Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem waits to appear before the House of Commons Finance Committee on Nov. 23, in Ottawa.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
Welcome to Canada
Re Bargains Lure Big Banks Back To China For 2023 and Canada’s $1.1-trillion Debt Is Shockingly High – It Threatens All That We Value (Report on Business, Dec. 6): A comprehension of these stories is vital to Canada’s economic prospects, today and for future generations.
China, with its anti-Canada rules, seems a ridiculous place to invest. Instead why not unlock the vast resources Canada has in oil reserves?
Reduce national debt by commercializing a natural resource before the best-before date with green technology. If the government feels the cost is too high to go it alone, offer matching funds to the private sector. Lure money away from China.
What better, safer and more predictable an outcome would any investor need to seize this once-in-a-generation opportunity?
Neil McLaughlin Burlington, Ont.
The Bank of Canada regularly buys bonds through settlement balances without causing hyperinflation. There are circumstances where Canada could conceivably cancel portions of national debt using the same mechanism, without creating inflation.
We just need the courage and discipline to create policies to do so safely.
Udai Srinivasan Toronto
Valued assets
Re BoC Has Waged A ‘Class War’ – But Not The One You Think (Report on Business, Dec. 3): I don’t disagree with contributor John Rapley, but I see an even greater “class war” participant.
The 1966 Carter Commission on tax reform did not recommend a 50-per-cent exclusion rate on capital gains, an unlimited exclusion for principal residence gains nor, as is often claimed, taxes on capital gains be considered a replacement for the previous estate tax.
Investors may claim that gains should be protected by beneficial tax rates because, after all, they’re driving the economy by putting their money at risk. But that feels like a disingenuous argument for honest capitalists.
It’s the market’s job, not government’s, to reward investment risk. A lower after-tax return on investment would do what? Drive down asset values to compensate.
The question should be not so much why the Bank of Canada feels the need to underwrite asset values, but why finance ministers have felt it for more than 50 years.
Mark Tilley CPA; Kingston
Re BoC Records $522-million Loss, First In Central Bank’s History (Report on Business, Nov. 30): It doesn’t seem fair for Tiff Macklem to be in the hot seat for losses at the Bank of Canada.
The Governor did not engage in quantitative easing to make money for the central bank. Rather our central bank, like many others, was trying to keep long-term interest rates low while government debt exploded during the pandemic.
Similarly, the Governor is not thinking about those central bank losses when he raises short-term interest rates to battle inflation. Quantitative easing and rate raises have directed bank policy. That’s the way it should be.
Incidental operating losses should play second fiddle.
Ed Dunnett Qualicum Beach, B.C.
Money for nothing?
Re MPs Move To Delay New Lobbying Code Of Conduct (Dec. 2): I agree with Parliament’s decision to delay implementing new proposals and guidelines for lobbyists, but for different reasons. Instead of debating a reasonable dollar amount, I believe any financial contribution is too much and should not be allowed.
In the medical profession, the acceptance of an inexpensive but branded pen is considered unethical, lest it influence a physician’s prescribing pattern. We should expect no less of a high standard for politicians.
If individuals, corporations or industry wish to lobby and influence government policy and decisions, allow them to do so. But the outcome of those efforts should rest entirely on merit, and not whether a fundraising cocktail party was sponsored, whatever the cost.
Michael Gilman MD (retired); Toronto
No go
Re RBC-HSBC Merger Is A Slide To Monopoly – Canada Should Just Say No (Report on Business, Dec. 1): A small market participant can spur competition even though it holds a small share. Having fewer banks, then, is not in the interest of the Canadian public.
Royal Bank of Canada’s takeover of HSBC Bank Canada, like earlier banks mergers disallowed in 1998, should not go forward.
David Enns Cornwall, Ont.
Branching out
Re Mother Nature Focus Of Montreal’s COP15 (Dec. 3): Trees are good. They exhale oxygen. Thus, additional trees are needed to fight climate change. But it’s complicated.
Trees can also release greenhouse gases such as methane, which heats the Earth 25 times more than carbon dioxide from vehicles and trucks. Trees can absorb methane from the air, but sometimes they emit more.
The university lab where I work is taking a closer look at methane from trees. My research focuses on the quantity of methane gas emitted by different species of trees, which will give us an indication of which are best at capturing more of it.
Planting trees is a good idea. There is no substitute for the hard work that trees do to purify our air, filter our water and cool our planet. But when we plant trees, we should be aware of the drawbacks of some we might choose to plant.
Rezaul Karim PhD student, Thomas Research Lab, Institute of Forest Conservation, John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design, University of Toronto
Out of time
Re One Out Of Every Five Assessed Species Found To Be At Risk In Canada (Nov. 30): Ever-expanding human use of Canada’s natural resources, plus a constantly growing population, equals continually decreasing biodiversity. It’s not rocket science.
A legislated stop to the decline (as the Species at Risk Act attempts) should not be the solution. A stable population, combined with truly sustainable use of natural resources, might turn the decline around and forestall further extirpations and extinctions.
Our economic model, predicated on infinite growth, is the reason we will likely continue to see species disappear from Canada and the world well into the future.
Rick McKelvey Penticton, B.C.
In Canada, with roughly 500 more species at risk than just seven years ago, the trends are troubling. Our efforts to conserve wildlife and secure habitat are failing.
In the words of ecologist Aldo Leopold, the new report reveals a “world of wounds.” We are all witness to the decline of nature.
But extinction, however poignant, has practical consequences. Losing wildlife is a harbinger of eroding ecosystems and the degradation of drinking water, food and other products vital to people.
A world without wildlife is desolate and undesirable. No one should so boldly go there.
James Schaefer Professor of biology, Trent University; Peterborough, Ont.
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