‘Undeserving of a cabinet post’
Re: Poilievre says Guilbeault is a threat to national unity after pipeline comments — Rahim Mohamed, May 15; and Carney’s cabinet has too many ‘downtown Toronto, urban progressives’ — John Ivison, May 14
I am still waiting for former prime minister Stephen Harper’s “hidden agenda” to reveal itself, however, are we now seeing the beginning of Mark Carney’s hidden agenda?
Here we have our new Minister of Canadian Identity, Steven Guilbeault, who incidentally, along with his former boss, Justin Trudeau, could not have done more to destroy our identity over the past 10 years, telling us that there is no demand for new pipelines. Just like he previously stated that we do not need any more large-scale roads.
I don’t know what the air at the top of the CN Tower is like, but perhaps it caused Guilbeault to become delusional when he scaled it 24 years ago for Greenpeace.
John King, London, Ont.
It is surprising to me that Prime Minister Mark Carney would retain one of the most disliked politicians in Canada in his cabinet. Minister Guilbeault should stop living in the past and focus instead on his new responsibilities.
Building additional pipelines across Canada makes eminent sense. First, their construction would employ Canadians. Second, pipelines could generate income for those whose land the pipeline crosses. Thirdly, pipelines would employ even more Canadians and make Canada energy self-sufficient. There would be no need to continue importing 79,600 barrels per day (29,054,000 barrels per year) of Saudi oil whose extraction is far more damaging to the environment than Alberta’s oil.
The fact that Guilbeault sees no business case for any new Trans Canada pipeline shows the extent to which he suffers from ideological blindness. He is undeserving of a cabinet post of any kind.
Gordon S. Clarry, Etobicoke, Ont.
During the recent election campaign, our new prime minister repeatedly stressed that Canada’s business would be done differently under his stewardship, differently from how his disgraced predecessor had governed. Yet, when Mark Carney announced his cabinet at Rideau Hall on May 13, there were many of the same old familiar faces who had stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Justin Trudeau, through thick and thin, during the gross mismanagement that personified the past decade’s debacle in Ottawa.
As a coup de grace at the photo-op, Carney shot himself in both feet by singling out the new housing minister, Gregor Robertson — saying his expertise with housing during his time as mayor of Vancouver would become part of a “pan-Canadian strategy.”
Just to set the record straight, Robertson was swept into the mayor’s chair in 2008 by Vision Vancouver after a brief stint as an MLA with the opposition B.C. NDP. He promised to end homelessness in the city by 2015, but all these years later it is still a terrible problem in Vancouver, as it is in every other community across Canada.
By the time Robertson resigned as mayor in 2018, the
of a detached home in the city had gone from $857,578 to $2.3 million, as his reign of error left Vancouver as one of the most unaffordable housing markets in the world.
Bernie Smith, Parksville, B.C.
‘Better the devil you know’
Re: ‘This is about the economy’: What motivates Alberta separatists— Tyler Dawson, May 15
As an Albertan of 45 plus years (moved from Ottawa in ’79) I certainly understand the heightened frustration of always dealing with perceived Liberal animosity towards Alberta. The feeling is that Ottawa always wants to take, instead of giving as good as it gets.
Unfortunately, as we experienced last year with Premier Danielle Smith’s trial balloon to remove Alberta from the Canada Pension Plan and launch a separate Alberta Pension Plan, taking momentous steps towards independence is extremely upsetting as people’s comfort zones are challenged. Secession is one of those big steps, and as many people as there are who are severely frustrated with the current relationship, much like the debate surrounding the APP, when push comes to shove I doubt the numbers will be there to leave the Canadian family. I believe most people would rather live with the devil they know than the one they don’t.
Paul Baumberg, Dead Man’s Flats, Alta.
Alberta’s desire for greater autonomy will not likely take the form of a stand-alone republic, a 51st state or perpetual negotiations with Ottawa. Becoming a protectorate, where it will have its own autonomy, but benefit from the U.S. for international affairs and protection from threats, is the likely path. It could be established by way of a treaty between Alberta and the U.S., which the U.S. would negotiate in a nano-second. Protectorates have been used for centuries with a wide variety of nations. Quebec almost achieved its self-designed independence with its razor-close (49.4 per cent to 50.6 per cent) sovereignty-association vote in 1995. The protectorate arrangement often begins a longer process to full independence. Beware, Alberta’s and Canada’s future lies with this highly achievable structure.
John P.A. Budreski, Whistler, B.C.
Hollywood North something to be proud of
Re: Trump frets over Canadian cultural imperialism — Jesse Kline, May 8
In his recent analysis of Donald Trump’s scattershot tariff proposal, Jesse Kline rightly acknowledges the threats posed to Canadian cultural sovereignty by the dominant U.S. entertainment complex. But he then falls back on the all-too-Canadian trait of modesty-verging-on-self-doubt. Dismissing Canadian content as “lame” overlooks the reality that Canada has long punched above its weight in entertainment — at home and around the world.
From award-winning comedy and drama to documentaries and kids’ programming, Canadians produce some of the best content on the planet. These productions also create tens of thousands of jobs for Canadians, drive billions in domestic GDP, and, last year, attracted nearly $1 billion in foreign investments.
This is something all Canadians should be proud of.
Reynolds Mastin, President and CEO, Canadian Media Producers Association
Toronto’s top priorities?
