Green Party leader Elizabeth May at press conference in Toronto, on Friday, July 19, 2019.Christopher Katsarov/The Globe and Mail
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 goals
Re As The Greens Surge In Polls, May Remains Confident In Her Unscripted Style (July 29): Green Leader Elizabeth May’s claim that a 60-per-cent reduction from 2005 emission levels by 2030 is doable and desirable should cause us all concern.
Canada is nowhere near on target to meet even its basic Paris commitments by 2030, never mind those required to allegedly limit temperature rise to less than 2 degrees. Remember, our commitment is a 30-per-cent reduction from 2005 levels – half of Ms. May’s fantastical goal over the next decade. Achieving Ms. May’s goal would decimate Canada’s economy.
Stephen Wiseman, Vancouver
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All parties should consider taking up Elizabeth May’s plan to put top climate scientists before the House of Commons for education sessions on climate change. Without a full, accurate understanding of the scientific consensus that demonstrates the current danger faced by humanity, how can leaders take action to protect us?
Lynn Harrison, Toronto
Housing hope/lessness
Re Let’s Banish The Hoary Myths Of Home Ownership (Opinion, July 27): Our federal government urgently needs to recognize adequate and affordable housing in the Charter of Rights.
It needs to tax the proceeds from residential-property speculation and rental-income profiteering to the level where those tax dollars can make a meaningful difference in funding more affordable housing.
In major cities, the shortage of affordable housing is already a crisis, especially for Gen Y, and soon for Gen Z, too. When housing hopelessness sets in for these generations, baby boomers will need to watch out.
Gerrard Weedon, Toronto
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Jennifer Keesmaat makes the important point that the benefits of home ownership over tenancy reflect government policy, not the operation of a free market. But she didn’t address the most important element of policy.
Unlike all other major forms of capital investment, principal residences – a.k.a. homes – are exempt from capital gains tax. This exemption, which economists call a “tax expenditure,” costs governments in Canada several times more than all the “subsidies” that go to public and private tenants, or to the homeless. The result is greater social inequity, coupled with higher house prices.
But good luck to any government that tries to change that exemption.
Richard Harris, Hamilton
Food guide debate
Re The Food Guide Debate Has A Historical Bite (July 29): Canada’s Food Guide is intended to be a science-based document, and as such should not be “tweaked” based on the “concerns of farmers and suburban parents.”
Parents can use the guide as a … guide. I don’t think troops will be on the streets enforcing a “water-drinking only!” policy, so Canadians are free to occasionally substitute juice. (I know I’ll continue to drink beer.) And farmers are not entitled to the scientific conclusions and recommendations that they happen to prefer.
Brian Brophey, Toronto
Jays’ business model?
Re As The Jays Charted A Course To Nowhere, Stroman Lost His Way (Sports, July 29): I cannot for the life of me figure out the Blue Jays’ business model. Imagine for a moment that the Jays made and sold shoes. Would this be their sales pitch?
“Dear Valued Customer. Many of you will have noticed that our best shoemakers have left us, one way or another. We have replaced them with new, lower-paid shoemakers. As a result, until our new shoemakers learn their trade, our shoes will mostly be poor quality. Occasionally, you may be surprised and encouraged by an excellent pair. For the next few years, as we develop our shoemakers, quality will be hit and miss. But, please! Stay with us and continue to buy our shoes as we learn and grow together.”
That is a shoe-making company on its way out of business.
Martin Birt, Uxbridge, Ont.
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Jays’ GM Ross Atkins and president Mark Shapiro have hit a new low in their quest to dismantle this once-proud team. Star pitcher Marcus Stroman represented what is needed in professional baseball players – personality and character. He wore his heart on his sleeve. He cared. His will to win was exemplary. Another six or seven like him on the team would have filled the house for every game. Now, the Jays can look forward to empty seats.
And where does this expression come from, “we need an arm, we need a bat” when seeking to trade players? Baseball players are people, not commodities!
The Jays need to stop the revolving door of arms and bats, and focus on character players whom fans can be proud of. The management of the Jays needs to start at the top in this rebuilding exercise.
Tom Lamont, Collingwood, Ont.
Uyghurs’ plight
Re Connection Lost (July 27): My thanks to Dilnur Kurban for her bravery in describing the plight of her family and other Uyghur people in China. It is frustrating, as a Canadian, to feel helpless and unable to do anything about the oppression of this minority group.
I think of the strained friendship between Canada and China with worry, sadness and regret.
Patricia Moore, Paris, Ont.
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The arrest of China’s Uyghur minority is not limited to those within its borders. Huseyin Celil was a Uyghur human-rights activist who fled China and became a Canadian citizen in 2005. In 2006, with his wife, he travelled to Uzbekistan to visit her family. He carried a Canadian passport. Chinese authorities asked that country to arrest him. It did and he was extradited to China.
Chinese authorities accused Mr. Celil of offences related to his activities in support of Uyghur rights. He was not given access to a lawyer, his family, or Canadian consular officials. China refused to recognize his Canadian citizenship or permit Canadian consular staff to attend his trial. He was sentenced to prison, where he remains today, facing more than 30 years behind bars. His wife and children live in Canada.
As Mr. Celil’s case shows, China’s oppression of its Uyghur minority is international in scope; Dilnur Kurban’s concerns are well-founded.
That Canada seeks closer ties with China, a one-party dictatorship that spies on its citizens and holds more than one million members of a religious ethnic minority in “re-education” camps, is a betrayal of Canadian values.
Dan Cameron, Regina
Hmm …
Re Grin And Bare It (Opinion, July 27): First Brexit – and now brassieres, as a Brit calls for more topless sunbathing. Those people are always trying to get out of something.
Farley Helfant, Toronto
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