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
..................................................................................................................................
Steeled for a trade war
Re U.S. Unveils Steep Tariffs, Raising Peril Of Trade War (March 2): A year ago, United Steelworkers president Leo Gerard stood in the Oval Office supporting Donald Trump's order that the Commerce Department should investigate steel imports to the United States. Did Mr. Gerard think that Mr. Trump was aiming only at China and other Asian countries?
Now Mr. Gerard, whose union represents workers in Canada and the U.S., protests that "Canada's not a problem" as Mr. Trump threatens a 25-per-cent tariff on Canadian steel. Any school child could have told him that, if you back a bully, don't be surprised when the bully turns on you.
A.A. Sayeed, Toronto
..................................
Justin Trudeau says the proposed new tariffs on steel and aluminum imported into the U.S. are "absolutely unacceptable."
Is it not yet obvious to Trudeau & Co. that this is just part of Donald Trump's broader plan – and that if he wishes to impose his will, the mouse will have a rather difficult time as it attempts to dissuade the elephant.
I stepped in a puddle in the wake of Friday's snow squalls. The puddle was a metre wide and, oh, maybe a half-centimetre deep. Interestingly, it reminded me of someone. Namaste!
Alan Coates, Cambridge, Ont.
..................................
T.O.'s speeding addiction
Mayor John Tory says there is carnage on Toronto streets and that we need to reduce speed limits (To Save Lives In Toronto, Slow Down The Cars – editorial, March 2). Lowering speed limits will not achieve anything. Every day, I see numerous cars going right through red lights, so what makes anyone think these drivers will respect lower posted speed limits?
The problem is that there is no enforcement of the basic rules of the road (e.g. a yellow light means stop unless already in the intersection, and a red one means stop, no exception). Drivers flout these rules with impunity, knowing there will be no repercussions.
What is needed are red light cameras and speeding cameras. After receiving a few warnings and convictions, these drivers will probably learn to obey the rules, and our roads will be safer.
Robert Lachance, Toronto
..................................
I saw an older woman being killed by a car in my Etobicoke neighbourhood 16 months ago. Armed with a long petition to lower the speed limits on my street and constantly referencing the Vision Zero program, I am getting nowhere with my pleas to the city.
A few days ago, I was notified that our case is closed, partly because the Transportation staff do not support us. The process to put health and safety first is exhausting. Prevention needs more attention. It warmed my heart that your editorialists properly see the facts and priorities.
Toronto's speeding culture must change. Mayor John Tory?
Lydia Lebed, Toronto
..................................
Virtually every day I drive Toronto's inner city streets. Rarely a day goes by when I'm not angered and frustrated by the speedsters flying by me in posted 40 and 50 km/h zones, often around schools.
Driving home the message to people that they need to respect the posted limits might just make a dent in pedestrian deaths. Drivers don't seem to be listening to reason, so it's time to hit them where it hurts: stiffer fines and vehicle seizures.
Nadine Saby, Toronto
..................................
"Lower the speed limit because the physics says it saves lives" is one of the dumbest ideas presented. One may as well ban cars, or restrict pedestrians from using the road. The speed limits are properly set as they are. What we need are pedestrians to be more vigilant when using the road, and a higher standard for a driver's test before a driver is allowed to drive.
While pedestrians may have right-of-way, they still need to apply common sense. There are defensive driving techniques, there should be also be defensive pedestrian techniques. Cars and pedestrian share the road, both are equally responsible.
Michael Wong, Toronto
..................................
Not the way to do it
Re Ontario Is Courting A Home-Care Fiasco (March 2): André Picard's analysis of the government's folly in creating yet more bureaucracy in Ontario's home care system is completely correct. Creating a comprehensive, self-directed care model that gives choice to patients is the right approach, but the creation of a parallel "agency" that will cost more and leave less money for direct, hands-on care at the front line is not the way to do it.
Successful new, self-directed care models must be fully integrated into the current system of home care or risk system confusion to patients and key referral sources such as hospitals, family doctors, ER physicians and long-term care.
Preparing Ontario's home-care system for the future requires funding, ending rationed care, changing outdated scheduling and strengthening information exchange.
Sue VanderBent, CEO, Home Care Ontario, Hamilton
..................................
Make it illegal
"Making the act of paying women less than men for work of equal value illegal would go a long way toward achieving gender equality in the workplace." As someone whose career was spent in the area of compensation management within the HR field, and who was actively involved in the implementation of several pay equity programs with employers in Ontario, I applaud this statement by Prof. Kathleen Lahey (Budget Doesn't Deliver On Child Care – Feb. 28).
In my experience, true implementation of pay equity requires every job in an organization to be valued without reference to gender predominance, or in fact any other characteristic, apart from the value of the job, as determined through the use of a neutral evaluation methodology.
Many organizations achieve this by determining a "job rate" for a position and then, in the case of salaried positions, implementing a rate range within which differences in performance, experience and other factors are used to determine individual rates of pay.
Of course, the latter process is still open to discrimination, however, as Prof. Lahey states, the equitable valuing of jobs without reference to gender is a big step in the right direction.
Colin Guenther, Aurora, Ont.
..................................
Cartoon brilliance
Globe editorial cartoonist Brian Gable is a national treasure, a trove of humour. He was running hot last week: teaching graduates receiving rifles along with their diplomas, the King Kong-inspired King Kanada take on NAFTA (the beaver is my favourite Gable character) and Friday's panel featuring Indian diplomats dressed as Bob and Doug McKenzie. The tragedy of course is that Gable has too much material to work with.
Geoff Moore, Edmonton
..................................
Never mind who invited one-time Sikh extremist Jaspal Atwal – whose idea was it for the Trudeaus to wear Bollywood outfits? Friday's editorial cartoon said it all.
R.W. Payne, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont.