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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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Jan. 1, 2018: Here is home

Today marks the start of my 18th year in Canada.

Judy Henske sings a song of longing about her childhood in Wisconsin. I have this record and I understand the song deeply; I was born in Michigan and I "get" things like Wisconsin. They are familiar. They are home.

Last week, I was playing a new recording by John K. Samson, a song about (sort of) growing up in Alberta. Listening to it, I suddenly realized that I have become Canadian. Words like "parkade" and "parkette" mean something to me now. They are familiar and of home.

I sort of naturally spell colour with a "u," and I say "hydro" like I was born here. My first impression of anything new or different has become, "Nossir, I don't like it …" and I trust the Supreme Court to be fair and have the last word. I don't know a lot about John A. Macdonald or Louis Riel, but my neighbours don't either and none of us know all the words to O Canada. Here is home.

I won't be back to the U.S. to live, ever. I know this. It makes me a little sad but on we go … I mention this, because I know in my heart that those among us who come from other places are also Canadian. Whether we still wear different-looking hats or not, we are Canadian.

We keep a little of where we are from, but we are Canadian, now. The best place to see us is in line at Tim Hortons. Make mine a "double-double." Eh.

Robert Hubbard, Windsor, Ont.

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Sears's shame. And ours

In 2017, the combined wealth of the eight richest billionaires worldwide equalled that of half the human race. Sadly, the wealthy's portion of the pie continues to grow annually.

How can this be happening?

The recent demise of Sears provides a small example. That company sold off prime assets worth billions, then handed the money to shareholders as dividends and to executives as bonuses, while leaving obligations like the company's share of its pension plan short by $266-million. Some are enriched, others impoverished. Of course, Sears is not the only culprit.

These days, "activist" shareholders who want higher returns on investments pressure for "monetization" (read selling) of company assets – human casualties be damned. And there are many casualties.

Thanks to your excellent article, Out In The Cold (Report on Business, Dec. 28), we have learned that soon Keith Lovell, a retired Sears employee, may be forced to choose between food, medication or keeping his home, now that he's lost his family's Sears benefits package. Those benefits and his pension belonged to him – not the company. But apparently that does not matter.

The fact that our government continues to allow this is beyond disgusting. And the fact that we, the public, do so little to demand change is almost as bad.

Shame on us.

Carol Town, Hamilton

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Saving our bookstores

Re Who Will Save Our Bookstores, And The Communities They Tie Together? (Dec. 26): Robert Everett-Green's article hit me hard. As a librarian, I've seen most bookstores disappear in Vancouver, usually because of rental problems. Years ago, I contacted City Hall, suggesting that Vancouver follow the example of Paris and other cities in France, where bookstores are cherished and protected by rental subsidies and lease protection. This was when hundreds of millions of dollars were being spent on Vancouver's big stadium.

Of course, I received no reply. If Canada wants to keep its bookstores, it would do well to look at France, where, incidentally, the tax on e-books raises the price to virtually the same level as paper.

Elly Werb, Vancouver

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Loblaw's trust problem

If we accept Galen G. Weston's somewhat disingenuous apology and token offer of restitution for Loblaw's role in fixing the price of bread for 14 years, it will be a sign that we've likely lost our collective sense of outrage.

As a public relations practitioner for most of my career, I'm astonished his PR advisers could not come up with a better plan than a $25 gift-card offer.

Some years ago, a company involved in an industry-wide bid-rigging scandal (flour, curiously enough) asked me for advice. I suggested their CEO resign – I didn't get the the job. Mr. Weston may not need to resign, but the public deserves to know how he let this happen on his watch, and who was involved. Otherwise, how will he restore trust?

George McNeillie, Toronto

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Hazy thinking on pot sales

I have to laugh over the planned legalization and distribution of cannabis in this country, not to mention the stock market valuations of the companies that will produce and distribute the product. Even funnier is the federal and provincial expectation of inflated tax revenues, come July. Is there no one in government who understands that the black-market cannabis-distribution system is the most sophisticated, cheapest and personalized delivery service in the world, 24/7?

And government expects to compete with that? Fat chance. As the saying goes, if the government were in charge of the Sahara, it would run out of sand!

Douglas A. Nowers, Toronto

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Bitcoin? Beware

There is one thing most bitcoin bulls aren't taking adequate note of when it comes to the king of cryptocurrency: The coins don't belong to you in any traditionally verifiable way. If they did, they wouldn't be anonymous. They "belong" to your computer.

A man in the United Kingdom accidentally threw out a crashed computer, his only access to millions of dollars worth of bitcoin. The Welsh IT technician has offered to pay to search the landfill but the authorities won't let him.

Anyone with significant bitcoin should have their hard drive backed up and stored in a different location.

Also, telling someone you are a bitcoin investor in is like telling someone you have a safe full of money. Now all they need is your password.

Nick Kelly, Nanaimo, B.C.

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A great … zzzz … idea

Re A Voice In The Dark (First Person, Dec. 28): My thanks to essayist Daryl Elliott for illuminating the idea of listening to a podcast as "a bedtime story."

My husband and I have been doing this for years. I download audiobooks, but if I don't use the "sleeptimer" feature on my smartphone, I can be in Chapter 14 by the next morning. Ted Talks are great, too. They last only 10 to 15 minutes and I actually learn something!

As a retired pharmacist, I have to wonder how many people would benefit from this simple idea and be able to forgo their sleep medication. It is a great idea and worth spreading.

Joan Slover, St. Clements, Ont.

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