Re: Toronto city staff ignore orders in their quest to rid the city of Henry Dundas — Michael Taube, May 14; and ‘You can’t be openly Jewish at TMU’ — Ari David Blaff, May 6
I think we can generally agree that if there was one thing that Toronto officials had to really focus on, it was removing the name of a major abolitionist and anti-racist from a subway station, and replacing it with the name of a university now best known for its virulent antisemitism.
Tom Curran, Consecon, Ont.
‘Rules of the game no longer count’
Re: Free trade being replaced by crony trade — William Watson, May 13
“Elbows up” has taken on a whole new meaning since the time I played shinny hockey in Montreal. It now appears that to protect your interests, you must kiss the captain of the opposing team. The rules of the game no longer count. Nor does skill or experience. It is now being illustrated by experts such as Prime Minister Mark Carney and Peter Navarro, U.S. President Donald Trump’s senior trade adviser. Notwithstanding their scholarly leadership, when it comes to understanding trade, I prefer to reference the real expert on global finances, Adam Smith. He told us: “The taylor does not attempt to make his own shoes, but buys them of the shoemaker. The shoemaker does not attempt to make his own cloaths, but employs a taylor.” (An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, 1776).
I don’t think trade need be more complicated, nor more bureaucratic, nor dependent on flattery.
Larry Sylvester, Acton, Ont.
Trump’s threats ‘highly aggressive’
Re: And just like that, the Trump ‘threat’ disappears — Conrad Black, May 10
Conrad Black asserts that U.S. President Donald Trump has never threatened Canada. Black wrote, “Trump never spoke of annexation” and “Trump never uttered one word implying an aggressive act against the independence of Canada.” It was all a friendly invitation. Not true.
On Jan. 7, while Trump (haltingly) ruled out the use of military force to annex Canada, he advocated for the use of “economic force” to pressure Canada into joining the United States. I suspect that any informed person would consider such comments highly aggressive.
Black suggests that as part of the U.S., we might enjoy lower taxes. True, but there is the matter of their federal debt that is 124 per cent of GDP, which stands in poor comparison to ours at 69 per cent. Most Canadians might look askance at the prospect of joining a country with an average life expectancy that is four years less than ours and where the murder of a health-care CEO is widely applauded. They might decide that a rabid gun culture and toxic political environment are not to their liking. And they are not naive enough to think that Republicans would add a new Blue state with as many electoral votes as California. More likely Trump has a vassal state in mind.
Paul Proulx, Duntroon, Ont.
I was walking my five-pound dog when another dog ran over and clamped his jaw on my dog’s haunches. When I shouted at the woman to call her dog off, she said, “That’s the way he likes to play.” I said that I didn’t know that and neither does my dog.
Similarly, I don’t find Donald Trump’s threats so light, amusing and jocular as Conrad Black does. For a leader of the U.S.A. to talk with such light-hearted tomfoolery about such serious matters is in itself a shame and makes mock of Trump’s position as the leader of a western country.
It is ridiculous that Trump jokes about taking over another country, particularly when we’ve seen Russia attempt to do just that in Ukraine. And knowing Trump is serious about the Gulf of America, taking back the Panama Canal and perhaps helping himself to Greenland, why wouldn’t we think there is a grain of truth in his desire to take on Canada?
Diana Tremain, Toronto
Jew-hatred on campus has to stop
‘You can’t be openly Jewish at TMU’ — Ari David Blaff, May 6
Recently, the eminent historian Niall Ferguson pointed out that prior to the rise of Naziism in Germany, German universities were considered to be among the top institutions in the world. With the rise of the Nazi regime, Jewish academics, like Albert Einstein, and students, either fled or were kicked out. These same institutions, Ferguson continued, 80 years on, still have not regained the global prestige they enjoyed prior to that time.
Looking south, Harvard, once the crown jewel of the academic world, is now the butt of jokes, while Columbia has noted a sharp decrease in the number of students accepting placement in its troubled halls.
It is a lesson that the majority of Canadian universities still have not learned. Last year, when brightly coloured tents sprouted overnight on university campuses like toadstools after a rain shower, with the notable exception of the universities of Calgary and Alberta, our university administrators prevaricated, stalled and tried to pretend the whole thing was not happening. In a sense, they deserve some sympathy, as much of what they are expected to do is schmooze big donors, not take a stand against mobs bent on hate.
The encampments were neither spontaneous nor “protests.” Orchestrated by professional provocateurs, these were mobs, whose purpose was to harass and intimidate Jewish students and faculty.
We have all heard the meaningless twaddle from these institutions about how there is no place for hate on the campus. But the sad, discouraging description of the continuing assault on Jews at Toronto Metropolitan University proves how ineffectual these words are.
It’s time for action. As the students in Ari David Blaff’s article advise, Jewish students and faculty, and others who are disturbed by this behaviour, should go elsewhere, to a college or university where they can work and learn in a more welcoming environment. Donors should reconsider giving money to TMU and others like it. Faculty like the instructor who claimed that only four million Jews, not six million, died in the Holocaust (even one death is one too many), should be fired for prejudice and profound ignorance. And finally, the universities should be forced to open their books and disclose just where their funding is coming from — especially for programs like Middle Eastern Studies.
While we may find lots to criticize about what is happening in the United States, at least the Trump administration is taking action against the perpetrators of Jew-hatred on campuses. That’s more than can be said about our government and our institutions of higher learning.
E. Joan O’Callaghan, Toronto
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