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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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Green grass of home

Re Trudeau Battles Provinces, Senate For Right Of Canadians To Grow Cannabis (June 14): It’s legal to make beer and wine at home. If these “drugs” can be made in limited quantities at home, then Canadians should also be allowed to grow a limited amount of marijuana at home.

If Quebec and Manitoba fear that they will not be able to police or control how much marijuana is grown in a home, they need only look to hydro bills. In Ontario, I get an e-mail each month comparing my usage to the average usage of like homes. Big spikes in usage linked with large, illegal growing operations will show up.

The Senate should let the bill pass.

Peter Fedirchuk, Kanata, Ont.

Layered trade dilemmas

We were nearing the end of a long day of fasting. As I cruised the produce section on a mission, I found my target: onions.

Sweet onions were on sale, and sounded tastier than plain onions. As I reached for the three-pound bag, something stopped me in my tracks. Produce of USA?!

I was immediately reminded of the insults our Prime Minister had just suffered. Ontario onions weren’t on sale. They weren’t sweet either. Hmm. USA versus Ontario.

Onions have layers and so did my dilemma. I was reminded of a spiritual realization Malcom X had. “I don’t eat pork,” he announced when it was offered while he was learning about his new faith. He was never the same man after that. As he later described it, a simple decision to resist something changed his whole life. He eventually led a revolutionary movement. I was having a crisis over a few dimes on onions.

It was Ramadan after all, and I felt I needed to show some resilience with my spending power. I returned the sweet U.S. onions and kept the Ontario onions, with a sort of disappointment combined with self-respect.

In the spirit of Robert De Niro, “Fff…orgive me, Americans. I truly wanted to buy your product. It’s not personal, it’s business.” In fact, forgiveness was not the first Robert De Niro-inspired F-word that came to my mind.

For Malcolm X it was pork. For me and many others, I’m sure it’s going to be onions or another product. The Boycott America Movement has already started.

Muhammed Hamou, London, Ont.

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I commend this week’s letter writers who have decided to boycott U.S. products and vacations. My wife and I made that commitment right after Donald Trump’s election when Canadian citizens started being hassled at the border. Mr. Trump’s derisive rhetoric toward immigrants and visitors from other countries was offensive. Instead of vacations to our favourite spots of Cape Cod or Maui, we opted to spend our money in Canada. We expected that more Canadians would follow suit, as did U.S. tourism agencies, but in early 2017, Stats Can reported that travel to the U.S. was higher than it had been for several years. SAD!

David Gelder, Mississauga

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To paraphrase:

Way down South where oranges grow,

A beaver stepped on an elephant’s toe,

The elephant said with tears in its eyes,

“Why don’t you pick on someone your own size?”

Robin Higham, Ottawa

Try basketball. You’re welcome

Re You’re Welcome, FIFA (June 14): A letter writer signs off with “You’re welcome, FIFA,” after making some suggestions at the start of the World Cup to “open up” the game, create more “breakaways” and prevent those 0-0 scores, which the writer presumably finds boring. I look forward to his suggestions for getting rid of those “actionless” no-hitters in baseball – perhaps hitters should be allowed four or five strikes, or pitchers should be limited to a maximum pitch speed of 30 mph.

There is a sport where scoring occurs virtually every 24 seconds, where breakaways are common, and where the player on the breakaway can place the ball in the undefended net with ease. I recommend basketball to those who do not appreciate the beautiful game and who need constant scoring to stay engaged.

You’re welcome.

Rudy Buller, Toronto

Shotgun planning

Re Vancouver Details 10-Year Plan For Affordable Housing (June 14): City planners helped get Vancouver into this housing mess. The Liberals and Mayor Gregor Robertson allowed foreign money, developers and realtors to trade homes like commodities. Now we have a housing crisis.

City council is acting acting like would-be saviours, wanting to push through (quickly) a $2-billion-plus housing plan.

Council should be consulting with residents before pushing such a dramatic plan. And how will this shotgun plan affect traffic congestion, which is already a huge problem in Vancouver?

As long as the developers and realtors are happy, so it would appear, is city council.

Elisabeth Ross, Vancouver

What Ontario did

Re How Ontario Became Ford Nation (Focus, June 9): The Liberals won a laughable seven seats in the election, not because they discredited themselves (as Jeffrey Simpson suggests) but because the voting system is a political lottery. If the Liberals’ 20 per cent support were translated into elected members, they would have won 24 seats (the Tories would have won only 50).

The Liberals lost official party status because they lacked the political will to make the necessary changes to the voting system, being addicted to the sound of that screeching voice we all hear at the checkout counter, “Winner! Gagnant!”

Les Bowser, Omemee, Ont.

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As a resident of Ontario, I resent seeing the province referred to in the media by that imbecilic “Ford Nation” moniker. Even though I was one of many who voted the Liberals out, that does not mean we in any way support the likes of the new premier. The family, friends and limited supporters who actually make up “Ford Nation” are not representative of the majority of Ontarians, even those who voted for the Progressive Conservatives.

Dennis Winters, Toronto

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As a friend of mine said after last week’s provincial election: Cheap beer and no sex education. What could go wrong?

Ron Leprohon, Toronto

Picnic paupers

My wife and I were just beginning to plan a trip for our summer vacation when we came across Setting Sail (Pursuits, June 9). The Globe and Mail may be right on top of things in terms of how to dress, but we’re now very disappointed. Once we get my wife’s $655 loafers, her $380 bikini, her $440 sunglasses, and my $240 swim “shorts,” the only “trip” we’ll be able to afford is a picnic lunch at a local park!

Peter A. Lewis-Watts, Barrie, Ont.

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