A new poll suggests almost 60 per cent of Canadians feel free speech is under threat. The Canada flag catches the morning light on the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean KilpatrickSean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
Working on it
Re “Poilievre’s promise to end deficits sets collision course with boomers” (Report on Business, May 11): It is noted that the number of workers per retiree has dropped to 3:1. Yet we currently have a 6.1-per-cent unemployment rate, which translates into well over one million Canadians actively seeking good jobs who cannot find them. That number doubles if we include those underemployed or who have given up searching.
The private sector, then, is not providing sufficient jobs. In order to give young people income and work experience, and to increase production that supports retirees, the federal government should create high-level jobs through accelerated renewal of communication, transportation, medical and educational infrastructure.
It also should create jobs through community-level job guarantees that help the sick and disabled, provide youth recreation, remediate the environment and offer more public arts and culture.
Though these initiatives would require greater government deficits, they offer a more humane method of tackling inequality than recommendations to slash medical services for older people.
Larry Kazdan Vancouver
Open to change
Re “Canada is sleepwalking toward another Quebec sovereignty crisis” (May 13): It is noted that there are no longer provincial premiers like John Robarts, David Peterson or Allan Blakeney who speak about what is good for Canada. It should be remembered that all three of these former premiers were confirmed advocates of constitutional change.
While there may be no mood among present political leadership to reopen the Constitution, I believe that is precisely what is needed to lead us back from the abyss where we are headed. Topping the list of proposed constitutional changes should be a reformed Senate to mitigate the challenges of regionalism, which is tearing the country apart.
As the former speaker of the Senate Dan Hays said, if the roof is leaking, it needs to be fixed. You can’t ignore it.
Gary William O’Brien, Former clerk of the Senate Ottawa
Gathering place
Re “Protesters unsatisfied by the University of Toronto’s concessions to end encampment” (May 14): I note a little irony in the current encampment controversies.
King’s College Circle on the University of Toronto campus was recently redeveloped and promoted at considerable expense, with enhanced community and student interaction, involvement and engagement top of mind. The university is led by an internationally respected geographer and city planner who, during his presidential tenure, has emphasized such laudable goals.
An inevitable byproduct of the continuing spectacle will likely be heightened and restrictive security measures in future, and enhanced privatization of campus and public university life and activities more generally. A field of broken dreams may be awaiting all of us concerned with the functioning of an open and vibrant university community.
Toby Zanin Toronto
Of one mind
Re “In Canada, a common bond would be sensible” (Editorial, May 11): Relative as it may seem in today’s political environment, common ground is indeed a real thing. It can be accessed through “shared truths that can form the basis of a common identity.”
It was common ground that led to a landmark mental health policy summit recently held in Ottawa, organized collaboratively by politicians from across party lines to listen to mental health leaders. Discussing issues as significant as the mental health of our youth, men and gender-diverse Canadians, we didn’t have to agree about the exact path forward. But we rallied around a common view: The status quo for mental health care in Canada is unacceptable.
Through a shared acknowledgement of the reality we’re dealing with, as well as the value of collaborating with respect and civility, this summit was evidence that we can challenge silos, unyielding partisanship and other barriers to progress in the common interest of all Canadians.
Alex Bremshey National manager, marketing and communications, Canadian Mental Health Association, National Toronto
Snuffed out
Re “Who would ever want to be president of the CBC?” (May 9): “Ms. Tait said on Tuesday that the cutting is over.” Yet after that statement, CBC Radio’s excellent host Nora Young announced that the CBC had decided to cut the program Spark.
Spark is one of the ingenious shows on CBC Radio. It explains technology, the internet and computer issues to old folks like me who don’t understand such things as artificial intelligence. My husband, who is very tech-savvy, also likes it for the new information and perspectives it has brought to light over many years.
Such a show should be cherished by the CBC, which wants to expand its audience beyond the older demographic. It is just such issues that younger people are interested in.
Shame to whomever at the CBC made the foolhardy decision to cut this excellent program.
Patty Deline Ottawa
Not worth it
Re “LifeLabs class action payments start flowing to more than 900,000 claimants” (May 15): So my personal information, leaked during a data breach, is worth $7.86, about the cost of a fancy Starbucks coffee plus tip. KPMG and the lawyers somehow get to divvy up the remaining few million dollars.
As a consumer wronged, I say why bother?
Peter Froislie Ottawa
High or low?
Re “Toronto’s Villiers Island plan will waste a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” (May 4): What about the impact of constantly living in close quarters with noisy neighbours or, worse, of having to commute by elevator (if it is working); of contending with false fire alarms and rowdies; of being deprived of green space; of the effects on mental health of living in a concrete jungle of human silos, where streets have become sunless wind tunnels and no trees are to be seen?
Would most of us want to bring up our children where there is no garden to play in, no exposure to nature to learn from? There is much to be said in favour of lower-density living.
We should get away from an ideological fixation on high density at all costs, and take a more balanced approach which includes consideration for mental health and the ability to experience nature.
William Hallett Ottawa
Classic ending
Re “Roger Corman, Hollywood mentor and ‘King of the Bs,’ dies at 98″ (Obituary, May 13): I enjoyed the obituary of the late, great, Roger Corman, and particularly the inspirational linkage to the earlier, and sadly much shorter-lived, Val Lewton.
Unlike Mr. Corman, Mr. Lewton was a genius auteur and producer who never personally directed a film. Cat People (1942) and the immediate follow-ups I Walked with a Zombie (1943) and The Leopard Man (1943) were directed by Jacques Tourneur.
Mr. Lewton as producer (a position arguably more influential on films in the big studio era than directors), like Mr. Corman with Ron Howard and Martin Scorsese in a later age, gave directing starts to such future prolific names as Robert Wise.
Daniel Woolf Stone Mills, Ont.
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