Ontario Premier Doug Ford told a news conference that he wants to build a tunnel under Highway 401. Vehicles drive on Highway 401 westbound in Kingston, Ont., on Jan. 11, 2019.Lars Hagberg/The Canadian Press
Safety first?
Re “The Liberals keep misfiring on gun control” (Editorial, Oct. 2): The government cannot buy back what it never owned.
The Nova Scotia shooter was not licensed and smuggled his firearms from the United States. This was a failure, then, of the RCMP and Canada Border Services Agency, not legislation.
I do not believe the Trudeau Liberals care about public safety. If legal firearms owners were a problem, they wouldn’t have waited five years to start their ineffectual and expensive confiscation program. Yet this way, the guns have been safely locked up, they’ve barely spent a fraction of the program’s expected cost and they have another election to use it as a political wedge.
To the anti-gun groups, gun control seems to be a moving goal post whose true objective is the total ban of civilian firearms ownership in Canada.
Don Moar Edmonton
Despite several gun bans or “freezes” being implemented in 2020 and 2022, we have actually seen an increase in gun violence since then, proving what many Canadians have been saying all along – banning legal guns is not going to solve a gun-violence problem that is rooted in gangs and illegal trafficking.
Michael Deinhart St. Catharines, Ont.
Anti-Trudeau Tide
Re “What’s floating around between Justin Trudeau’s ears right now” (Oct. 5): Prime Minister Justin Trudeau seems to think that, because he has certain priorities, everyone with a similar view will continue to vote for him.
What he can’t seem to accept is that while the Liberals have done a lot right (child care, handling the pandemic), they’ve messed up big time on immigration, among other things. Too many promises, too little follow-through. And too much waste.
But the kicker is his personal unpopularity. People just don’t like him. Pride goeth before a fall.
Carol Town Hamilton
Re “Now or …” (Letters, Oct. 5): A letter writer laments that Justin Trudeau is not stepping down and would prefer him to step aside so as to give the Liberals a chance to retain more than a handful of seats in the coming election.
Apparently, she is prepared to vote for anyone who would lead the federal Liberals as she cannot “tolerate” Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre. Well, the majority of Canadians cannot tolerate Justin Trudeau and yet he is Prime Minister. It’s time for a change.
James R. McCarney Oakville, Ont.
Re “Liberals tap Mark Carney to ring fundraising bell for party’s next election campaign” (Oct. 1): There is currently a popular belief that “change is good.” Perhaps this is what is causing the apparent success of the Conservative Party in the polls.
The belief seems to be that success could be achieved by a different political party and leader. What is the likelihood of this, given that the leader of the alternative choice constantly engages in mudslinging, opportunism, and self-aggrandizement, and offers no concrete solutions to current or future problems?
Canadians owe it to themselves to choose a leader who is positive and constructive in their thinking, not one whose laurels rest on negativism and blame.
Claire Paterson Victoria
Immigration crisis
Re “Show us your immigration math, Ottawa” (Editorial, Oct. 3): We support your editorial for several reasons. The global population is in overshoot, literally consuming and polluting the biophysical basis of its own existence. Canada should be leading the world in developing a population stabilization and degrowth policy.
The necessary infrastructure here at home is not expanding at a comparable pace; we do not have the capacity in our schools, health care system, housing, etc., to feed, house or care adequately for such a large annual influx.
Finally, our carbon emissions would expand significantly, making it more difficult to meet what are already beyond-reach emissions-reduction targets and increasing our contribution to climate-related disasters.
Richard van der Jagt, MD, FRCP, Adjunct Professor of Medicine, University of Ottawa Ottawa, William Rees, PhD, FRSC, Professor Emeritus, University of British Columbia Vancouver
Re “Canada is sleepwalking into a refugee crisis. We need to act now” (Editorial, Oct. 5): In addition to the hundreds of thousands of people waiting for their refugee and student visa claims to be heard and processed here in Canada, there is the potential for millions more to come from the U.S.
In April, 2024, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security estimated there were 11 million illegal migrants living in the U.S. as of January, 2022.
If Donald Trump is elected president and carries out his promise to deport illegals, where do these people go to escape deportation? Certainly not from whence they came. Millions will most certainly be coming to Canada to make a claim.
Is the government neither aware of, nor planning for, this reality? If we’ve been sleepwalking into the current crisis, we’ll definitely be jolted wide awake when this boom hits our borders.
Nancy Marley-Clarke Cochrane, Alta
Conversations on conflict
Re “How to talk to your kids about war and violence” (Oct. 4): I miss my classroom and the chance to chat with students every morning about local and world affairs. A “safe” place is where children can ask questions and it’s okay to respond, “I’m not sure. Let’s try to find out.”
It’s problematic if young people assailed by adult chaos in the world think they can rely on the grown-ups in their lives for perfect responses.
Maybe the best we can do is create an atmosphere of listening, empathy and a desire to improve the human response to this world. Having perplexed youth to answer to is actually a blessing – a chance to reduce the complexities of our world to a simple explanation that begins with “They (or he/she) want(s) …” Children will help us understand that most conflicts start with blocked desires.
Kathleen Moore, Toronto
Tunnel Trouble
Re “Doug Ford’s proposed tunnel under Highway 401 is transparently political” (Sept. 28): It is sad but predictable that Ontario Premier Doug Ford makes his decisions with an eye to keeping his base intact and himself in office.
Several commentators predict that his proposed tunnel under Highway 401 will fill up quickly. When I stand at a light waiting to cross the street, I look at the passing cars, and I estimate that between 80 per cent and 90 per cent of these vehicles have one occupant.
Moving people in the GTA requires good public transit. We need experts to travel to cities that move their residents effectively and come up with a long-term plan that does not involve one person being moved around by a tonne of pollution-spewing metal.
If Mr. Ford were to change course and initiate projects that were good for our province and the environment, and not just himself, I might even be persuaded to vote for him.
Ted Parkinson Toronto
Editor’s note: A letter from Carol Town has been updated to include context omitted in editing.
Letters to the Editor should be exclusive to The Globe and Mail. Include your name, address and daytime phone number. Keep letters to 150 words or fewer. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. To submit a letter by e-mail, click here: letters@globeandmail.com