Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is flanked by entourage and security as he arrives at the CBS studios in New York for the filming of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, on Sept. 23.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
In the balance
Re “Canada needs to be clear: Free Jimmy Lai” (Editorial, Sept. 25): “Sweep the snow in front of your own house” is a popular idiom and words to live by among Chinese people. While helping others is not considered a bad thing, minding other’s business is seen as a vice.
The line between the two is a fine one. The Chinese government would never, in front of the world and its people, listen to others. And worse, it would likely dig in and do the opposite, just to show that China is its own boss.
Our media and population at large can and should voice our moral outrage. But the government should not, for the sake of newspaper publisher Jimmy Lai, make such condemnation official.
What, in our minds, is the right thing to do can make things worse in reality.
Kim Chan Toronto
What next?
Re “Israel’s attacks in Lebanon could unleash a Pandora’s box for the region – and for the U.S.” (Sept. 25): Israel has no qualms with the people of Lebanon, nor does it want a war with Lebanon. Israel’s issue is with the Iranian proxy Hezbollah that wants to eliminate it. With or without the war in Gaza, this fact would remain.
The people of Israel overwhelmingly support the degradation of Hezbollah regardless of their opinion of Benjamin Netanyahu and his government. Does the contributor believe that Israel should not defend its territory and just lay down its weapons, letting Hezbollah continue to indiscriminately fire rockets into the country’s north and making the land uninhabitable?
Instead of blaming Israel and the United States, she should at least mention, if not blame, Hezbollah and Iran for the situation in Lebanon.
Craig Walters Toronto
There is no doubt that Hezbollah’s presence in Lebanon represents a threat to Israel. But Benjamin Netanyahu’s aggressive posture here and in Gaza suggests to me a widening scorched-earth strategy that will inevitably mean direct U.S. involvement, a path that should be avoided.
I don’t believe Mr. Netanyahu has been the right leader for Israel for a long time. As he now stands poised to plunge into the abyss, never has this fact been so obvious to me.
The United States should amend its support of Israel to include the need for leadership change.
Frank Malone Aurora, Ont.
Follow the leader
Re “Bloc and NDP rebuff Conservatives’ attempt to bring down minority Liberal government” (Sept. 25): Is it so unreasonable to expect our leaders to work together for the common good – the good of citizen voters – for four years before another election is called? Does anyone, other than politicians, really want elections more often than that?
To paraphrase, an election if necessary, but not necessarily an election.
Tom Suhadolc West Lincoln, Ont.
Re “Trudeau on ‘Colbert’ might have given U.S. voters something to think about” (Sept. 25): “Can you imagine what Mr. Poilievre might have said to Mr. Colbert, if he was in that seat?”
The answer is nothing: Stephen Colbert is too smart and would never have Pierre Poilievre as a guest.
Joe Racanelli Toronto
Re “Rock the vote” (Letters, Sept. 25): “Is it not also spineless to sit out and choose not to vote when it may pave the way for Pierre Poilievre?” I guess irony really is dead.
Larry Davies Whitchurch-Stouffville, Ont.
Public vs. private
Re “Rising number of Canadians support major health care reform, survey finds” (Sept. 25): As a society, we have long accepted both public and private education. Why is health care thought of differently?
Martin O’Connell Burlington, Ont.
“Nearly two-thirds felt it wouldn’t be fair to allow patients to buy medically necessary care because, ‘the rich would be better served.’ ”
Maybe true, but on the plus side, “the rich” are small in number in this country, and are likely paying for health care elsewhere while also paying a lion’s share to our public system.
E.L. McDonald London, Ont.
Cause and effect
Re “Alberta to amend provincial Bill of Rights to allow people to opt out of vaccines” (Sept. 25): Danielle Smith sure loves the language of freedom. So one must assume she will also ensure Alberta’s employers have the freedom to terminate the employment of those who exercise their right to refuse to be vaccinated.
To be clear, termination would come not due to vaccination status per se, but because by choosing to reject safe and effective vaccines, the employee would show they may lack the judgment necessary to undertake any job requiring cognition or sound decision-making.
Eric LeGresley Ottawa
Show me the money
Re “Key to Canada’s growth? Recall the role of public money in developing Alberta oil” (Report on Business, Sept. 23): Contributors from the Cascade Institute make the argument for the establishment of a broad-based applied research and development agency to boost Canada’s productivity.
I suggest that we have such organizations – they’re called universities and colleges of applied technology. Further, we have the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada that is the country’s federal funding agency for university-based research and student training.
There doesn’t appear to be a need to reinvent the wheel. The federal government just needs to give it more funding.
Derek Wilson P.Eng (retired) Port Moody, B.C.
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Re “In sports writing, nothing succeeds like excess” (A Nation’s Paper, Sept. 23): I had an opportunity to observe Dick Beddoes writing his columns in the Hot Stove Lounge at Maple Leaf Gardens during the winter of 1973-74.
He would arrive dressed to the nines with a velvet, broad-brimmed hat and matching spats. A young man in tow carried his typewriter and found two stools, one for the typewriter and one for Mr. Beddoes.
In spite of the bedlam, most of his column was written by the end of the first intermission, tidied up after the second and completed following the arrival of Leafs coach Red Kelly at the end of the game. The press corps always deferred to Mr. Beddoes to ask the first question, following which he returned to his stool and completed his column.
Never a moment wasted, the young man was given the completed column to run it to The Globe and Mail building in time for tomorrow’s paper.
Cecil Rorabeck London, Ont.
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