Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during Question Period on Monday, May 7, 2018.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
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Pot as his legacy?
Re Let The Pot Bill Pass On Time (editorial, May 7): The Senate is carefully reviewing Bill C-45, something MPs failed to do.
Liberal MPs on the Commons committees played from a position of unenlightened partisanship, and the Conservatives held back, likely hoping to see Justin Trudeau own all the problems with the cannabis bill.
Those who suggest that because legalization was raised in the election, it should become law without due diligence from senators are drawing an erroneous conclusion. Canadians voted for the Liberals in 2015 because they wanted change, not because they wanted to get high legally. There are serious flaws with Bill C-45 and potentially dozens of credible amendments. It will be fascinating to see how this plays out in the Senate – and whether this disastrous turn in public-health policy becomes the Trudeau legacy.
Pamela McColl, Vancouver
Power to the states
Re Real U.S. Leadership Is Found In Sacramento – Not In Washington (May 5): All the things Doug Saunders praises about Governor Jerry Brown, such as California’s environmental policies, are possible because under federalism individual states have considerable power over their own finances, laws, and regulations.
This constitutional principle recognizes the primary importance of the states and the considerable diversity among them.
Even so, Mr. Saunders decries the electoral college for delivering Donald Trump rather than Hillary Clinton, despite the latter’s popular-vote victory. The Electoral College, though, is an important part of the same federal system that gives Mr. Brown such power. It stops a few big states from swamping smaller states and regions during presidential elections, recognizing, once again, the primary importance of the states and the diversity among them.
It seems rather selfish of Mr. Saunders to laud the power of the individual states when it suits his politics, and denounce it when it does not.
Brett Lintott, Hamilton
Ways of being men
Re We Need To Talk About The Boys (May 5): Margaret Wente asks why so many young men are vulnerable to destructive ideas. She engages us in a polarizing framework of “girls get all the attention these days” but “it’s the boys we should be worried about.” Masculinities and femininities are more nuanced and complicated than that. Not all boys are “lagging behind girls” nor “dropping out” nor “getting into trouble.”
It’s helpful to consider the intersectionality of racialized, classed masculinities and femininities to give a fuller, richer picture. Rather than waving the “role model theory” flag to explain masculinity (singular) why not acknowledge completing and overlapping ways of being men?
“Why are so many young men so vulnerable to destructive ideas?” implies that men lack agency and are at the mercy of forces beyond their control. Men do have control and power to resist, to challenge, and to question the narrow ways of being men.
Yes, we need to talk about boys, but not by polarizing men/women and suggesting men are powerless and “the girls are all right.”
Michael Kehler, research professor, Masculinities Studies in Education, Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary
Culpable at York
Re York University Strike Persists In Face Of Impasse (May 5): Like thousands of other York students, my daughter has returned home to start a summer job with no idea what will happen to her academic term. What started as sympathy for the teaching assistants has – for many of these kids – morphed into disbelief and anger. How this strike has been allowed to continue for so long is baffling.
Who, I wonder, can we send our bill to for the lost learning time and wasted living expenses?
The York administration clearly has a problem, but CUPE 3903, the union representing striking part-time instructors and research assistants, is just as culpable. In the meantime, many of these students are likely busy now seeing which credits they can transfer so they can attend another university come September.
Chris Franklin, Calgary
Dead in the millions
Re As Trump And Xi Spar, An Ancient Trap Awaits Both (May 7): It’s interesting that Niall Ferguson, author of The Pity of War, refers to Graham Allison’s concept of the “Thucydides Trap” and to Henry Kissinger’s argument in his book Diplomacy that “an increasingly rigid alliance system condemned Britain and Germany to war in 1914.”
Perhaps these authors read David Marquand’s biography of Ramsay Macdonald who, as Britain’s first Labour prime minister, made exactly that argument in 1924, a position for which he was initially vilified, then sanctified.
China and the United States should take note that Macdonald warned that “secret diplomacy” between these alliances led to the first great war, and argued that such questions would be much better put directly to the people. War between these two behemoths would make the First World War death toll of more than 16 million people look trivial.
Alban Goddard Hill, Belleville, Ont.
The state of Hollywood
Re Coming Soon To A Theatre Near You (Like It Or Not): Exactly What You’ve Seen Before (online, May 6): The recap of the CinemaCon movie convention in Las Vegas paints an unflattering portrait of the state of Hollywood 2018.
Barry Hertz suggests that bells and whistles are all that can save the industry and ends with a reference to the movie business rearranging its deck chairs as the ice-berg draws closer. Yeesh, even The Smiths weren’t this doom and gloom.
The article quotes attendance as being down 9 per cent for the year for Q1. Yes, but since then we’ve had a record opening for Avengers: Infinity War, the second-largest second weekend ever (also on Avengers) and the second-largest presales ever for Solo: A Star Wars Story, according to Atom Tickets. Currently, boxoffice revenues are up more than 5 per cent for the year with two blockbusters to come in the next three weeks.
That’s what happens in this business – it fluctuates wildly. Don’t buy the vacation home in Crans-sur-Sierre when business is up and don’t pack up your things to start living under Highway 401 when it’s down.
Jim Amos, Scout 53, movie consultant, Los Angeles
Hmm …
Re Facing Growth Worries, Cara Taps Turnaround Specialist As CEO (Report on Business, May 7 ): A new CEO of a large restaurant chain has a reputation for focusing on the “diner’s experience.” Hmm … reminds me of the fashion retailer who said the new spring collection was about “looking good.” Which raises the question: What the heck did they have me eating and wearing last year?
Ross Hollingshead, Toronto