Broken politics?
The current state of politics is, as usual, the cause of much hand-wringing by political observers, gnashing of teeth by self-proclaimed "progressives" and consternation by the general public (Is Politics Broken? Let's Vote On It … Or Not – March 30).
But maybe we need to look at the outcome rather than the process, and compare it to likely real-world alternatives rather than an unobtainable ideal.
Essentially, we have a system whereby the potential tyranny of the right wing is constrained by its minority level of support and need to hew to the centre to retain power, while the potential tyranny of the majority left wing is constrained by its disunity. All in all, not a bad outcome from a pragmatic Canadian perspective.
Teri Jane Bryant, Calgary
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Elizabeth Renzetti tells us that at a CBC-sponsored debate, Is Politics Broken?, a large majority voted yes. For me, that depressing truth is best brought home by the Harper government's imposition on us of the national memorial to the Victims of Communism in the centre of our national capital (A Monument To What, Exactly? – editorial, March 30).
In spite of the opposition of architects, lawyers, the advisory committee of the National Capital Commission, Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin and the people of Ottawa, this monstrosity will become a reality this summer.
Patricia Smart, Ottawa
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Pay to the ROM?
Your excellent exposé of mismanagement of the Royal Ontario Museum's renovation project is long overdue (Behind The Façade – March 28). The Michael Lee-Chin Crystal, sometimes called the Blight on Bloor, should not have been built – and whatever should have been built in its stead should have been deferred until the required funds had been received.
The Ontario Financing Authority (OFA) should have allowed the museum to default on its debt obligation to the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and encouraged the CIBC to accept naming rights to the Blight in return for forgiveness of its loan.
The museum sized up Ontario taxpayers as suckers, and the OFA proved them right.
Patrick Cowan, Toronto
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I'm a long-time member of the ROM who read with interest your article about the museum's financial problems. I offer myself as a patron who will donate to tearing down the monstrosity known as the Crystal, the ugliest building in Toronto, if not Canada: The thing is an abomination. Oh, and I'll pay you when I can.
Jerry Amernic, Toronto
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$100,000: 100,000+
Re Sunshine Membership List Swells Past 100,000 Mark (March 30): The only thing more shocking than the increase in numbers in the Sunshine List, up 14 per cent from last year, is the complacency in the public's acceptance of this trend.
With growth projected at 1 per cent or less, many public sector wages frozen, teachers and nurses facing layoffs, soaring youth unemployment, a retail job scene in tatters, do we tell our young workers the only quality jobs that are valued are municipal, as in: "A staggering 38 per cent of the new names on the list are municipal employees, including police, firefighters and transit operators"?
Anne Eastwood, Toronto
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A pilot's decision
I can't help but worry that the situation with the Germanwings pilot will contribute to the stigma around mental illness (Piecing Together A Tragic Puzzle – March 30). The vast majority of suicidal people are not homicidal. This is a very atypical situation, horrifying and terrible, but very atypical.
Jennifer A. Boyd, MD, Toronto
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It hardly takes a psychiatrist like myself to appreciate the irony of pilots groups' opposition to regular mental-health screenings, or to come to the commonsensical conclusion that any pilot who might come unglued because of the "additional stress" of such screenings shouldn't be behind the wheel of a car – much less up in the sky in charge of the lives of 150 people.
David Gill, MD, Hubbardston, Mass.
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Sovereignty, all in
Re Sovereignty, But With Limits (March 28): The headline on your editorial reacting to the Tsilhqot'in Affirmation of the Nemiah Declaration is a contradiction in terms. At the risk of using an unacceptable metaphor, sovereignty, like virginity, is an absolute. Neither can partially exist.
B.C. taxpayers specifically, and Canadian ones generally, will assuredly monitor the Tsilhqot'in provincial and federal taxation liabilities in light of the Supreme Court's ruling.
As the Tsilhqot'in status plays out, to be followed with other First Nations' claims, the hope that lawyers won't be the chief beneficiaries will prove naive.
Ron Johnson, Victoria
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Guns, by region
After the Supreme Court decision that the federal government can destroy Quebec's records in the abolished long-gun registry, Quebec says it will establish its own registry, which is an appropriate response to the wishes of citizens of that province. Possession of guns is surely a local/provincial issue, as we have different traditions of hunting, levels of urbanization and attitudes toward guns depending on where we live.
Joe O'Brien, Halifax
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How much to tip
Re Your Smartphone Is Making You Tip More (Life & Arts, March 30): Not only has technology changed the way we tip, but in Canada the amount "suggested" is quite often based on the total bill. I don't feel we should be "tipping" based on a figure that includes the taxes.
Robert Morrow, Dundas, Ont.
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It takes a hardy sort
I read with great amusement Tom McCarthy's comments on the heavy-going nature of Thomas Hardy's novels (The Book Report: Tom McCarthy – March 28). Certainly, you don't want to read Hardy during a Canadian winter unless you have a more than usually robust death wish.
However, while Hardy may not have been enjoying "the great adventures of modernism, urbanism, experimentation [and] the avant-garde," he was exploring the far greater adventure of psychology – the human heart, if you like – in a more "modern" way than any novelist of his day (and a hell of a lot since).
From Jude the Obscure:
"But if people did as you want to do, there'd be a general domestic disintegration. The family would no longer be the social unit."
"Yes – I am all abroad, I suppose!" said Phillotson sadly.
"… And yet, I don't see why the woman and the children should not be the unit without the man."
"By the Lord Harry! – Matriarchy!"
Pretty kicky for a novel written 120 years ago.
Kathleen Byrne, Toronto