assistant, yet I had to find documents from around the world for a 16-volume Collected Works. The John Stuart Mill and Bertrand Russell projects each got more than a million (in comparable dollars), and had ample staff.
When I applied again after the three years, I was reproached for not having finished the project!
University courses in political philosophy and social theory still omit the women. Sadly, professors, even feminists, tell me they never heard of Florence Nightingale, Mary Astell, Catharine Macaulay, Harriet Martineau or Jane Addams. They are missing a lot.
Lynn McDonald, professor emerita, sociology, University of Guelph
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Kirsty Duncan's anecdotal evidence fails the grade for a scientist. I could add that her assertion she was kept at the bottom of her university salary scale for tenured positions because she was "a woman" was matched at my university, where I was repeatedly advised not to bother applying for a tenured position because I was not a woman.
Nicholas Tracy, adjunct professor of history, University of New Brunswick
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Not just career goals
Re Female Breadwinners Pay A Cost For Career Success: Marital Stress (Report on Business, June 16): I agree that couples may want to have some uncomfortable conversations about their ambitions early in their partnership. I am the spouse of a successful female executive. We've been together 23 years, 16 of them with me as the lower-earning spouse. We're happily married, partly because of those early conversations. The communication isn't just from the male's perspective or the woman's perspective; it's about what the overall objectives are for the family. What are our life goals? Not just career goals.
A valued family member once told us, "To be successful in your career requires you to be a little bit selfish. And, there can only be one selfish person per family." If you are able to balance this in the context of overall family goals, which could include such things as raising children as good, solid citizens, spending time together, contributing to the good of the community, and preparation for opportunities later in life, you could maintain a happy marriage.
If both people are engaged, intellectually stimulated, and working toward the agreed objectives, there may be a reduction in the sense of "status leakage" cited in the article. This can also be restated as: If both people agree on how they are going to manage their marriage and family, who cares what other people think?
Jim Pecka, Toronto
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Canadian writers
Re Does National Ownership Matter? (June 17): Kate Taylor concludes that enthusiasm for local culture is generated by profitability rather than ownership, but the numbers add more to this story.
Canadian-owned publishers are responsible for 80 per cent of the new books by Canadian writers each year, and without foreign owners to answer to, a motivation to contribute to Canadian culture, education and literature can drive their publishing decisions. Foreign-owned firms will publish a small number of Canadian authors each year only for as long as decision-makers outside of Canada agree that this is aligned with the parent company's goals, and this publishing activity will always come second to their core business, the distribution of foreign-authored books into Canada.
On the other hand, independent presses continue to invest in Canadian books. They publish Canadian writers first because enthusiasm for local culture and writing is inherent to what they do.
Kate Edwards, executive director, Association of Canadian Publishers
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Hmm …
Re A Salesman Dreams Of One Last Score (Sports, June 17): Apparently former Edmonton Oilers owner Peter Pocklington "would have probably moved back to Canada" had Donald Trump not been elected. And here I thought no good could come from a Trump presidency.
Phil Soubliere, Ottawa