Letters: Let’s end this schoolyard fight with Trump

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Chris Knight quotes Chrystia Freeland as saying that Donald Trump’s “Blame Canada” tactics remind her of “the pathetic human tendency to point fingers at someone — anyone — else for our own failings.”

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That may be an instinct for some people, but Freeland should remember that as finance minister and deputy prime minister, she was an integral part of Justin Trudeau’s 10-year reign of economic failures that we, our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren will be paying for, with no end in sight.

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It’s not Trump’s fault that, had Freeland and Trudeau not squandered a great chance to develop our oil, minerals and other resources, we would not be in this weak financial situation today and would be in a better position to respond to the tariffs. Maybe she should look in the mirror instead of blaming other people.

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Ed Lacelle, Gatineau, Que.

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Fauci wise to plead the 5th

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At a July 29 U.S. Senate committee hearing focused on the COVID-19 pandemic response, Republican members of the committee repeatedly tried to question Dr. Anthony Fauci, who has long been a target of the committee chair, Republican Sen. Rand Paul. Fauci answered questions by invoking the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The former chief medical adviser to the president even refused to answer a question about what day of the week it was.

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Back in the 1950s, Republican Sen. Joseph McCarthy and his aides tried to catch “commies” the same way. It was learned by citizens who were questioned that even answering a question about their name could lead to other questions that they were obliged to answer. The technique was to ask a question that appeared innocent but led to a series of related questions that gradually become a trap.

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The U.S. “justice system” is — as Conrad Black has observed — dangerous. Fauci is now being threatened with contempt charges. Fortunately he has an able lawyer.

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Charles Hooker, East Garafraxa, Ont.

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Good luck with government-run grocery stores!

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Toronto need only look to Newfoundland to see the joys of government-run food services. In 1995, Newfoundland’s Health Sciences Centre opened a Tim Hortons with a prediction of annual profits of up to $300,000, which would pay for seven nurses — or 11 support staff, or maybe even help pay for chemotherapy drugs for cancer patients. The doughnut shop was closed in 2012 amidst annual losses of $260,000.

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“Let me tell you why (the hospital franchise loses money),” Vickie Kaminski, the health authority’s president and CEO, told reporters. “We charge you a buck-ninety-four for that large coffee, but we insist that the staff who are pouring the coffee are Eastern Health staff, and they get paid $28 an hour. No Tim Hortons pays that.”

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Money that should have gone to patient care was instead used to subsidize coffee and muffins. Good luck, Toronto!

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

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Don’t blame these boomers for Liberal government

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Regarding Amy Hamm’s column, in which she blames “out of touch” boomers for being responsible for keeping the “rotten” Liberal party in power, my husband and I are in our 70s and neither of us, nor have any of our friends, voted Liberal. We all think the Liberal party has ruined Canada. We all always vote Conservative, and I am insulted at being stereotyped!

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J.M. Jung, North York, Ont.

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Step up water bomber production

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