Letters: Liberal policies are costing Canadian lives

Readers decry Liberal policies on drugs, justice and health care; call for a fall election; offer ideas on increasing housing; and comment on other issues of the day

Published Sep 01, 2024  •  Last updated 0 minutes ago  •  10 minute read

'Hallway medical care' is just one suboptimal result of Canada's health-care policies, writes a reader who also takes issue with Liberal government policies on drugs and justice. Photo by Nathan Denette / The Canadian Press

‘A real and deadly threat to citizens’

Re: Euthanasia’s grisly transformation of the Canadian medical regime — Raymond J. de Souza, Aug. 18

If someone told you their government was a real and deadly threat to its citizens, you would likely think of an authoritarian government arresting and sometimes killing its opponents, a state of affairs that sadly exists in the world today. If they said it was the democratically elected government of Canada, you wouldn’t believe it, until they started to tell you their story.

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That story includes a government that enables the free distribution of highly addictive opiate drugs that are resold for more potent drugs, contributing to an explosion of new addictions and fatal overdoses. It includes a government that changes the law to encourage the release of people charged with violent offences, who then commit additional violent crimes while awaiting trial.

And it includes a government that controls the costs of a public health-care system through endless waitlists for medically necessary procedures, subjecting thousands of patients to years of pain and hallway medical treatment, and contributing to preventable fatalities across the country.

Finally, the story includes that same government choosing to alleviate its citizens’ pain and suffering by facilitating the death of almost anyone who feels they’re unable to cope with what ails them, sometimes encouraging people to choose death when other options are available.

So, after hearing all that, would you believe that person’s government was a real and deadly threat to its citizens? I would.

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Gary Krieger, North York, Ont.

It’s time for NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh to act

Re: NDP slams Liberals as ‘cowardly, anti-worker’ while Conservatives remain silent on railway conflict — Catherine Lévesque, Aug. 23

Last week, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh accused the Trudeau Liberals of undermining workers by imposing final binding arbitration on locked-out railway personnel.

If he now doesn’t initiate a non-confidence vote once Parliament resumes sitting, Singh will demonstrate that he, too, has zero respect for workers, as well as for NDP supporters and all Canadians. If there is any delay in taking this action, every NDP member should rise up and demand Singh’s resignation as leader of their party.

Chris Robertson, Stony Plain, Alta.

Call an election

Re: Trudeau Liberals have a Biden problem, but lack a Pelosi to press the case — Kelly McParland, Aug. 23

Last Saturday’s National Post, Kelly McParland quoted Liberal verbiage (tongue in cheek) that Justin Trudeau and his cabinet were gathering in Halifax to “focus on the federal government’s work to strengthen the middle class, grow the economy and deliver fairness to every generation.”

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At taxpayer expense, of course. I wonder how much that cost us?

My suggestion to satisfy all those problems without any more such meetings: call an election.

Charles Hooker, East Garafraxa, Ont.

Consul General condo deal a corker

Re: Global Affairs Canada touts New York luxury condo’s ‘significant financial savings’ for taxpayers; and Consul general to testify in September about $9M luxury condo purchase after ‘convoluted back and forth’ — Catherine Lévesque, Aug. 21 and 27

Did I miss something in these articles? All I read was that Global Affairs Canada is selling a property for $13 million — one that requires $2.6 million in renovations — and getting a replacement for $9 million, thereby saving over-taxed Canadians more than $6 million.

If that’s the sum-total of the issue, the Conservatives need to be reminded that their job is to get rid of the existing gong show, not to start up another.

Richard McNabb, Vancouver

Funding terrorism by refusing to sell Canadian LNG to allies

Re: A Carney in cabinet would temper Trudeau’s climate zealotry — Raymond J. de Souza, Aug. 28

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Although it is buried in the article, I appreciate the identification of Canada’s (indirect) funding of Qatar (and Hamas) through refusal to provide a hydrocarbon supply to Germany.

