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
....................................................................................................
Dear America …
On behalf of lots of your sometimes troublesome, often well-meaning, "already great" downstairs neighbours, we are doing our American best not to vote for that real estate mogul/reality television personality (Dear America, Please Don't Vote Trump, editorial, Nov. 3).
We appreciate the friendly pounding on the floor you are making with your broomstick to tell us to settle down. But please don't report us to the building superintendent. At least not yet.
Mary Stanik, Phoenix
----------------------------------
While we should not meddle with another country's internal politics, we have a duty to alert our neighbours of troubles ahead. A vote for a belligerent man like Donald Trump will lead our world to more chaos, instability, and hatred – as if we don't have enough crises to deal with already. Mr. Trump would not make America great again, but would lead the country to turbulence. It would be a dark day not only for Americans but also for the world if he were to win on Nov. 8.
Abubakar N. Kasim, Toronto
----------------------------------
To suggest that the U.S. presidential race involves "one mildly flawed candidate" – presumably Hillary Clinton – is a slight understatement. Would it then be fair to say that the Chicago Cubs fans are "mildly happy" about the outcome of Wednesday night's World Series final game?
Clay Atcheson, North Vancouver
----------------------------------
Hillary Clinton's actions, if elected president, would further weaken the United States (Clinton's Money Grab Comes With A Price, Oct. 31). She is a globalist, even though she is now forced to say she opposes the Trans-Pacific Partnership, thanks to Donald Trump who preaches an "America first" policy.
Are the American people too stupid to see that her priority seems to be to enrich herself and her family at the expense of the country? I guess we will soon find out.
David Tulanian, Los Angeles
----------------------------------
President Barack Obama got it wrong. America does "operate on innuendo and …incomplete information." (Obama Takes FBI To Task Over Clinton E-Mail Probe, Nov. 3). Donald Trump's standings in the polls prove it.
Marty Cutler, Toronto
----------------------------------
I wonder whether it has occurred to the FBI, regarding the Clinton e-mails found on Anthony Weiner's laptop, that if the Russians can steal e-mails from computers, they can also plant them.
Christopher Wright, Digby, N.S.
----------------------------------
Don't talk
Re Saudi, Canadian Meeting Draws Criticism (Nov. 3): It's no secret that Saudi Arabia is a pariah state. It practices institutional apartheid (against women and non-Muslims). It violently suppresses not only free speech but also free thought; in 2014, it brought in laws that equate "atheist thought" with terrorism, which is punishable by death.
For Canadian officials to have met with a Saudi state-backed "human rights" commission on Parliament Hill, and to have flown the Saudi flag, is an affront to liberal values.
Mark Bessoudo, Toronto
----------------------------------
Can't talk
Re Two Liberal Operatives Face Bribery Charges Over Sudbury By-Election (Nov. 2): Not being able to answer questions on anything before the courts is really cutting back on the number of topics this Ontario government can discuss.
Louis Desjardins, Belleville, Ont.
----------------------------------
Whither ethics?
Re Law Firm's Event For Liberals Draws Cash-For-Access Charges (Nov. 1): In all the discussions about the propriety of "pay for access" political events, one thing is sorely missing, namely the distinction between ethics and the law. I get tired of politicians of all stripes, from all levels of government, using the phrase "I didn't break the law" to justify their unethical activities.
Just because an activity is not illegal doesn't automatically make it ethical. A person can legally distort the tax rules in his favour, but that doesn't mean he are ethically complying with the spirit of those rules. It's time our politicians developed higher standards of conduct and stopped hiding behind the law, especially when they are the lawmakers.
Peter Hirst, Oakville, Ont.
----------------------------------
Emergency acts
Re State of Emergency (Globe T.O., Oct. 29): Crowding in hospital emergency departments is a system problem, and requires a system solution. As the sole community hospital in southwest Toronto, St. Joseph's Health Centre provides emergency care for 500,000 people – the same population as Hamilton, which has four EDs. Our ED, originally built for 60,000 patient visits, last year cared for more than 100,000 people, about 300 per day.
The St. Joe's team has developed innovative ways to compensate for these pressures which allow us to reduce waiting times and start treating most patients in less than one hour. We are raising money to replace our aging and strained ED, but that will take time. Taking system-level steps to improve the flow in our ED will go a long way to alleviate these pressures, and the resulting impacts on our patients and community.
Emergencies, by definition, are situations that cannot wait. The state of emergency described so eloquently in Kelly Grant's article is no exception.
Elizabeth Buller, president and CEO, St. Joseph's Health Centre, Toronto
----------------------------------
Raitt check
Re Raitt Enters Federal Tory Race (Nov. 3): Lisa Raitt is quoted as saying she knows "what Canada looks like from the bottom." I disagree. Many Canadians remember her top-down approach when, as labour minister under Stephen Harper, she imposed a contract on postal workers that gave them a lower wage increase than offered by their employer.
Some will attribute that action to a controlling Prime Minister's Office, but it was she who carried it out.
I would suggest that her point of view is more in line with those "privileged few" she now criticizes than with those at the bottom. While I agree with her that we can do better than Justin Trudeau's Liberals, she and her party are not the alternative I have in mind.
Hershl Berman, Toronto
----------------------------------
Lesson learned
Re Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing (Arts, Oct. 29) and Print Praise (letters, Nov. 1): Many years ago, at our local university in Manitoba, a novel idea was introduced. A professor walked into his classroom and placed a tape recorder on the lectern. He told his class they could listen to his lecture from the tape recorder, and then left the room.
When he returned with his tape recorder for his next lecture, so the story goes, he was greeted by a tape recorder on each of his students' desks .
Robert Milan,Victoria