Letters: Sovereign wealth fund is a poor idea for debt-ridden Canada

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John L. Riley, Mono, Ont.

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Professor ‘has been vilified’

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If we ever needed proof that our grossly overfunded and pitifully underperforming education system was broken, we have only to read about the odyssey of former Mount Royal University professor Dr. Frances Widdowson.

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As a defender of free speech in the woke-infested academy, Widdowson was recently accused of trespassing at the University of Lethbridge and fined $600. She is perhaps most famous for articulating that, after five years and $12 million in funding, no proof has yet been found of human remains buried at the Kamloops Indian Residential School grounds. For this she has been vilified and reputationally ruined.

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Freedom of speech on our campuses permits hundreds of keffiyeh-clad individuals clamouring for “from the river to the sea” and “death to Israel” but muzzles a respected PhD in political science who speaks truthfully. How far we have fallen from the words of biographer Evelyn Hall (often attributed to Voltaire) who penned, “I disapprove of what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it?”

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My advice to Dr. Widdowson is to move to Dartmouth College in beautiful Hanover, N.H. President Sian Beilock, a cognitive scientist and free speech advocate, has taken swift action in condemning student encampments and to her credit, leads the only Ivy League school that has not faced a federal civil rights investigation over its handling of allegations of antisemitism and Islamophobia on campus. The lack of leadership in our provincial governments, to hold our university administrators to this standard, is deplorable.

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Susan Silverman, Toronto

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Shakespeare and the idiots

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As a university student, my favourite classes involved the study of Shakespeare’s many works. Interestingly, not one of my professors referred to him as a writer who was advancing the notion of “white supremacy.” In fact, they referred to him as one of the greatest playwrights ever. Imagine!

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Today there is a push to denigrate Shakespeare and his works. Our woke literary critics claim Shakespeare was “too white in his thinking, too much of a colonizer” etc. Truthfully, this is the stuff a modern playwright could use in developing a satire. It is beyond comical. Its title could be “Shakespeare and the Idiots.”

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These so-called academics should wake up in their ivory towers and give their heads a shake. It seems as if they live in a world disconnected from reality. They should look around at all the serious issues people are contending with, then use their time to do something that is actually beneficial to others. It is time they stop admiring themselves, stop assuming they are smarter than most people, and start thinking about making some positive contribution to the world around them.

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Phyllis Levin, Toronto, Ont.

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Separatist apples and oranges

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Donna Kennedy-Glans is certainly correct to point out that there are significant differences between the separatist movements in Quebec and Alberta, but perhaps she misses the most important one. It’s all about leverage and the political calculus — if Quebec left Canada, the Liberals would never again be able to form the national government. The leverage that Quebec holds is that the Liberals must appease them, and so it gets all manner of preferential treatment and deference. By way of contrast, if Alberta were to leave Canada, the Liberals would hold a majority government in perpetuity. Alberta’s departure holds no terrors for them. Sure, the country that remained would have no prospect of being solvent, but that consideration has never bothered the Natural Governing Party.

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By the way, whenever talk of Quebec’s possible separation heats up, everyone should just calm down. Quebec is never going to do it, because it simply can’t pay the freight. That jurisdiction is not going to say goodbye to $13+ billion in transfer payments every year, along with all the politically driven largesse in terms of contracts and such.

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Fred E. Clark, Edmonton

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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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