The same thing has happened with Russia. Just months after Japan was refused Canadian LNG in January 2023, it was buying Russian oil above the G7-agreed price caps. Over 2023 it purchased 6.1 million tons of LNG from Russia.

Greece is at least buying much of its LNG from the U.S., although some of it is still coming from Russia. In the first half of 2024, Greece imported 8.96 terawatt hours of LNG, of which 1.91 terawatt hours (just over 20 per cent) came from Russia.

Terror attacks in the Middle East and the invasion of Ukraine are clearly worse than Canadian CO2 emissions — it is unfortunate that our prime minister is unable to see that.

Scott Newson, Nanaimo, B.C.

François Legault plays politics

Re: Inside François Legault’s epic battle with Quebec’s anglophones — Antoine Trépanier, Aug. 24

The French language has survived in Canada largely because of the federal government’s bilingual policy. One would think that Quebec Premier François Legault would appreciate what the country has done for his province, rather than playing politics with Quebec’s minority language. One would think that in the Canadian way of fairness and compromise, he would try in a reasonable manner to accommodate the anglophone minority.

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Quebec has not been built on simply one language, and its healthy future will be influenced by Quebecers whose ancestry is neither anglophone nor francophone. The premier’s isolationism and seemingly xenophobic tendencies could turn Quebec into a cultural ghetto with a 400-year-old grudge, and no sense of the outside modern world.

C’est dommage.

Douglas Cornish, Ottawa

As a linguist, I am intensely interested in this issue. If François Legault wants to preserve French, what kind? He is not a good example. In spite of his academic education, he often speaks in slang, with Anglicisms and incorrect liaisons.

Is it to stay closer to the people in the street? Someone should put the question to him. Who will bell the cat?

Louise T. Dawson, Vancouver

Scale back Canada Post mail service

Re: Money-losing Canada Post ’urgently’ needs ’significant change’ to survive, board chair says — Rosa Saba, Aug. 28

While a postal service is still necessary in a country as large as Canada, it is no surprise that letter mail has declined precipitously. That being the case, it seems obvious that daily delivery is a service that may be too expensive for Canada Post to continue providing.

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I still get bills, bank statements, magazines other important mail delivered, but the vast majority of what I receive from Canada Post each day is flyers that go straight to my recycling bin.

I can’t see any downside (except, perhaps, to Canada Post employment levels) to cutting back home delivery of mail to two or three days a week, rather than five. Any savings could be used to improve the parcel service.

John Harris, Toronto

Rural air travel is vital to Canada

Re: ‘On the brink’: Airlines flee small cities, cutting key links to rest of the country — Christopher Reynolds, Aug. 11

Given the unique and vital role regional air travel plays in unifying our country, it is imperative that the decline in service levels be halted and eventually reversed. However, with public finances in an increasingly parlous state, the operative question is where to find the necessary funding.

The CBC often touts itself as a great national unifier, though without concrete evidence to justify its substantial budget. Perhaps Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s call to defund the CBC should be paired with a proposal to redirect those funds in the service of struggling regional air routes.

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Simon Dermer, Miami, Fla.

Hamas leader unlikely to give up hostages

Re: Israeli hostage deal unlikely as they continue to be used as pawns — Vivian Bercovici, Aug. 22

It is asinine to consider for even a moment that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is willing to sacrifice the lives of the remaining hostages in Gaza. The situation in Gaza is an impossible reality; Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar has no intention of giving up his only leverage. He is shielding himself behind every living person he kidnapped — he will never give up his protection. He knows he is a dead man walking, and the dead are poor negotiators. The idea of “negotiating” is a total sham, another indulgence of Western thinking, ignorance and arrogance that this “situation” can be resolved diplomatically. There is no one to negotiate anything with. There is no reasoning with the lovers of death.

The only way these hostages will walk out of this is in a rescue operation. The only way October 7 will never happen again is the total destruction of Hamas, the demilitarization of Gaza, and the taking charge of the systemic disease of hatred for Israel and the Jewish people.

