Traffic moves through the financial district in Toronto on Sept. 8, 2023.Andrew Lahodynskyj/The Canadian Press
Get to it
Re “Solitary confinement doesn’t work” (Opinion, Sept. 21): Why are those who have suffered horrendous treatment at the hands of our state forced to sue the responsible governments? Surely by now it is clear to everyone that most governments have been guilty of acts of gross cruelty and injustice.
Why not just come clean and get down to arriving at settlements? To force victims to sue for justice is to cause many of them to relive those horrors, which can result in the state heaping trauma on trauma for no good reason. I find that despicable.
Myles Ferrie Vancouver
For starters
Re “Who is to blame for Calgary’s Green Line debacle?” (Sept. 23): The one player missing from this accounting is the guy who started it all: former mayor Naheed Nenshi.
This was to be Mr. Nenshi’s legacy project when it was first pitched in 2011. Back then, it was only to cost $4.5-billion. Now that it has ballooned to more than $6-billion and counting, Mr. Nenshi is nowhere to be seen.
He was mayor for 11 years, all during Green Line planning and development, so surely he bears some responsibility for how the whole mess has continued to derail. I saw Mr. Nenshi as an expert at promoting glittering projects, such as the Saddledome arena replacement, the Olympics (thankfully rejected in a plebiscite) and the central library, while basics such as roads and sewers felt like they were left to rot.
But regardless of who blew it, we all know who’ll be paying: the taxpayer.
Nancy Marley-Clarke Cochrane, Alta.
Better way?
Re “Toronto to tackle traffic with increased fines for drivers and higher fees for builders” (Sept. 21): Blaming construction as a major culprit for bringing Toronto to a standstill is “hitting an elephant with a fly swatter.”
What about bike lanes on what seems like nearly every downtown artery? What about some of those arteries being closed altogether by the city? Why, after more than a decade, isn’t the Eglinton light rail transit line open yet?
I see planners and those who approve such moves, all in the same place, at the same time, as the real culprits.
Let’s throw some fines or taxes at the problem. That’ll fix it. Really?
Jay Gould Toronto
Anyone believing that cycling infrastructure increases traffic congestion cannot see the forest for the trees. They also reveal themselves as that one person who believes they have discovered what scores of engineers and planning officials have not.
In Ontario, Doug Ford has revealed his bias toward prioritizing motorist convenience over the safety of vulnerable road users. But he is also the same guy who put beer in gas stations, again arguing for “convenience.” What could possibly go wrong?
Any infrastructure that prioritizes motorist convenience should be held as a crime against the citizenry. I’m willing to bet that infrastructure design always plays a significant and critical role in the death of a pedestrian or cyclist.
Peter Lehman Waterloo, Ont.
Behind the wheel
Re “The massive trucks flooding our city streets should be subject to different parking rules” (Opinion, Sept. 21): The difficulty of safely backing out of spots in parking garages, around massive trucks, prompts me to point out that it’s a great deal safer and easier to back into a spot (and drive out facing forward) than to back out of one.
My father taught me always to back into parking spots, and I can’t understand why this isn’t a universal habit of drivers everywhere.
Anne Francis Toronto
Keep it together
Re “How to secure continental free trade” (Editorial, Sept. 13): It’s not often that we find ourselves agreeing with the editorial board. You rightfully point out that as our government prepares for the 2026 review of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, it must ensure the “foundation is rock-solid.” However, what constitutes a rock-solid foundation is where we disagree.
Supply management is a core part of the foundation that allows our country to flourish. It supports rural economic activity, maintains jobs in city centres and delivers the homegrown food that Canadians want.
With increasingly volatile world markets and rising geopolitical tensions, growing food insecurity and climate change, supply management brings stability to food production in our country. Canadians know that they can count on our dairy, poultry and egg farmers to provide reliable access to nutritious, staple food products, all while bringing immense value to our food system and to our economy.
Roger Pelissero Chair, Egg Farmers of Canada; West Lincoln, Ont.
