Letters: A salute to Calgary Flames goalie Dustin Wolf’s ‘class act’

Readers comment on a heartwarming hockey moment, floor-crossing MPs, B.C. land claims, Chinese EVs and more in the letters to the editor

Ten-year-old Calgary Flames fan Kade Heisler is overcome as he is given a hockey stick from his idol, Calgary Flames goalie Dustin Wolf, during an April 14 game in Calgary against the Colorado Avalanche. Photo by Screengrab SportsNet

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‘The best thing seen on any hockey broadcast’

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Sorry Connor, Sid, Macklin, Cole et al, but the video of Calgary Flames goalie Dustin Wolf giving his CCM stick to the 10-year-old boy in the stands, and the latter’s reaction, is THE best thing seen on any hockey broadcast in memory.

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Stanley Cups will come and go, but that poignant moment is, and will remain, unforgettable — so much so, that it should be on permanent view in Canada’s Hockey Hall Of Fame.

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With one toss of a goalie stick, Dustin Wolf timelessly touched the heart of every Canadian kid, from five to 105, who ever donned that magic jersey to pass a cold winter’s day outdoors in the land of imagination, dreaming the Canadian dream.

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We dreamers don’t get to choose the NHL’s Most Valuable Player award. Yet none can dispute that Dustin Wolf just skated away with the NHL’s “Class Act of 2026” honours.

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Peter Sauvé, Montreal

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Campaign workers backstabbed by floor-crossers

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Since five MPs have crossed the floor to join the Liberals and enabled Mark Carney’s majority, some media pundits have suggested that the floor-crossers were doing so in the best interests of their constituents, that they did so after much soul-searching, and that voters cast their ballots for the individual, not the party.

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As a past president of the North Vancouver-Capilano Conservative Association, I would like to point out that this is nonsense. MPs do not win their elections alone. They win because hundreds of card-carrying party members nominate them, door knock to engage households and identify supporters, fundraise and donate to the local riding, hold coffee klatches for the candidate, and put signage up leading to the election.

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On election day, these volunteers put in hours and hours of their personal time to “get out the vote.” They drive supporters to the polls, phone supporters to ensure they have voted, ensure canvassing and signage near polling stations comply with the Elections Act, and scrutinize the ballot count to ensure fair ballots are counted and ineligible ballots are not.

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These hundreds of volunteers — all party supporters who give of their personal time and money — want their victorious candidate to represent their party’s values on the party’s side of the House. This is the cohort of voters who feel especially stabbed in the back when their MP crosses the floor. That MP is saying “I used you, and now I am double-crossing you.”

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This is why floor-crossers are rarely re-elected. And this is why there could be blow-back at the Liberals for cynically pursuing floor-crossers.

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Konrad Mech, North Vancouver

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‘People are imperfect, but they also make valuable contributions’

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The president of the Queen’s University Conservative Club, Rodrigo Garfinkle, nailed it when he said, “History isn’t something you solve by putting it in storage.”

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Garfinkle also wisely acknowledged that Sir John A. Macdonald, our first prime minister, was “an imperfect man.”

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But restoring Macdonald’s statue to the City Park in Kingston, Ont., is the right thing to do. After all, where would Kingston — Canada’s first capital — or Canada, be without Macdonald?

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Not placing historic figures on a pedestal simply because of their imperfections is saying that only perfect individuals should be on a pedestal. By that logic, there wouldn’t be any statues anywhere on Earth. Most of these statues probably should have plaques stating wrongs were committed, but the statues should remain.

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People are imperfect, but they also make valuable contributions. How can we learn and improve by studying history, if we are blind to, or ignore its existence?

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Douglas Cornish, Ottawa

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A cure for brain drain?

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I read with great interest Terry Newman’s column about Patrick Pichette’s fascinating idea, which he proposed at the federal Liberal party’s recent convention, of not allowing Canadians with a university degree to leave the country without first paying an exit fee of $500,000 to the government.

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Obviously, implementing this will necessitate some method of keeping such citizens from departing without paying their fair share. In the interest of saving money by not reinventing the wheel, may I suggest the Liberals consult with the government of Germany and attempt to obtain a copy of the blueprints for the Berlin Wall?

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Roderick Smylie, Toronto

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‘Property concerns in B.C. go beyond the security of private titles’

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British Columbia’s First Nations maintain they are not seeking land claims over private property. However, that addresses only one critical issue. A potential catastrophe lies in their claims to the province’s non-private lands.

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Imagine a map of B.C. shaded entirely in green. Scatter 1,583 small blue dots across it — the existing reserves of B.C.’s 200+ First Nations (as of 2019), covering less than one per cent of the province. Add 161 larger yellow circles representing private landholdings — cities, districts, towns, villages and resort municipalities — mostly in the south and coastal areas, accounting for about five per cent of B.C. What remains in green is provincial Crown land (close to 94 per cent of the province) and federal Crown land (less than one per cent).

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Treaties used determine land ownership throughout the rest of Canada were not negotiated nor signed in B.C. This puts ownership up to question, which now gives rise to B.C.’s First Nations collectively asserting claims, including to Crown land.

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The property concerns in B.C. go beyond the security of private titles. Private properties risk becoming isolated islands or beaches surrounded by a vast sea of First Nations-governed land. Whether First Nations will assert control over resource development and will preferentially receive the benefits from these newly expanded territories is another issue.

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John P.A. Budreski, Whistler, B.C.

