A person walks past the Bank of Canada on April 10 in Ottawa.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
Talking to
Re “Israel weighs response to Iran as U.S., other allies seek to prevent region-wide escalation” (April 15): Is it not strange that Iranian authorities say they announced the attack beforehand, thus giving Israel plenty of time to set up defences?
It seems this highly choreographed event was not intended to escalate the flammable Middle East situation. Instead, it appears these actions allow Iran to “save face’’ by showing Iranians that their government would retaliate in some fashion for the purported Israeli killing of military leaders in Syria.
I expect both sides will jack up the rhetoric, but let’s hope this will be the end to this contretemps. There are more pressing issues to resolve between Israel and Hamas, not least ending the bloodshed and returning hostages.
Iran and Israel can continue to shout at each other over the fences. As Winston Churchill said, “Meeting jaw to jaw is better than war.”
Bob Goldman Toronto
Long term
Re “Spending spree” (Letters, April 10): Any investments in “NATO, election interference prevention, housing, health care, Indigenous reconciliation, Arctic sovereignty, climate solutions, school lunches and opioid recovery” would have enduring value.
When a business invests in equipment, it spreads costs over the life of the asset. A current expense, on the other hand, is used up in the year it is purchased. Every business reports its bottom line this way, but when we discuss the cost of government policies, we talk as though we should expense everything.
Future generations are going to benefit from such investments. To suggest we are passing on a “burden” is not a complete financial analysis. For example, if past generations had dealt with reconciliation, we would not be facing such large costs now. We can pass on even larger liabilities to the next generation, or we can deal with it now and pass on only some of the interest costs.
Reg Plummer Retired economist, Natural Resources Canada, Finance Canada, National Energy Board; Ottawa
Other means
Re “The budget needs bold change to fix Canada’s falling productivity” (Report on Business, April 15): Is GDP growth the only measure of greater well-being?
GDP doesn’t account for environmental destruction or social distress, and higher GDP is correlated with reduced public outcomes such as declining life expectancy in the United States.
The economy is still based on natural resources and highly foreign-owned. How much value do we add cutting down trees, digging up rocks or pumping oil? How much influence do branch plants have on capital investment?
Innovation and technology adoption are strongly influenced by “social capital.” Companies can invest with greater confidence if they are actively engaged with networks of suppliers, peers and universities. Workers embrace new technologies when they have secure employment and share in the benefits.
As long as we try to solve labour shortages with cheap and temporary immigrant workers, instead of investing in skills to support a shift to higher-value production, we will likely keep chasing the wrong number.
Stefan Harpe Montreal
Office visit
Re “The Canada Health Act is 40. Does it need updating, or do we need a fresh start?” (Opinion, April 13): Why is it that there is no shortage of private dentists, physiotherapists, pharmacists, naturopaths, acupuncturists, optometrists, psychologists and chiropractors in Canada, but so many family physician offices are closing?
The former have control of their own fee schedules that can be adjusted to cover office overheads and provide competitive staff salaries. Yes, they provide health care “for profit,” if one wants to use the term. Family physicians have their fees rigorously regulated under the Canada Health Act, and cannot pass on overhead costs to patients.
When I started practice 30 years ago, we greatly appreciated any new patients who came to our office. There are now 6.5 million Canadians without a family physician. Allow family physician offices to become financially viable again, and more patients would find care.
John Sehmer MD, Vancouver
Lessons learned
Re “School boards missed a chance to make the eclipse a teachable moment” (April 15): Indeed a teachable moment.
Teachers could have seized the opportunity to marry the blackboard with an actual unfolding event. But no, there was sloth instead.
It’s no wonder Canada has a productivity issue – we seem to be teaching it in school.
Martin Wale Dorval, Que.
The school board I work at changed a professional activity day from April 5 to April 8 to accommodate the eclipse.
I’m certain the topic was covered extensively in classes prior to the event, and I assigned my students to describe their personal experiences of the eclipse (I teach English to adult newcomers). Had it been a regular school day, I believe many parents would have opted to keep their children home and make it a family experience. I saw many families flock to a lakeside park to view the eclipse.
Sharing the event in the community is also a memorable and teachable moment. Not all learning is in the classroom.
Carol Gottlob Burlington, Ont.
Surely everyone understands that schools likely weren’t closed on the day of the solar eclipse because of an “abundance of caution,” but because school boards, knowing that control of students in their care is tenuous, feared legal liability.
Michael Arkin Toronto
I went to elementary school in the 1950s, when the threat of nuclear attack was very real. Every day, we had a bomb drill and ducked under our desks; then classes resumed as usual.
To think that school boards buckled to panic and cancelled classes during the eclipse is a sad indication of just how off the mark we seem today when it comes to teachable moments. Who’s running the educational system? Seems logic and reason have fled.
Nancy Marley-Clarke Cochrane, Alta.
Although employed as a teacher, I consider classrooms unnecessary (and sometimes limiting) for authentic learning.
In 1979, my hometown of Thunder Bay experienced an eclipse. Perhaps out of an “abundance of caution,” my elementary school prohibited students from going home for lunch. Luckily for me, my father signed me out of school.
At home we made lunch, a pinhole camera and wonderful memories that I cherish to this day. At school, I think they watched the eclipse on a television screen.
Based on my out-of-classroom experience, I suggest that students’ and teachers’ personal and professional learning was best served with a day of learning outside the walls of an academic institution.
Brooks Rapley Toronto
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