David Wiens President, Dairy Farmers of Canada; Grunthal, Man.
Tim Klompmaker Chair, Chicken Farmers of Canada; Asphodel-Norwood, Ont.
Darren Ference Chair, Turkey Farmers of Canada; Monitor, Alta.
Brian Bilkes Chair, Canadian Hatching Egg Producers; Chilliwack, B.C.
Close read
Re “Dionne Brand untangles questions about truth and justice in new book, Salvage” (Arts & Books, Sept. 21): In reconsidering the Western literary canon, poet Dionne Brand writes in her new book that she remembers reading Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park for an English literature class at university: “The length and tediousness of the work may have made your eyes cross.”
Like many Austen devotees, I intentionally read her masterpieces at a measured pace in order to fully savour every brilliant sentence. Seeing Ms. Brand’s comments about this peerless author made me clutch my pearls.
Gerret Kavanagh Midland, Ont.
Spelling matters
Re “Blockbuster author who thrilled millions ‘defied category’” (Obituary, Sept. 24): While reading one of Nelson DeMille’s books, I noticed that he spelled the word for an owner of a restaurant as a “restauranteur.”
I must have a genetic mutation because I was driven to set him straight. I wrote to him, stating that the correct spelling was “restaurateur,” without the N.
Much to my amazement, he wrote me back. He included a photocopy of a dictionary page which spelled the word with an N, but added that his editor told him not to use the N next time.
Howard Bargman Toronto
Writer to writer
Re “Meet the letter-writers” (Letters, Sept. 22): I was moved by Philip Berger’s letter, which referenced my father Manuel Matas’s frequent contributions to the Letters page and my cousin Max Matas’s 2022 letter sharing the news of my dad’s death that November.
Dad wrote for many of the same reasons Dr. Berger writes. I would add to his list that Dad also wrote to name injustice, to encourage dialogue and sometimes just to point out something funny.
I am writing because Dad would have loved this thread of connection between letter-writers from across the country. To Dr. Berger, he would have said: “Keep writing! Where there’s life, there’s hope. Maybe you’ll catch me yet.”
He’d be smiling when he said it, and he would cheer for Dr. Berger’s next letter.
Anna Matas Toronto
Meet the (final) letter-writers
This is the final instalment of personal insights and missives from some of our most frequent contributors to Letters to the Editor. Survey responses were collected as a part of the research behind A Nation’s Paper: The Globe and Mail in the Life of Canada, a collection of history essays from Globe writers past and present, coming Oct. 15 from Signal/McClelland & Stewart.
(The following responses were received by The Globe after a call for submissions in May, 2023.)
As an immigrant to Canada (June, 1967), I am proud of my adopted country. When I see something that concerns me, it is important to state my viewpoint in the hope others might agree.
I am passionate about the wonders of Canada’s natural habitat and ecosystems, and concerned with the levels of industrialization that are leading to biodiversity loss and species declines and extinctions. I see a growing level of concern in the direction that Canada is taking on many fronts.
In 2021, an opinion piece was written about making natural capital an asset class. I wrote a letter suggesting it is important to put a monetary value on the natural capital of a specific ecosystem and use it to compare the value – return on investment – against that of an industrial development project which would destroy that ecosystem.
I was pleased to see that published.
Roger Emsley Delta, B.C.
I wrote my first letter to The Globe the year Charles de Gaulle made his “Vive le Québec libre” speech.
I see The Globe as an authoritative spokesperson for all Canada.
Martin Pick Cavan, Ont.
My intent for writing is to have some influence, no matter how small, on the subject matter.
I see no point in writing about a world event where my opinion would have no (zero) impact. Local issues are different: bike lanes in Toronto, or Doug Ford treating Toronto as his plaything rather than as his provincial capital. If there is a pattern to what motivates me to write letters, I would sum it up as what I see to be the abusive use of power.
There have been many letters over the years that I have been surprised to see published – overly long ones, some terse to a fault, a few with questionable humour – which only suggests to me that getting a letter published is as much luck as anything else.
David Kister Kingston
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