Terror's uses
Bill C-51, known by its short title as the Anti-Terrorism Act, is described in its full title as: "An Act to enact the Security of Canada Information Sharing Act and the Secure Air Travel Act, to amend the Criminal Code, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and to make related and consequential amendments to other Acts."
And it takes a filibuster to get the government to agree to more than three hearings? Clearly terrorism is being used as a pretext to push through a whole lot of other things with minimal review.
Andrew Hodgson, Ottawa
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Stephen Harper has studied the tactics of George W. Bush and is playing the same hand. He is using the threat of terror, building fear by convincing us we need a beefed-up Anti-Terrorism Act, stoking patriotic fervour through advertising, and announcing his willingness to go to the Supreme Court to contest a woman's right to wear a niqab while she takes her citizenship oath.
How Bush-like Mr. Harper is as he leads us into another war to direct our fears away from the election and the economy.
Deborah McLean, Napanee, Ont.
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Americans have an undying and vigorous distrust of government. So should we. This bill sets the stage for staggering abuse of our privacy rights which Canadians will endure unjustifiably in the years to come. We are naive and trusting in the extreme.
Marc Whittemore, Kelowna, B.C.
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DIY defences
Re How Private Canadians Are Aiding Kiev's War Effort (Feb. 26): If the West is not willing to help defend Ukraine's territorial integrity, and by extension Western values, by sending in troops and ammunition, Ukraine and Ukrainians in the diaspora must apply the DIY (do it yourself) method to defend against the terror unleashed by Russia.
Jury Kopach, Thornhill, Ont.
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Canada has a history of integrating two founding linguistic groups into one (relatively) happy country. Our talents as a nation would best be served by helping the two warring ethnic groups in Ukraine to reconcile.
Irrespective of Russia's role, Ukraine is a fragile state, with a deep fissure between the Ukrain-ian-language west, and the eastern third of the country where Russian is commonly spoken.
Instead of troops, why not send constitutional lawyers, NGOs, and experienced senators and MPs to Kiev and the separatist east?
Ukraine must reconcile. Who better than Canada to show how?
Laurence Mardon, Winnipeg
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Notwithstanding the comments by one Canadian who joined the Azov battalion and expressed his "national socialist" views, the majority of the men who serve in it are Russian-speaking natives of the Donetsk Oblast who subscribe to no ideology, but only have a desire to liberate their homeland from the invaders.
The same is true of the Aidar (Luhansk Oblast) and Donetsk battalions. Therefore, they should not be labelled "far right."
It is unfortunate that the insignia of the Azov battalion, a Z with a line drawn through it, resembles the "Wolfsangel," as this plays into the hands of Vladimir Putin's propaganda. Such accusations have no merit.
Likewise, Ihor Kilomoisky, a Jewish Ukrainian oligarch, should not be vilified for organizing these battalions. He did the patriotic thing in buttressing his country when the Ukrainian military was degraded to a point of ineffectiveness.
Ihor Stebelsky, Windsor, Ont.
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We'll all pay for it
Re TFSA Promises (letters, Feb. 26): Are potentially misleading statements – "TFSAs are tax-free because the money that goes into them is after-tax income" – the best that supporters of tax free savings accounts can offer?
The principal of all after-tax savings is untaxed, but income earned on the savings is taxable. TFSA is the exception. Over time, income on TFSAs will accumulate to substantial sums. Tax forgone on this income will have to be made up by spending cuts or additional taxes from other sources, as explained in Frances Woolley's article How TFSAs Fit Harper's Vision (Feb. 26). Constraining future governments, not just federal but also provincial, seems to be a key objective of Stephen Harper's effort to remake Canada to fit his ideology.
Masud Sheikh, Oakville, Ont.
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Bread, circus, FIFA
I noted the perceptive Cathal Kelly's allusion to "bread and circuses" in the context of FIFA (Sport Need Not Fear Change, Because It Isn't The Sport That Matters Any More – Sports, Feb. 25).
While North American football is 50 per cent business, 50 per cent sport (some would add a political element in view of the disturbing incursion of military propaganda into U.S. football), in most of the world football is 10 per cent sport and 90 per cent theatre.
This is inevitable in view of: 1) FIFA's intransigent refusal to revise absurd rules, especially for fouls and penalties, or to introduce comprehensive, effective technological reviews, or to increase on-field officials, or curb the abuse of officials; 2) the culture of machismo that pervades ownership, players and fans; 3) the encouragement of animosity between groups of fans that often borders on a war mentality. Contrast that with North American sports which, for the most part, for business reasons, aim at getting it right and keeping it safe.
But soccer culture in much of South America, Asia, Europe and Africa won't change any time soon because it serves a political purpose – to allow an outlet for citizens to vent real rage that might otherwise be directed at governments. In short, football stadiums in much of the world serve the same function as did the Roman forum.
J. David Murphy, Barrie, Ont.
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A refined approach
Re Gassed Up (editorial, Feb. 26): Of all the things with which to take issue in Canada's Income Tax Regulations the "complexity" of a simple acceleration in refinery asset amortization rates is hardly worth consternation.
The proposed amortization measures are clearly designed to aid Canadian-based entities in developing a domestic capacity for liquefying natural gas, the alternative to which is simply "pumping and dumping" raw-state natural resources from Canadian soil into foreign markets. Given that real value in the energy sector is derived from the processing of our own natural resources, the anticipated growth in Canadian GDP seems very much worth a limited amortization-rate increase to facilitate investment in the capital-intensive liquefied natural gas (LNG)industry.
Daniel Balofsky, CPA, Toronto
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Bore away
Re (De)Bunker Theories (letters, Feb. 26): Expertly engineered tunnel, built to exacting specifications with robust materials in close proximity to where people live, work and play, apparently without disruption or annoyance? These perpetrators must be found fast – and put to work on Toronto's subway projects.
Bob Boron, Toronto