Teamsters Canada Rail Conference members walk a picket line at the CPKC headquarters in Calgary, on Aug. 22.Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press
Wrong track
Re “It’s time to look at nationalizing our railways” (Report on Business, Aug. 26): Surely the writer jests. The government has proven time and again its inability to manage even simple projects such as the ArriveCan travel app. More complex issues including the Phoenix payroll system also demonstrate a serious lack of managerial talent. So let’s throw in the highly complex system of capital and labour that is our rail system and see how that turns out? I’ll pass, thank you very much.
Stew Valcour Halifax
Canadian National Railway was owned by the federal government many years ago. Since then, it has provided this country with an efficient service, which bureaucrats would have failed to do. The workers have idle-rich salaries, which they would never have received under a bureaucratic regime.
In 1995, the government sold the railway and received $2.2-billion from the private sector. What is it worth today? Many more billions than it received, should it buy it today. This railway has made Canada a most efficient and effective export country. The current labour squabble would be resolved if both parties come together open-handedly and not with the threat of nationalization, which is a foolish suggestion.
Douglas Johnson Pelham, Ont.
Drug policy opportunism
Re “Doug Ford is making a fatal mistake” (Opinion, Aug. 26) and “Finding a balance in drug policy” (Editorial, Aug. 26): I am certainly no expert on how to formulate and manage a holistic addiction policy, but it would seem that one of the primary focuses of any prudent policy would include harm reduction, such as that offered by the safe consumption sites.
Unfortunately, it appears Ontario’s provincial government, led by stable geniuses Premier Doug Ford and Health Minister Sylvia Jones, have decided a policy based on sniffing the winds created by federal Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, and ignoring expert advice, is the best way to formulate an addiction management strategy. I’m sure this will turn out well.
Frank Malone Aurora, Ont.
Missing Latinos
Re “The DNC uses careful political stagecraft to ask American voters a simple question” (Aug. 24): A major chink in the Democratic Party’s political armour was on full display for those who chose to see (or more to the point, not see).
Over four days of inclusivity politics, there was hardly a Latino speaker on the podium, despite that community totalling more 62 million souls in the United States, compared with about 42 million Black people, a cohort that was amply represented among the ranks of the speakers and delegates. Whereas the Republican Party has made gains among Latino voters, if the Democrats lose the November election the Latino dynamic will be to blame.
Ron Freedman Toronto
AI, Ozempic side effects
Re “Let’s chat AI and Ozempic” (Report on Business, Aug. 24): Like just about everything in life there will be some good and some bad outcomes from the development of artificial intelligence and anti-obesity drugs.
Human beings are sensitive creatures and mass disruption will simply aggravate whatever delicate balance we may be enjoying. A small minority, the usual 1 per centers, will benefit from improved productivity with the increase in the use of AI but potential mass unemployment will disproportionately adversely affect the masses.
Ozempic sounds too much like a miracle drug, with too many unintended benefits for too many people. Sooner or later unintended negative side effects will also emerge. Reasonable people don’t believe in miracles. So at the end we will end up with the usual one step forward, one step backward scenario.
Charles Campisi Oakville, Ont.
In the late 1980s, the company I worked for was the only Canadian sponsor, along with 20 or so very large U.S. firms, of information systems research at a large, prominent Boston-based university. One of the research questions was: Why are the investments in information technology not yielding the large predicted productivity improvements across the economy?
The conclusion was that companies were reinvesting any savings in product enhancement and diversification. There were gains but they didn’t show up in the usual productivity measurements. Of course, there is much water under the bridge and many changes since that period.
However there are likely two lessons for our current times.
First, technological leaps forward (information technology, medical and so on) will disrupt but often not in the ways largely predicted. So nimbleness and strategic flexibility are key.
Second, large change never seems to happen as quickly as predicted but then seems to happen all in a rush. So there is time for thoughtful people and organizations to deal with and incorporate technological change into their lives and business models. But only if they’re flexible and continually pay attention.
John Madill Oshawa, Ont.
Jays the new Leafs?
Re “‘Unfixable’ problems leave Blue Jays fans scratching their heads at lost season” (Sports, Aug. 24): Cathal Kelly nailed it (as usual) in his weekend column about the Toronto Blue Jays’ organizational malaise or otherwise mysterious inability to get much right.
Any long-time loyal fan can see that the team was just not right this year and hasn’t had the championship jelly for years despite some recent teasingly decent regular-season standings. General manager Ross Atkins has to be the most naive man in baseball management – nothing else explains the years of consistently bewildering decisions.
I have loved the Jays since their first-ever game but am coming to the conclusion that until the Rogers ownership starts feeling the pain of fan disinterest we could be in for years and years of dispirited and desultory baseball by the home team in Toronto – and ever closer to them becoming the baseball version of hockey’s Toronto Maple Leafs.
Dave McClurg Calgary
When Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro took over the team in 2015, he was adamant it wasn’t about money. He avowed it was all about winning. How’s that working out for him and manager John Schneider?
The real question is: Do they care? Evidently not. Let’s face it: Professional sports franchises are always about money and only money.
Nancy Marley-Clarke Cochrane, Alta.
Thank you to Cathal Kelly for confirming something I have long suspected: I could have done a better job assembling, arranging and managing the Blue Jays than the current administration. And Mr. Kelly doesn’t even know me.
T.M. Dickey Toronto
Rock on
Re “Canadian hits all the right notes to win air guitar title” (Aug. 26): As someone who is 73, I would enter the Air Guitar World Championships if there were a classical air guitar category.
Norman Rosencwaig Toronto
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