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The consumers' side
The revelation that Canada's Food Guide is once again the subject of lobbying by the beef and dairy food-industry comes as no big surprise ('Secret' Memos Reveal Efforts To Influence Canada's Food Guide, Oct. 27).
That Agriculture Canada is acting as their conduit is, however, disconcerting. Agriculture Canada is the department that still supports tobacco exports while Health Canada tries strategies to lessen smoking.
But let's not give Health Canada a pass as being transparent and on the consumers' side in developing a modern food-policy strategy.
For one thing, Health Canada has stopped processing and stalled my access request covering submissions it received from the food industry on the Food Guide.
And going back to 1993 and 2005, documents I obtained under the Access Act showed that yes, Health Canada did allocate in the Food Guide extra serving portions to these industries opposed to a more plant-based, wholesome healthy diet.
Ken Rubin, public interest researcher, Ottawa
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Through my research aimed at helping families with young children develop healthy eating behaviours, I have been surprised by the poor opinion families have of Canada's Food Guide.
Many families have expressed a high level of distrust of the guide's information due to the strong influence of industry in creating it.
Consumers are inundated with nutrition information and struggle to determine what information can be trusted. This confusion can lead to apathy instead of healthy behaviour change. Government agencies like Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada need to be seen as trusted sources of unbiased and evidence-based health information. To do this, they must remain free from industry influence.
Jess Haines, associate director, Guelph Family Health Study; associate professor, Applied Nutrition, University of Guelph
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Canada's Food Guide should carry a warning: "Health Canada is not simply an arm's-length organization that gets to make decisions expeditiously to ensure the best health of Canadians. It also has to take into account politics, history …"
Tim Jeffery, Toronto
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My sport: curling
Re Rhythmic Semantics And The Definition Of Sport (Sports, Oct. 27): "Here we go," I thought as I started reading Cathal Kelly's condemnation of the International Olympic Committee for its tendency to "slap a logo" on activities and raise them to sport status. I read on, resigned to the inevitable upcoming swipe at my sport: curling. But, wait! Not a word, even though curling checks one of the boxes on Mr. Kelly's "where 'sports' begins to bleed into a 'skill' " questionnaire ("Are people in their 60s doing it as well or better than people in their 20s?").
Could it be that the arbiters of sports coverage – Mr. Kelly surely considers himself one – have finally recognized curlers are among the fittest, most competitive athletes on the giant playing field of sport? Thank you, Mr. Kelly. It's about time.
Jean Mills, Guelph Curling Club
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Managing violence
Re Manitoba Seeks To Free Up Courts With Faster Divorce Option (Oct. 26): More than 80 per cent of the approximately 3 per cent of the women involved in high-conflict divorces will bring the experience of male-partner violence and/or abuse, and a power imbalance favouring male partners to this "faster divorce process" – a process where an "independent decision-maker" will decide on custody, access and other issues associated with divorcing, and submit that decision for endorsement by the family court.
Empirical evidence indicates the risk of lethal violence (homicides involving mothers and children as victims) markedly increases during the four to six months following separation and divorce. In light of this, it is relevant to ask: Will the independent decision-makers the Attorney-General of Manitoba has in mind prioritize the safety of mothers and children in their decision-making?
Will the Attorney-General require these decision-makers to attend an educational/practical training course that includes, at a minimum, segments on the dynamics underlying male-partner violence associated with separation/divorce, power balancing, and managing the risk of male-partner violence (screening, assessment and prevention)?
Desmond Ellis, La Marsh Centre for Research on Children and Youth, York University
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Sign, Mr. Trudeau
Re Hiroshima Survivor Urges Change Of Heart From Trudeau (Oct. 27): Setsuko Thurlow's powerful plea to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to sign the UN treaty banning nuclear weapons must not go unheeded.
Mr. Trudeau may claim that the nuclear-ban treaty is useless, but at least 50 Canadian civil-society organizations disagree and have asked him to sign the treaty. The list includes the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility, Canadian Environmental Law Association, Canadian Federation of University Women, Canadian Pugwash Group, Canadians for a Nuclear Weapons Convention (nearly 1,000 members of the Order of Canada), Group of 78, National Council of Women of Canada …
A huge number of Canadians urge Canada to reverse course.
Mr. Trudeau may say that Canada's efforts for a fissile-material cut-off treaty are practical, but this objective has been stalled for 20 years.
The Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty has also been stalled because some nuclear weapons states – notably the United States – refuse to ratify it.
Don't blame the treaties or the nations and citizens backing them. Work to make the nuclear weapon states carry out their legal obligation under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (1970) to disarm and eliminate their nuclear arsenals. People who understand we stand at the brink of nuclear annihilation are not the problem – they are the hope of humanity.
Phyllis Creighton, Toronto
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Not just politicians
Re Not Salve, Not Sop (letter, Oct. 27): The Constitution Act of 1982 would not have been written and passed without the wisdom and cool-headed leadership of then-secretary to the cabinet for federal-provincial relations, Gordon Robertson. His experience earned him the respect of the senior provincial and federal bureaucrats who held the pen and made it happen.
Far from being a "sop," his appointment to lead the federal/provincial file was critical in ensuring the patriation of Canada's Constitution. Left solely to politicians, it might not have happened.
Brian Marley-Clarke, federal-provincial relations, Privy Council Office (retired), Calgary
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Hook, line, stinker
Re Fish Get Depressed: They're Bored Out Of Their Gills (Oct. 26): While initially hard to fathom, it was fascinating to learn that "some scientists consider fish to be a promising animal model for developing antidepressants."
Perhaps one shouldn't be that surprised by this revelation. After all, there have been unsubstantiated reports circulating of a lonely male dolphin being treated for mild depression. Apparently he feels his life lacks porpoise.
Jeffrey Peckitt, Oakville, Ont.