Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre arrives to a caucus meeting on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Feb. 7.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
Down, down
Re “Trudeau Foundation probe can’t rule out possibility Chinese donations part of ‘influence scheme’ targeting Ottawa” (Feb. 8): This may be the opening into the rabbit hole.
If Chinese donations are seen to affect political decisions in favour of China, then this view should open up a closer look at all organized political donations that sway Ottawa’s policies, from businesses to religious groups, to a degree that mocks the idea of democracies.
This unintended, unavoidable consequence is evidenced in the U.S. system, where gun laws and foreign aid, among other glaring policies, seem to place more importance on paying back those who bought the politicians than to the American people.
Bill Bousada Carleton Place, Ont.
Adult decisions
Re “Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says he opposes puberty blockers for minors” (Feb. 8): The fact that the federal Conservatives have jumped on this cause is disturbing to me.
There are enough genuine political issues of real importance to Canadians that they do not need to join this culture war. And it feels hypocritical for the “this is my body and I can do what I want” gang to be telling others what they can or can’t do.
Gender identity is such a deeply personal and subjective issue. Party politics should butt out.
Cynthia Rowden Toronto
The posturing by politicians around gender and sexuality seems couched in what may gain votes.
Pierre Poilievre thinks that “we should protect children in their ability to make adult decisions when they are adults.” Yet the law itself is confused as to when this magical transformation into adulthood happens. Is it at 16 when they are allowed to drive lethal cars? Or 18 when they are mature enough to vote and buy guns? Or 19 when they are legally allowed to buy alcohol, tobacco and weed?
Physicians, family and the individual are best positioned to understand the complexity of sexuality that should not be legislated. Children are individuals who mature at various ages.
Some never do, as I see demonstrated by our parliamentarians.
Alexandra Palmer Toronto
Chart a course
Re “Conservatives discover the Charter can work for them, too” (Feb. 7): I would add, in defence of the Charter and the courts, the need to curtail a rise in populism.
Democracy is not base majoritarianism. What other system besides the judiciary is in place to stem crass political instincts that would sacrifice the rights of the few to appease the majority of the electorate? Alberta’s attack on the rights of trans kids comes to mind.
Whatever one’s political stripes, I maintain: Long live the courts. Long live the Charter.
Nicole Chrolavicius, lawyer and lecturer, constitutional law, Osgoode Hall Law School; Toronto
I can recall one professor, who taught constitutional law, saying that before the Charter, the issue before the courts under the British North America Act was not whether Canadian citizens could be screwed by their government, but only which level of government had the legal authority to screw us.
Barry Corbin, Corbin Estates Law Toronto
Tough constitution
Re “Prescribing a strong dose of competition” (Editorial, Feb. 7): I find that the Supreme Court’s decision in the New Brunswick beer case, preventing interprovincial competition, was not merely flawed, but also a deliberate, abusive misuse of the French and English languages in which our laws are codified.
It transformed the living-tree doctrine of constitutional interpretation into a metastasizing cancer. Now up can mean down, black can mean white and good can mean bad whenever it pleases our judges and the governments that appoint them.
If the Constitution needs amending, then our courts should make our politicians do the heavy lifting.
Patrick Cowan Toronto
Parlez-vous …
Re “Student applications to McGill, Concordia plummet after Quebec’s tuition hike targeting English schools” (Feb. 7): Twenty-nine per cent of Montreal’s 185,000 students have flocked here for all the benefits that anyone who comes to the city experiences; however, this pales in comparison to the 9.5 million tourists who visit annually. With these numbers, “too much English on the streets” is surely related to tourism.
With Quebec’s seeming disregard for the economic impact of its quest for French preservation, why would laws not require working knowledge of the language for all 9.5 million tourists? Perhaps a tax levy and mandatory classes (with proficiency exams) can await them on arrival.
This would lend comfort to our government ministers that their precious French language would not be under threat from any visitors not abiding by their laws, economic impact be damned.
George Metrakos Montreal
Fair compensation
Re “CBC president Catherine Tait had her own Harvard moment” (Opinion, Feb. 3): Performance pay is part of employee compensation. It is not a bonus or gratuity.
Non-unionized employees earn base salaries with extra increments for achieving corporate goals. These CBC employees number more than 1,000; they are not all vice-presidents or senior managers.
To forgo payment would be like salespeople giving up earned commissions. Not only would this be unfair, it may also be a breach of contract.
Catherine Tait is protecting her employees, as she should. She does not yet know how many will reach their targets before corporate year-end, so she is facing criticism in the dark.
I have not yet heard of parliamentarians offering to give up some compensation to help slay the deficit, nor top-earning, unionized on-air CBC personnel offering to sacrifice to avoid layoffs.
How CBC incurred the deficit is another matter, but denying employees their justly earned income should not be an answer to the problem.
Edith Cody-Rice, CBC senior legal counsel (retired) Mississippi Mills, Ont.
To the test
Re “Worth it” (Letters, Feb. 6): A letter-writer believes that animal testing is “inefficient and outdated, and that Canada was finally and thankfully moving away from this cruel and outdated practice.” How does she think COVID-19 vaccines were developed?
All vaccines and most drugs are tested on animals. Then they are tested on humans before being distributed to the general population.
I have been a willing subject for medical and psychological research for 60 years. Many of the experiments involve unpleasantness in attempts to treat and even cure serious diseases. Much of modern medicine would not be possible without experimenting on animals and some humans first.
I worked in a university “animal house.” There is no retirement plan for animals when an experiment ends, only disposal. I am all for humane treatment of animals, but there are still many situations which require animal testing in order to understand, treat, cure and hopefully prevent human illnesses.
Moses Shuldiner Toronto
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