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Tracking Maya’s progress

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Thank you to the National Post for regularly keeping Canadians up to date on the incredible progress of Maya Gebala, the 12-year-old Tumbler Ridge shooting victim who suffered significant brain damage in the Feb. 10 school massacre.

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There is heartbreak and hope in the slow but steady recovery of this remarkable young girl from an experience few of us can possibly imagine.

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Ian Pattison, Neebing, Ont.

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Trojan horses on wheels?

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It was alarming to read in the media about former CSIS intelligence officer Neil Bisson’s recent warning to the House of Commons’ industry committee that “each Chinese-manufactured EV” is an “extraordinary source of valuable data, the potential eyes and ears of the PRC (People’s Republic of China).”

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In 2022, after much delay, Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government banned the Chinese telecom giant Huawei from accessing Canada’s 5G network due to national security concerns. In light of this, why has our new Liberal PM, Mark Carney, signed a deal that will allow 49,000 Chinese EVs to be imported into Canada annually?

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This news, when combined with reports of human rights abuses in the supply chains of Chinese EV companies, should be leaving Canadians gobsmacked. I urge all Canadians to not buy an EV made in China. To do so could be welcoming a Trojan Horse into our midst.

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Bob Erwin, Ottawa

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A slice of advice for the NDP

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With regards to NDP Leader Avi Lewis’s proposal for a network of state-run supermarkets, I suggest that entrepreneurial socialists cut their teeth (so to speak) by launching a chain of run-of-the-mill pizza parlours rather than complicated supermarkets. Less capital-intensive, smaller inventory, and appeal to all tastes. After all, who doesn’t like pizza? Let the comrades walk before they run.

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Ron Freedman, Toronto

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Blame those who voted for an economy-stifling political party

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Carson Jerema correctly writes that “Economies are the sum of the countless decisions made by people on what to buy or sell, where to invest, or where to work.” However, he wrongly blames “the Liberal party, particularly when led by Justin Trudeau” for Canada’s poor economic performance since 2015. Those truly at fault for Canada’s poor economic performance are those Canadians who voted for Trudeau and his economy-stifling party.

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Whatever their motivation, Canadians in large numbers voted not once, not twice, but three times (!) for Trudeau and his government’s policies and decisions that lowered our country’s standard of living through increased regulation, barriers to trade and investment, and exorbitant government spending that resulted in harmfully high taxes and generally rising prices throughout the economy.

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Private individuals and organizations create wealth through co-operative, voluntary actions aimed at fulfilling needs and wants and solving problems; governments don’t create wealth, they spend it and frequently outright destroy it. If I — a fairly typical, nothing special Canadian — am able to research, learn about, and understand how economies work and why economic freedom results in a higher standard of living for everyone across an entire economy, then anyone can. And since Canada is a democracy, the responsibility falls on all of us to know and understand our political parties’ policies and platforms.

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To state the obvious, if Canadians want an economy with the greatest potential for wealth creation and economic well-being, then they need to vote for the politicians who will get interventionist governments out of the way.

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David Sutin, Ottawa

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‘U.S. remains our indispensable economic partner’

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Prime Minister Mark Carney is right about one thing: a renewed agreement with the United States under CUSMA will take time. But time is not a strategy.

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Canada’s economy is deeply integrated with the United States. Roughly 72 per cent of our exports go south, and nearly one-fifth of our GDP depends directly on that relationship. Supply chains in autos, energy and manufacturing are not simply cross-border — they are continental. Viewing this relationship as a political talking point instead of a strategic imperative is a mistake.

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Recent reporting suggests Canada has already made concessions while waiting for reciprocity from Washington. Meanwhile, Mexico has moved faster and more seriously in its negotiations with the United States starting at the end of May. That contrast should concern policy-makers in Ottawa. If we are not prepared, others will define the terms of North American integration for us.

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Instead of political gimmicks and symbolic gestures, the government should focus on disciplined negotiation backed by credible economic priorities. Diversification is a long-term objective, not a substitute for competence in managing our largest and most critical trading relationship.

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Equally troubling is the signal sent by attempts to cozy up to China at a time when Canada only recently emerged from a major diplomatic confrontation following the detention of the two Michaels and political interference. These episodes dominated international headlines and exposed the limits of trusting Beijing as a “strategic partner.”

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Canada needs realism, not theatrics. The United States remains our indispensable economic partner, and our trade team should act accordingly.

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Louis-Philippe Noël, Montmagny, Que.

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‘MAID needs to be seriously reassessed’

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As a physician who has dealt with countless patients with many problems for over 40 years, I am concerned about the application of MAID, having witnessed doctors and nurses with limited knowledge of the patient attempting to persuade the patient to undergo medical assistance in dying.

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In medical school we were taught, “You shall not kill, but need not strive officiously to keep alive,” knowing that we could make the last days comfortable.

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MAID has gotten out of hand and needs to be seriously reassessed and possibly cancelled.

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Michael M. O’Brien MD, North Vancouver

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In Canada, it now appears easier to qualify for MAID than to qualify for the disability tax credit. Judging by the experience of Miriam Lancaster — who went to an ER in Vancouver with lower back pain and was offered MAID — the medical profession is now prescribing MAID as a very effective painkiller. Both inspired government financial policies.

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Tony Barry, Toronto

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National Post and Financial Post welcome letters to the editor (250 words or fewer). Please include your name, address and daytime phone number. Email [email protected]. Letters may be edited for length or clarity.

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