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I cry every night for those hostages held in captivity. I am terrified for my son, and the sons and daughters of our community who have left the comfort of their Canadian lives to fight in a just cause. The moment Israel pulls out of Gaza without the total decimation of Hamas is the moment Israel loses this war.

Israel Ellis, Toronto

Two takes on how to get more housing built in Canada

Re: Trudeau doesn’t want you to own a home — he wants to be your landlord — Tasha Kheiriddin, Aug. 27

When the private sector can’t build housing quickly enough, the state should take on a stronger role in housing supply. Britain and other countries have a lot of public housing and in the past century Britain built several New Towns. It took strong state leadership in housing supply which is lacking in Canada, federally, provincially and municipally.

The Canadian dream to own a house on a lot is unattainable for many, especially in cities. Housing supply is now financially more viable only at higher densities. We also need to rethink housing type. Housing of up to 1,200 square feet, with three bedrooms and one bathroom (like what was built in the post-Second World War decades) would help meet demand but 700-square-foot condos are not a solution for family housing.

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Vienna, which has been ranked as the world’s most livable city, owns about 40 per cent of the housing stock, and over half of the residents, of all income groups, rent public housing or homes built with municipal subsidies. Renters there are not stigmatized but in Canada, renters are stigmatized as having failed to own a home.

When home ownership is no longer possible, renting is the alternative. It will be a difficult cultural shift.

Reiner Jaakson, Oakville, Ont.

The federal government only needs to make it worthwhile for developers and investors to build more housing and it will happen. In the 1970s the feds offered MURB (Multi-Unit Residential Building) tax write-offs to individuals who invested in apartment buildings.

The federal government should bring that tax incentive back and let the market do its work. The government should not be deciding where housing should be built. Let the market decide that. The government needs to get out of the way of free enterprise and let free enterprise do what it does best, namely satisfy demand.

Bill Stemp, Calgary

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CUPE and the scourge of antisemitism

Re: Union finally does the right thing after a whole lot of wrong — John Ivison, Aug. 22; and Multiple Jewish organizations, hospitals across Canada receive identical bomb threats — Aug. 21

There are a lot of words I’d love to use when describing Ontario CUPE leader Fred Hahn’s recent remarks, but I won’t. What is unfathomable however is the insidious silence in the past from the people he’s associated with. After more than a decade of working and socializing with Hahn, could the 22 other members of CUPE’s National Executive Board not see the antisemitic hatred emanating from their union vice-president until now? I can only assume they turned a blind eye.

CUPE’s national executive should be thoroughly investigated for at least complicity in concealing Hahn’s antisemitism. Where there’s smoke there’s fire, so let’s pull back the veil covering the CUPE closet and reveal the remaining skeletons.

Paul Baumberg, Dead Man’s Flats, Alta.

Canada unfortunately has a long history of antisemitism. During World War II, the MS St. Louis, carrying over 900 Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany, was turned away. Asked how many Jews should be admitted to Canada, a senior government official said “None is too many.” Jews in Canada were banned from going to certain beaches and parks. Signs said “no dogs or Jews allowed.” Many Canadian law firms and medical institutions would not hire Jewish lawyers and doctors. They were likewise excluded from certain social and business clubs.

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Our provincial and federal governments must take immediate action to eradicate the despicable antisemitism that has resurfaced in our country. What is facing the Jewish community is a modern-day Holocaust. Our governments’ silence and failure to stop this rabid hatred makes them complicit.

Now is the time to implement consequences for hate speech and symbols of hatred. Now is the time to stand up, tell the truth and disallow villainizing the Jewish people. Our governments need to do the right thing, the moral thing, and stop this modern-day “normalization” of antisemitism.

Sheryl Teplitsky, Vaughan, Ont.

National Post and Financial Post welcome letters to the editor (200 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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