A rental apartment complex under construction at a new housing development in Langford, B.C., on May 30.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
Civil discourse
Re “Alberta NDP MLA’s resignation shines a light on the fragile state of our democracy” (June 14): I am reminded of W. B. Yeats’s warning: “The best lack all conviction, while the worst / are full of passionate intensity.”
If indeed our best, or even those with reasonable capabilities and a moral compass, eschew roles in politics, it would leave the forum open to the self-serving and misguided. We have enough of those politicians already.
We should call out abuse and hatred toward politicians and denounce increasing incivility, not only in our politicians but society in general.
Ken Sanders Hamilton
Join the club
Re “A hard night’s sleep wrestling oil and climate” (Editorial, June 15): Canada’s proposed emissions cap on oil and gas is described as a policy that no other country has instituted. You’re right. Some have set higher goals.
The Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance launched at COP26 in 2021 with 11 national and subnational governments as members; it is now at 24. Core membership in BOGA requires committing to “end new concessions, licensing or leasing rounds for oil and gas production and exploration and to set a Paris-aligned date for ending oil and gas production and exploration.”
Climate change is accelerating. It is a factor behind drought in Alberta, wildfires across Canada last summer, heatwaves this spring in south Asia and recent flooding in Florida. In response, the world is accelerating a transition away from fossil fuels.
I’m willing to bet $100 that BOGA’s membership will continue to grow; I’ll say double by the end of 2027. Any takers?
Roger Gagne Calgary
Build it
Re “Ottawa to spend $1.2-billion on hospital for First Nations in Northern Ontario, after weeks of pressure” (June 18): Kudos to the NDP for forcing the Liberal government to finally fulfill its financial commitments to a new hospital in Moosonee, Ont.
Weeneebayko General Hospital, originally built as a tuberculosis hospital on Moose Factory Island in the middle of the Moose River, never made sense as a general hospital with the main airport – for medical evacuations coming from northern communities up and down the west side of James Bay – across the river in Moosonee.
In the 1980s, I worked in the hospital as one of a long line of itinerant locum doctors. During breakup and freeze-up of the river, it was accessible from the mainland only by helicopter.
I have memories of trying to medevac desperately ill patients across multiple modes of transportation, and of pregnant women, coming across the river every night, for fear they would get caught on the wrong side when they went into labour.
Lauralee Morris, MD Brampton, Ont.
How much?
Re “Build the cities of the future” (Editorial, June 17): Are development charges responsible for the high cost of housing?
Development charges historically pay less than half of the infrastructure lifecycle costs of new housing on greenfield sites. The balance is subsidized by all residents.
Development charges should simply be priced higher for housing on greenfield sites, and much lower for housing on infill sites where infrastructure already exists. This would encourage higher densities and a more efficient use of land.
Sylvie Grenier Ottawa
Re “Want to make housing affordable? Real estate needs to become a mediocre investment” (Report on Business, June 15): I believe that focusing on supply as the foremost housing solution reinforces the problem of seeing housing as merely a commodity to be bought and sold.
This is detrimental to many people who actually live in housing, in particular tenants and their families. Governments should couple increased supply with stronger rent controls and protections against eviction, as well as investment in affordable rental housing.
Otherwise, they would replicate the failed pattern of prioritizing profit over people.
Daniel McCabe Toronto
Re “Montreal’s historically low rental rates on the rise” (Report on Business, June 17): An apartment shortage in Montreal? Quelle surprise.
When I arrived there as a student in the late 1970s, rents were eye-poppingly low. Large apartments were often available, sometimes in the low hundreds of dollars monthly. Today, that has all changed with surging prices and low availability.
Since the late 1960s, Quebec has jumped from 5.8 million people to the recent census mark of nearly nine million. Current migration and immigrant flows are pushing the 10-million horizon into view (”For first time on record, more Ontarians moved to Quebec than the reverse in 2021″ – April 9, 2022). The continuing sprawl of the Montreal region and exurbs further confirms it.
The days of $200 student rent has passed.
David Winch North Hatley, Que.
Help or harm?
Re “One rejection of MDMA therapy doesn’t mean it’s entirely useless in a mental health context” (June 11): I suspect that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s rejection was grounded, at least in part, in a general discomfort with acknowledging the potential therapeutic benefits of “recreational” drugs.
The FDA has approved medications with less demonstrated clinical benefit and greater potential for harm. The most serious potential adverse effects seen with MDMA, hyperthermia and life-threatening electrolyte disturbances, would be extremely unlikely to occur in the doses and controlled clinical setting used in the study.
Methodological concerns over blinding in trials could make the study of psychedelics impracticable. But people know when they have received a psychedelic. This should not preclude research into these agents.
Meanwhile, PTSD remains a significant cause of disability, addiction and suicide. By closing the door to MDMA-assisted psychotherapy, the FDA has potentially created great harm to populations it is supposed to protect.
Jeffrey Eppler, MD Kelowna, B.C.
Re “Death of first-year university student sparks calls for naloxone on university campuses, high schools” (June 15): I was a student employee for my university’s emergency service.
Working closely with campus security, I noticed that patients were more likely to share their concerns, whether it was about illicit drugs or suicidal ideation or even after a simple fall, once the officer stepped out. I always felt that they were more likely to seek out our services because we were students helping other students.
People who use in private are at highest risk of death. As institutions develop overdose prevention policies, they should consider their students’ willingness to seek aid.
Access to student-led emergency medical services may be the difference between a prompt, delayed or absent call for help.
Liya Geller Vaughan, Ont.
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