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Letters to the Editor should be exclusive to The Globe and Mail. Include your name, address and daytime phone number. Try to keep letters to fewer than 150 words. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. To submit a letter by e-mail, click here: letters@globeandmail.com

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Lynn Beyak's failings

Re Lynn Beyak Is No Martyr (editorial, Jan. 10): Senator Beyak may well not meet the criteria for martyrdom. That's a judgment best rendered by history. That doesn't automatically support the corollary of being racist.

She has certainly shown poor judgment in publicizing what appear to be racist positions in letters from supporters without bothering to qualify why she is publicizing them, or being critical that many of their messages are given as overly broad generalizations. She has also put herself in the trap where good things, usually relatively minor, might emerge from horrific circumstances.

For example, Hitler left behind the autobahn and the Beetle. Ms. Beyak suggests some students in residential schools might actually have obtained some worthwhile education. Not for a moment would anyone wish the resurrection of the horrors that were Hitler or the residential schools to achieve these minor benefits. Yet even mentioning them elicits the criticism that the speaker supports the cost.

In other words, a prudent speaker would be better off simply keeping such thoughts to herself rather than provoke a political backlash. Ms. Beyak seems deficient in the prudencearea. All in all, she exhibits many qualities that suggest she is not qualified to be a senator. We should call it what it is, which is incompetence in office.

David Kister, Toronto

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Ethics, with a whimper

Re Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson Says She 'Went Out With A Bang' (Jan. 6): Ms. Dawson has been criticized for years for letting most people off the hook through secret rulings. She found there was no conflict or ethics breach in 95 per cent of the cases she handled, including dozens of cabinet ministers and MPs who clearly violated key ethics rules.

Beyond that, 218 of her 253 rulings did not disclose the facts or reasons why she found the person had not violated the rules.

In that light, your secondary headline, "Dawson spares no one – not even the PM – in holding politicians to high moral standard," is misleading. In fact, she spared almost everyone, including on her last day in office letting Bill Morneau off the hook for two questionable actions. Seen in that light, she went with a whimper, not a bang.

The Supreme Court said in a 1996 case that if federal ethics rules are not strictly and strongly enforced, Canada will not have a democratic government. That is why Democracy Watch is calling on the Auditor-General to audit Commissioner Dawson's record to ensure no wrongdoing was swept aside, and to set a much higher performance standard for the new Ethics Commissioner.

Duff Conacher, co-founder, Democracy Watch

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Tims dispute's bitter taste

Tim Hortons and its corporate owners, Restaurant Brands International, make their money by standardizing every aspect of franchisees' expenses across the country, including what they charge for coffee and food. They have known for six months that the minimum wage in Ontario was increasing, but appear to have deliberately ignored what the impact would be on their many franchisees in Ontario rather than disrupt their vaunted corporate standardization.

What some of their franchisees in Cobourg and elsewhere proposed as a response to the minimum wage increase was disgusting, but the real culprit here is the corporate office that seems to have put corporate returns ahead of an appreciation of the impact of provincial differences across Canada.

Harvey Kolodny, Orangeville, Ont.

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I can't agree with our Premier on most issues but this is different. Heirs to the Tim Hortons fortune, a business that has successfully hijacked our national identity to sell us a seemingly endless flow of watery coffee, so abhor the idea of Ontario mandating them to pay their workers a decent, livable wage that they've turned on their own employees, with reports of cutting paid breaks, benefits and shift lengths. I can't think of anything less Canadian than the greed and disregard for the welfare of others that this shows.

It's impossible to boycott Tim Hortons over this if, like me, you already decided some time ago that their food and coffee is bland, and that supporting a foreign corporation masquerading as a Canadian coffee shop is, quite possibly, the least patriotic thing you could possibly do. But if you do drink Tims, consider this petulant behaviour and the damage it is doing to employees.

Hayden Kenez, Toronto

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Those who ridicule Tims: Are you prepared to pay more for a coffee and doughnut as long as the employees are paid more?

I am, as that is how business works. You can't increase costs without increasing revenue or reducing expenses. That's the only way businesses are sustainable.

Andrew Block, Delta, B.C.

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Flu, Canada's seniors

Re Health Officials On 'High Alert' As Flu Season Nears Peak (front page, Jan. 8): Influenza A (H3N2) infection is reaching epidemic levels, underscoring why provinces and territories should offer all Canadian seniors an enhanced vaccine to help improve protection against flu.

The standard flu shot (which is free for all Canadians 65+) is approximately 50-per-cent less effective in seniors than in younger healthy adults. Canadian guidelines on immunization recommend a high-dose vaccine for seniors that provides superior protection versus the standard shot. Research shows this vaccine could help reduce flu-related illness and hospitalizations.

However, this high-dose vaccine is not yet funded across Canada. Two provinces have made great strides: Manitoba offers it for free to seniors in long-term care, and Ontario has committed to providing it to all seniors next flu season.

As a geriatric specialist, I'm proud to see the addition of the high-dose flu vaccine to the Ontario program, and feel it should be made publicly available to all seniors in Canada.

William B. Dalziel, MD, professor, geriatric medicine, Ottawa Hospital

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'Sciencey nonsense'

In 'The Sound of Science' (Opinion Section, Jan. 6), Timothy Caulfield encourages scientists to speak out about bogus "sciencey nonsense."

Then, in 'A Clean Slate' (Pursuits Section) in the same edition of The Globe and Mail, we read that "Clear quartz is known as the master healer. It draws out negative energy and balances your body, your chakras and your immune system."

I have investigated the physical properties of quartz and other types of crystals for more than 40 years. None "draw out negative energy and balance your body." While quartz crystals are beautiful and have many applications (quartz is used to make accurate timepieces and optical devices, for example), they do not have magical healing powers.

My thanks to Mr. Caulfield for the push to speak out.

Mary Anne White, professor of chemistry and physics (emerita), Dalhousie University

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