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The world … according to Trump
Donald Trump's security strategy is absolutely not about "his personal grievances," but about carrying out the policy platform he ran on during the 2016 election, and which he received a clear mandate to execute, thanks to his 304 versus 227 Electoral College Vote victory (Trump's Security Strategy Is More About Personal Grievances, Dec. 20).
A reminder to those who reside in the ideologically blinkered "basket of inconsolables" (those who believe in democracy only if their side wins, and who are still trying to delegitimize Mr. Trump – "Russia! Russia! Russia!") and the "basket of deplorables" who voted for him (duly enfranchised American citizens with legitimate concerns and a democratic right to have those concerns heard and represented in Washington): Mr. Trump won his mandate to govern fairly and squarely.
And he won with an Electoral College margin of victory wider than those that those that swept George W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy into the White House. And yes, Mr. Trump did not win the absolute popular vote, but neither did Hillary Clinton, thanks to the protest votes siphoned off to Jill Stein and Gary Johnson.
So enough already with the smug, ad hominem attacks on a duly elected President.
Edward Ozog, Brantford, Ont.
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In 50 years of the "global village," it is difficult to recall a village idiot more troublesome than Donald Trump. Far from being oddly clever or uniquely talented in some admirable way, this man, unsuited to leadership and disdainful of humanity, subverts the social network that McLuhan anticipated as he spreads invective through the ether, unwilling even to consider the damage his declarations will bring.
In times past, a disruptive fool might have been brought to account with a private word from a family member.
In today's village, however, even though every syllable of Mr. Trump's twittery is ridiculed, his "message" is not significantly challenged by our elected representatives, the persons most likely to interface with him.
Our leaders need to respond more directly, more vigorously, and soon, for it will take some time for the man to be gone, the lunacy overwritten and the village reclaimed by the people.
Richard Epp, Victoria
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Maybe I'm getting too old to absorb some of the current news items without more antacid capsules. Canada Abstains From UN Vote on U.S. Jerusalem Policy (Dec. 22) is an example that had me reaching for the medicine cabinet. One paragraph in particular stood out: "The vote placed Canada in a difficult situation because Mr. Trump had threatened to retaliate against countries that supported the resolution."
So, we better toe the line because Donald Trump might just … rip up NAFTA, encourage a heavy duty on imported Canadian softwood lumber, and stand aside as Boeing works to kill Bombardier's airline industry?
And to ensure there is enough coal this holiday season to go around for all those undeserving of other gifts, he might send us an ambassador whose family fortune is tied to mining and burning the stuff?
Bill Bousada, Carleton Place, Ont.
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Call me Pollyanna, but I choose to see the bright side to Donald Trump's recent reassertion of his "America first" foreign policy, and the threat by his ambassador to the UN to unfriend any sovereign nation that differs with her boss on foreign policy matters.
I see here cause to hope that we can finally sound the death knell for the ridiculous myth of American "moral leadership."
By his unabashed celebration of naked self-interest as the core principle of U.S. foreign policy, Mr. Trump has liberated the erstwhile "friends" and "allies" of the United States from the indignity of performing as a Greek chorus in the farce that is American "exceptionalism."
For all the bluster, however, American foreign policy will change little. The U.S. has always placed its interests – particularly its economic interests – first in setting foreign policy. And it has consistently demonstrated a preference for exercising influence (a more accurate description than "leadership") through the application of brute force, both military and economic.
Now at least, thanks to Mr. Trump, we can call a spade a spade – or an effing shovel, which seems more Trumpesque.
Alastair Moran, Brampton, Ont.
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Mental-health access
Re For Better Mental-Health Care In Canada, Look To Britain (Dec. 18): I have been a psychiatrist/psychotherapist in Toronto for 34 years, and work for the referral service for the Toronto Psychoanalytic Society. I get flooded with calls from people who want to see a professional covered by OHIP for significant anxiety and depression.
Fewer psychiatrists are training to do full-time psychotherapy. Most people cannot afford $200 an hour to talk to a non-medical psychotherapist even once a week.
Many do not have insurance to cover seeing a psychologist.
We should follow Quebec's lead to publicly fund psychotherapy for people with anxiety and depression by psychologists, social workers and other certified psychotherapists. We are turning into Woody Allen's New York, where only the wealthy can afford therapy.
Anne Shepherd, psychiatrist/psychotherapist, Toronto
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Just last week, the Ontario Telemedicine Network qualified four digital mental-health providers to support the Ontario government's initiative to provide a range of digital solutions to support people with mood and anxiety disorders.
Among the solutions qualified was a digital CBT platform that offers one-to-one therapist interaction and personalized treatment protocols suitable for mild to moderately severe depression and anxiety disorders, with measured outcomes. This type of platform dramatically improves accessibility and affordability of care.
A stepped-care model exists here in Canada today and in a more technologically advanced way than the British initiative.
The very good news is that our governments are moving in the right direction to make this available.
Peter Farvolden, senior clinical director, mindBEACON and CBT Associates
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Buy bread. Elsewhere
The many consumers gouged as a result of this collusion to fix the price of bread will now be eligible to receive a $25 gift card from Loblaw – a goodwill gesture that could cost the company as much as $150-million. It can find that amount, yet this is the same company that argued raising the minimum wage was going to hurt profits, cost jobs and increase the costs of its goods.
Paul Gerroir, Oakville, Ont.
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Here's a suggestion to everyone affected by the bread price-fixing scheme: Vote with your stomach.
Buy bread from your local, independently owned bakery. It's usually much tastier than the mass-produced stuff anyway.
Rob Dykstra, Nanaimo, B.C.