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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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Social prosecution

Re Let Speech Be Free, And Kids Will Learn (editorial, Nov. 14): I think I understand. Freedom of speech is alive and well on Canadian campuses, as long as it doesn't offend non-white individuals, people with strong opinions on the left side of the bell curve, and anyone with an orientation other than heterosexual. Anyone with strong ideas about religions other than their own must self-censor for fear of social prosecution.

Those campuses with special committees, which have constructed elaborate rules about these matters, must vet students, professors and guests for offensive views. Hate laws enshrined in the Criminal Code of Canada are not enough for universities over-regulating in the name of political correctness. Ideas which are considered abhorrent to some are not to be expressed, as the path to a real education rests in homogeneity.

Marty Cutler, Toronto

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As an academic, I have been reading the opinion pieces on free speech in universities with great interest. I agree completely with the need to ensure academic freedom.

For those of us operating within academia, it is also worth remembering that this freedom of inquiry and expression is really a gift from our society, not a basic right. As academics we also carry a responsibility to be careful in how we present and disseminate our ideas, particularly when dealing with issues with the potential to be harmful to some. This side of the issue can and should be added to the discussion, though not as opposition to free speech.

Chris Roney, King's University College, London, Ont.

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I fully support letter writer Charles Sager's suggestion that controversial speakers on campus should be asked to defend their views in a formal debate format against qualified adversaries (Contortion-Free Freedoms, Nov. 11). Such a structure might eliminate some of the obnoxious name-calling and obstructionist antics that normally accompany these events, if they are allowed to happen at all.

Unfortunately, this would likely be opposed by both students and academics, whose "progressivist" ethos has morphed into a smug, intolerant theology that is unable to countenance divergent thoughts or ideas. Sadly, the very institutions that should be defending free expression have become insular fortresses of conformity and groupthink.

Herb Schultz, Edmonton

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Power. To the people

Re In Ontario, Hydro's Future Gets Murkier (Nov. 14): In 2013, the Edison Electric Institute in the United States released a paper highlighting the "disruptive challenges" many North American utilities are facing.

It noted that a combination of reductions in the costs of renewables and an increase in the adoption of energy efficiency is a game changer: While these disruptions are reducing power demands (and revenues), the utilities' fixed costs are continuing to rise. The paper alluded to the "death spiral" that many electric utilities will encounter if they don't face these challenges.

Your article on the situation in Ontario, which deals with the disruptive effects of improvements in energy storage, quotes an Ernst and Young adviser on power and utilities warning politicians to "exercise caution on any big projects that will require decades to pay off" due to these disruptions.

At the same time, we have Ontario Power Generation spending $13-billion (and counting) to refurbish the Darlington nuclear plant.

And we have the province's Financial Accountability Office warning that Premier Kathleen Wynne's plans to cut hydro bills (obviously for short-term political gain) could cost $45-billion over the next 30 years.

Talk about a "death spiral"!

Chris Gates, Warkworth, Ont.

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While your report focuses largely on the implications of consumers going off-grid, it's important to clarify that the storage examples cited offer unique value for entirely different purposes: Storage helps integrate more unpredictable wind and solar generation, creates resilience and keeps the power grid in balance.

In Canada, we have cost-effective, clean-energy-storage technologies (e.g. batteries, flywheels, power to gas, compressed air) and applications that are developed and operating, some as long as 100 years ago (e.g. pumped storage hydro). These are not experimental tools. Storage acts as the ultimate multi-tasker in an era when our economy and communities have a growing reliance on a strong and resilient grid.

Patricia Phillips, executive director, Energy Storage Canada

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Hemp's appeal

I thank Leslie Beck for pointing out the nutritional deficiencies of almond milk (Food For Thought, Life & Arts, Nov. 14).

Not only does almond milk have a paucity of protein, its popularity is detrimental to the environment. Drought-stricken California produces the majority of the world's almond supply. The heavy irrigation required to sustain the vast monoculture of almonds has necessitated a diversion of rivers that has had a profound impact on the salmon population. In addition, honeybees are shipped from far and wide to achieve the mass pollination required to produce yearly crops, creating a host of detrimental health problems in this already compromised insect that is essential to our food chain.

Hemp milk is an excellent sustainable alternative. Hemp is easily grown in Canada, and three tablespoons in a blender with one cup of water provides 10 grams of protein, three grams of fibre and healthy fats.

Throw in a tablespoon of pumpkin seeds, also abundantly produced in Canada, and you have boosted the nutritional content considerably. When choosing vegan milks, it is possible to have affordable and nutritional alternatives to cow's milk that are also healthy for the planet.

Kate Anderson, MD, Fergus, Ont.

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Tuned in, and out

Re Meet The National's New Max Headroom Format (Arts, Nov. 11): I was disappointed by John Doyle's article, largely because it struck me as a sustained sneer rather than an insightful, considered analysis of the strengths and wobbles of the new CBC National news program.

Avid watchers of CBC news are bound to miss Peter Mansbridge et al and the familiar format, but from what I've seen, we have gained more than we've lost.

The four anchors are all poised, polished professionals, and the new format of highlighting and going deeper into fewer stories is a refreshing take these days on delivering news in our two-second-attention-span culture. I say kudos to the new kids on The National block and to the creative minds at CBC who have once again reinvented programing in an admirable way.

Marjorie Anderson, Winnipeg

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As usual, John Doyle hits the nail right on the head with his commentary on The National's new format. The cobbled-together presentation of bits of news, dashes of documentary, lots of heartstring-tugging, and some friendly chatter is extremely frustrating.

But what disturbs and disappoints me most is what Mr. Doyle describes as the "There you go, eh?" moments; the quick exchange at the end of each segment that seems to say, "Gee, who'd a thunk it?" From four highly intelligent and seasoned journalists come recurring messages that we are not players in any of this; we are simply bemused (if sometimes weepy) observers.

I was hoping for more analysis from these four, and some insights into our connections as Canadians to events in the world.

But on one point I must disagree with Mr. Doyle. Please, please do not bring back Pastor Mansbridge. Let's find a better way forward than that.

Elaine Bruer, Ottawa

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