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Bottom line on trust
Re This Is What Reconciliation Can Look Like (editorial, Dec. 29): I am heartened by the courage our government is showing in trusting that First Nations know best when it comes to managing their own finances.
Before the critics jump in, it is worth stressing that Ottawa plans to offer funds with minimal oversight only to those First Nations with "good financial track records." Reconciliation will not happen without trust.
Emily Mason, Calgary
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Stephen Harper may not have been everybody's favourite, but attaching strings to First Nations funding was the responsible thing to do. Unfortunately, where First Nations are concerned, the great motivator in Ottawa is guilt. True, we should be sitting on the cathedral steps wearing sackcloth and ashes, but guilt is not an effective idea shop. Nothing good will come from guilt.
A proposal to disperse millions of dollars to the unaccountable is just plain stupid. It is a kind of reverse racism.
If progress is to be made, the long-term plan and implementation stages need to be put forward by First Nations chiefs. Business is built on a foundation of ethics, long-term planning, implementation of strategy and hawk-eye attention to the bottom line. It must be their plan, their leadership, their responsibility. The First Nations must draw up a budget. Ottawa, an equal partner, would then disburse the funds and require an annual financial report.
Hugh McKechnie, Newmarket, Ont.
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A kind and generous man
Re Legendary Leafs Goalie Stood Apart (obituaries, Dec. 28): As a young teen, I collected hockey cards. Being from Toronto, the Maple Leafs were my favourite and I collected the whole team, taping the cards into a small notebook.
Then I discovered that Johnny Bower was a neighbour and that he lived in a small postwar bungalow on Patika Avenue. Mustering all the courage my 13-year-old self had, I knocked on his door and asked if he would take my notebook to the Leafs' dressing room and ask the players to autograph their hockey card. He said he would.
Two weeks later, I knocked on his door again. This time, his wife answered and told me that, yes, the notebook was back with all the signatures. But there was one problem. Their very young son had seen it and while looking at the pictures had accidentally ripped some pages. But I was not to worry, she had taped the tears and my notebook was intact. I could not believe my eyes when I thumbed through it to see all my favourite players' signatures.
Johnny Bower was not only one of the greatest goalies ever, but a kind and generous human being who is sadly missed.
Mike Hyland, Whitby, Ont.
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Johnny Bower was a legendary Leaf and I have enjoyed the articles about him. However, I haven't seen any mention of his singing "career." Check out the 1965 classic, Honky the Christmas Goose. (It's on YouTube). His memorial service should end with the playing of that song.
Don Cooper, Toronto
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What to do with jihadis
Re Canadians Support Prosecuting Suspected Jihadis, Poll Finds (Dec. 27): Given the relatively simplistic question that was asked, the poll seems to have been designed to produce this result. Intelligence information that may reveal involvement in terrorist activities, particularly outside the country, is seldom usable in a criminal prosecution. A question that alluded to that reality might have produced a more nuanced result.
Canadians should be careful what they wish for in that the result of successful prosecutions would be the detention of a population of jihadis, who, if not held in solitary confinement (hardly likely given the current debate on that subject), would be free to proselytize within the institutions where they are held. This has been a significant concern elsewhere, so it is quite unlikely we would be able to avoid the issue.
The government's approach is hardly a simple answer to the concerns of Canadians, but it is the responsible answer, although I would concede that I share the view of those who are concerned that "de-programming" is unlikely to be much of a success beyond the margins.
W.P. Elcock, Ottawa
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Sears: A story of greed
The Sears story is a story of what amounts to highway robbery, legalized theft, and systematic cruelty on a grand scale (Out In The Cold – Report on Business, Dec. 28). The directors of the company approved selling off its assets, letting the core business collapse, and paying shareholders huge dividends while leaving the pension plan massively underfunded.
So now employees and pensioners pay the price for unbridled greed. A simple law could fix this massive – and what should be considered criminal – form of larceny: Prohibit share buybacks and dividends if a pension fund is not fully funded.
If our governments do not act, they are just as guilty as the abominable board of directors of Sears, an expression of the very worst of capitalism.
Gilbert Reid, Toronto
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Automation: 1, 2, 3
Re Disruption Is Coming, And Ontario Isn't Ready (Report on Business, Dec. 27): This article is packed with good advice on how industry and governments can ease the transition toward a more automated workplace, including retraining, changes in tax policy and co-operation across public and private sectors.
This is Step 1 and it calls for immediate action.
Step 2 is to introduce basic income on a national basis. Basic income is fast becoming a political imperative. Current safety nets are inadequate to protect displaced middle-aged workers; they need a "soft landing" in order to cope with growing families and mortgages.
Step 3 is a complete revamping of our educational system. Work has become so dominant in our lives that adjusting to a society in which leisure may be dominant, even with a sustainable income in our pockets, could be more than we can cope with at this stage in our history.
Tony Kirby, Vancouver
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New Year's Eve nuance?
Re Stocking Up (Dec. 23): When Beppi Crosariol tells us that Glen Grant 18-year-old rare-edition whisky has "primary flavours of caramel and vanilla and uplifting aromatics that suggest honeycomb, roasted nuts, citrus, stone fruits and meadow flowers on toasted cereal" he is omitting important epicurean details.
What are the secondary flavours? What kind of nuts: chestnuts, macadamia, pistachios? What meadow flowers: cowslip, vetchling, sneezewort? And what cereals: Froot Loops, Cap'n Crunch, Frankenberry?
Tim Jeffery, Toronto