Maria Hamid, who worked in the Afghan military and had to leave Kabul upon receiving threats from the Taliban, with her three-year-old son Orhan.Saiyna Bashir/The Globe and Mail
Our shared humanity
Re “The path not taken” (Opinion, March 30): I was viscerally shaken reading the gruesomely evocative report by Douglas Saunders and Zia Ur Rehman. Reading about these good people struggling beyond comprehension to eke out scraps of food and a safe spot, which inevitably is some tiny squalid closet space, to avoid capture and torture, reminded me just how fortunate we Canadians are.
I recognize that Canada has welcomed approximately 43,000 Afghans, however, I implore our government to allow a few more desperate Afghans the chance for a new life here.
L.H. MacKenzie Vancouver
Re “The path not taken” and “The long road to justice” (Opinion, March 30): Just when I thought I couldn’t possibly be shocked by anything else going on in the world (and I teach women’s studies and politics at a university in Halifax), the heartbreaking stories of Afghan refugees being forced to go back to Afghanistan and the Taliban should make us weep in shame. Has Canada fulfilled its promises to Afghans who worked for Canada? And then the story about the nine-year-old Kenyan girl – raped so brutally she had to have a colostomy and was almost blinded to prevent her from identifying the rapist – literally made me cry. Where is the humanity? Surely there is more we can do to prevent these atrocities. Please.
Dr. Meredith Ralston professor, Department of Women’s Studies/Political Studies, Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax
Taxing questions
Re “The carbon tax is a tool, not a goal” (Editorial, March 30): The Globe recently published an obituary of Daniel Kahneman, the self-described “grandfather” of behavioural economics. Among his best known findings was the concept of “loss aversion” – the fact that the pain of losing $100 is felt more keenly than the pleasure of gaining $100.
I was reminded of this phenomenon while reading your editorial. The tax stares you in the face at every trip to a gas pump; the rebates come four times a year with no fanfare. I wonder how many people feel the sting of paying it more deeply than any pleasure at getting the rebate, even when they come out ahead.
Tom Sullivan Toronto
Re “What Trudeau should say to Canadians about the carbon tax” (Opinion, March 30): As Marcus Gee mentions, the Conservative Party of Canada does not have a clear climate policy.
The next election will be a climate election and any party that doesn’t have a strong, realistic plan on reducing Canada’s emissions doesn’t have a chance of being elected.
Carbon capture and storage is not enough. The carbon fee is a heavy hitter in reducing emissions. It is working – leave it alone. But there are other things that can be added, such as a carbon border adjustment mechanism and building a cross-country electrical system that would enable the movement of large amounts of energy from one part of the country to another, addressing concerns about the uneven flow of renewable energy. This, for example, would allow Ontario to send its excess electricity to Quebec’s storage facilities.
Every party needs a strong climate policy. When climate-concerned young voters look at their ballot, who do you think they are going to vote for?
Glady Farquharson Oshawa, Ont.
Approximately 90 per cent of carbon fuel tax levies are supposedly rebated through Canada Carbon Rebates. However, the carbon tax is being used as an excuse to increase the price of everything – housing, groceries, all manner of services – you name it. As a result, the rebate does not come close to neutralizing the effect of the carbon tax on families and individuals.
Mike Priaro Calgary
If we Canadians truly want to improve our environmental lot, we need to stop punishing ourselves with carbon taxes that won’t reduce global emissions by even the 1.6 per cent we contribute and start working with the world’s largest emitters – China, India and Europe – to replace their coal-fired electrical plants with world-class Canadian solutions, i.e. nuclear-powered or liquefied natural gas-powered electrical plants complemented by carbon-capture technology and purchase financing provided by our Big Five national banks. Until we begin to think and act globally about greenhouse gas emissions, we will continue to pose the wrong question and respond with an even worse answer, making ourselves less worldly, less helpful and less prosperous.
John B. Challinor II Milton, Ont.
The problem with the carbon tax is one of optics and transparency. In Ontario, it used to be a refundable tax credit, all but opaque to most. As of 2022, it became a direct payment to Ontario taxpayers’ bank accounts; less opaque but still lacking in transparency. Why not a cheque mailed to each taxpayer with a line item saying “your carbon tax rebate covering the last three months”? I can’t think of a better way to get the voter on side on the carbon levy (it’s not really a tax) than getting a little cash in hand.
Chris Gates Cobourg, Ont.
Defence vs. offence
Re “Why Russia’s economy is doing so well, even if the good times likely won’t last” (Report on Business, April 1): This opinion piece by John Rapley perpetuates the erroneous concept that Russia is financing its “defence industry,” and “defence spending.” There is nothing defensive about what Russia is doing. It attacked Ukraine and continues to be intent on using its vast arsenal of weaponry to pulverize the country into submission.
This is not defence, nothing like it. It is naked aggression. Let’s call the spade a spade.
David Cater Salt Spring Island, B.C.
Limits of AI
Re “Why I encourage my students to use ChatGPT” (April 1): This semester I also encouraged my evidence law students to use artificial intelligence to help prepare their memo assignments. Similar to Prof. Ignacio Cofone’s experience with his class, my students found ChatGPT useful for writing and editing. However, when they used AI to do any type of substantive legal work, they found that it hallucinated citations and generated faulty legal analysis. My law students also reported (with some relief) that human lawyers are still needed – for now, at least.
Nicole O’Byrne associate professor, Faculty of Law, University of New Brunswick
The big C
Re “Learning to cope with my cancer diagnosis” (First Person, April 1): Thank you, Mary Gidney, for your matter-of-fact, at times humorous assessment of your Stage 4 metastatic melanoma. You are a true role model for those of us who have not (yet) had the cancer call. If I am around in 10 years, I will happily pay for your passport renewal.
Anthony Keenleyside Ottawa
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