Skip to main content
letters
Open this photo in gallery:

Left: Marc Chagall, The Eiffel Tower, 1929. Source: National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa Right: Saint Jerome Hears the Trumpet of the Last Judgment by Jacques-Louis David. Source: Le musée de la civilisation, collection de La Fabrique de La Paroisse de Notre-Dame-de-QuébecMusŽee de la civilisation du Quebec

Letters to the Editor should be exclusive to The Globe and Mail. Include your name, address and daytime phone number. Try to keep letters to fewer than 150 words. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. To submit a letter by e-mail, click here: letters@globeandmail.com

..................................................................................................................................

Act like adults

Re With Chagall Headed For Auction, National Gallery Vies Against Two Quebec Museums To Buy David Painting (April 17): Mindless nationalism triumphs over common sense. What is the National Gallery doing by diminishing Canada’s treasury of world-class masterpieces, the Chagall, to provide funds so it can scoop a painting away from two other museums in Canada? This is sheer and utter madness – actually, it’s worse. It’s madness compounded by myopic stupidity.

The Jacques-Louis David painting appears destined to stay in Canada, no matter what. In whose museum seems of slight importance compared with that fact. So why is the National Gallery in a rush to sell off a famous, and lovely, Chagall to raise funds so that it can possibly outbid two Quebec museums? Once the Chagall is gone, it is gone – lost to future generations of Canadians.

The powers that be for the National Gallery need to reign in this silly endeavour and put the Chagall back up on the wall.

David Kister, Toronto

............

Why can’t these museums act like adults and share, as they obviously have done in the past? We would have both the David and the Chagall, surely the definition of win-win.

Michael Vollmer, Burlington, Ont.

............

My Canada includes Quebec. Doesn’t the National Gallery’s? Why bid against other Canadians?

Carol Andrews, Halifax

Pipeline scars

Re Notley Threatens To Restrict Oil Exports To B.C. (April 17): What would Alberta do if B.C. cut off supplies of a product, so prices in Alberta skyrocketed? Albertans would be angry. But their resolve would be strengthened, not weakened. Alberta Premier Rachel Notley and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have been suckered by a wily American company – possibly to set up a NAFTA appeal, or at least to have Canadian taxpayers bail Kinder Morgan out of a pipeline which would be obsolescent the day it opened.

Dilbit is not economical. Asia doesn’t want it except at a huge discount. The pipeline has become an emotive symbol, untethered to economic reality.

Alberta’s economy is thrumming; the province’s revenues would be healthy if it had the guts to institute a sales tax, like other provinces. It’s time to start acting like grown-ups.

Rob Garrard, Victoria

............

The Trans Mountain pipeline expansion would pump chemically diluted bitumen in quantities large enough to increase tanker traffic through B.C. waters and along its ocean coastline sevenfold, with the possibility of spills similarly multiplied.

The problem is that nobody knows very much about what happens when bitumen enters the ocean and sinks.

We know that it will destroy all life it touches, but will the disaster stop there? How will deep ocean currents disperse the poison? How far will it reach? How long will it last? Let’s stop calling the bitumen transport “oil” tankers. They’re not.

Al Vitols, Sidney, B.C.

............

The pipeline extension is in Canada’s national interest, which falls under federal jurisdiction. Consultations with affected groups are essential but do not confer veto power to them. It’s unfortunate that this conflict has arisen and, no matter how it ultimately plays out, there will be scars.

B.C. has legitimate concerns about potential spills off its shores and, while the federal government has contingency plans to deal with such risks, further improvements can be made while the pipeline is being built.

B.C. should be a partner in such a process. It will achieve better protection against the risks of spills by working with the federal government than by opposing it.

This will be politically difficult for B.C. Premier John Horgan, but governing sometimes requires compromises.

Tony Manera, Ottawa

Love to travel? Run

Re Running A Marathon Is A Terrible Reason To Travel (Pursuits, April 15): My experience is the opposite of Adam Hammond’s.

I have run marathons (and half marathons) locally, nationally and internationally. Memorable among them are England (Bristol to Bath), Manhattan and, most notably, Paris. How many people have run past the Louvre, Notre Dame, the Bastille, the Eiffel Tower, the Bois du Boulogne, and the Arc de Triomphe – all in one day?

All this with 50,000 other runners from around the world and with my daughter, with whom I can share that grand memory forever. I am not a competitive runner, but I always feel a sense of accomplishment and the thrill of being part of a larger community of runners. And yes, I do have energy for sightseeing after.

Travelling for a marathon can create a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Don’t be dissuaded from a potentially great opportunity.

Janet Durbin, Toronto

All the Logans

Re The Life-Saving Silver Lining After Humboldt (April 17): We try to teach our children to be kind, polite, and to share. When they outgrow their toys or clothes, we ask them to give them to smaller children. When, for whatever reason, they die, the greatest gift they can give is organ donation.

My grandson, the same age as these young hockey players, died unexpectedly last winter. His organs were donated with the Trillium Gift of Life Network in Ontario. Five people had their lives enhanced, or saved, by his generous gift.

My broken heart aches for Logan Boulet’s family, especially for his grandmother. But I am extremely proud of both Logan and my grandson. I hope they will be remembered as real heroes for their last actions. Green ribbons are a permanent way to remember and act.

Joy Ruttan, Gatineau, Que.

............

Let us all push for legislation concerning presumed consent regarding organ donation – and call it Logan’s Law.

Karen Kingsbury, Pointe-Claire, Que.

Doug Ford’s Ontario

Re It’s Fear And Loathing Time In Ontario (April 17): Margaret Wente says of Doug Ford that “you don’t have to understand the swamp to drain it.” Actually, you do. Without knowing how the water gets into Ontario’s political swamp, you’re only replacing one problem with another. Blindly messing around with any ecosystem is never a good thing. What about the wildlife? Where will it go if there is no swamp?

A year from now, if you see alligators crawling across Highway 401, you can be sure Doug Ford has messed things up.

Les Bowser, Omemee, Ont.

............

Margaret Wente writes that Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford’s shtick is to repeatedly talk about the elites, defined by Mr. Ford as people who “look down on the common folk drinking Champagne … with their pinkies in the air.”

If the “common folk” can afford Champagne, things must be pretty good in Ontario these days.

Stephen Beaumont, Toronto

Editor’s note: Editor's note: An earlier version of these letters included an incorrect surname of one letter writer. He is Rob Garrard, not Garrar as published.

Interact with The Globe