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A 'Make Canada Great Again' hat at the United We Roll protest in Ottawa on Tuesday, Feb.19, 2019.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press

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

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Downward drift …

John Ibbitson criticizes Privy Council Clerk Michael Wernick’s warnings of a downward drift in Canadian political culture: “Fear of violence during an election campaign is always real, but Mr. Wernick is describing American, not Canadian, political culture” (With His Testimony, The Man In The Centre Pushes The Definition Of Pressure, Feb. 22).

Yet photos of the United We Roll convoy protests in Ottawa last week clearly showed people wearing black hats that read “Make Canada Great Again.”

I was dismayed to see such an obvious Canadian variation of the thousands of “Make America Great Again” hats worn at Donald Trump rallies. This aspect of American political culture only reinforces my fear that the policies and behaviour of President Trump are creeping into Canadian political culture.

Richard Grover, Winnipeg

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David Tkachuk should be removed from the Senate for his comments, to the truckers’ United We Roll protest, about rolling over “every Liberal left in the country.” This is not the United States, and we do not, as Donald Trump does, incite violence.

Sally Talbot, Toronto

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John Ibbitson proclaims that Michael Wernick “may have sealed the case for the prosecution.” He should have added: “led by The Globe and Mail.” I am appalled at the prosecutorial evangelism in your headlines, editorials and columns. While the Clerk of the Privy Council started by expressing concern at the toxicity exemplified by Conservative Senator David Tkachuk in asking those at the United We Roll rally to “roll over every Liberal left in the country,” that is something your editorial the same day, The Liberals Are Dining Out On Themselves, and your front page ignored.

Masud Sheikh, Oakville, Ont.

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American political culture is here and it’s festering. Ignoring that won’t make it better.

Trevor Reeder, Canmore, Alta.

Governing in Ontario

Re Ontario Lobbyists Fear Loss Of Access Unless They Sell Ford Fundraiser Tickets (Feb. 22): So Ontario lobbyists fear they will lose access unless they sell Ford fundraiser tickets. When Kathleen Wynne’s government lost its way regarding pay for access, she listened and changed course. In contrast, the narrative of the Doug Ford government has been: We just won an election, so we don’t need anyone to tell us what to do. Might this account for slow ticket sales?

Don Reynolds, Toronto

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At $1,250 a plate to eat with Doug Ford, I wonder what’s the tougher sell: the money or the host? I’m betting there’ll be more police pals than Hydro One types there.

Sanda Mason, Halifax

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Re Ontario Orders Hydro One To Cap CEO Compensation At $1.5-Million (Feb. 22): Perhaps Premier Doug Ford would like to name his friend Ron Taverner as CEO of Hydro One. Surely the qualifications for the job could be adjusted?

Jim Reynolds, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont.

Rot in the church

Re The Pope Mustn’t Be Held Hostage To The Rot In His Own Church (Feb. 21): Michael W. Higgins rightly fears that Pope Francis might not confront successfully the sexual-abuse rot within the Roman Catholic Church.

What confidence should we have that root-and-branch reform will happen? One looks in vain for cases of institutions that have been so cleansed. The church, being complex, bureaucratic, and tradition-bound, is not likely to find the noble way. And Pope Francis, with a questionable record and history of ambiguous comments, is not pristine. The fundamental issue? Will the Church accept that its history of relying upon its internal processes to address problems has failed its faithful? It must accept that suspected abuse must be reported to and dealt with by the police. Otherwise, no reformation.

Peter Woolstencroft, Waterloo, Ont.

Night-sky fascination

Re Golden Icon Proposed For Toronto’s Planetarium Site (Feb. 21): It’s true that when some reminisce about the McLaughlin Planetarium, they remember the laser light/rock music shows. But as someone who worked at the McLaughlin for 16 years, I have fond memories of the wonder on schoolchildren’s faces as they entered the star theatre for the first time; the gasp of audiences as the theatre darkened and stars appeared in the virtual sky above them; the fascinating astronomy shows that explored the death of the dinosaurs, extraterrestrial life, black holes, the Big Bang, and the latest scientific discoveries.

Among the hundreds of thousands of people who attended astronomy shows over the decades, it’s likely that many visitors discovered at the McLaughlin a passion for astronomy, science and nature that they still feel today.

Chris Sasaki, Toronto

Baseball pioneers

Re Heritage Minute Highlights Vancouver Asahi (Feb. 21): After watching the new Heritage Minute, then reading about it in The Globe and Mail, I was prompted to view, for the second time, Sleeping Tigers: The Asahi Baseball Story (a 2002 documentary by the National Film Board of Canada, and available on the NFB website). This moving account of the Asahi team highlights several players who were alive at that time – including Kaye Kaminishi, whose voice is heard in the new Heritage Minute.

Mr. Kaminishi appears to have lived at the East Lillooet camp during the war years, the same camp where my husband spent his childhood – a site I visited several times while doing research in various parts of B.C. for my novel Requiem. More than a few tears have been shed at these locations, and I recommend watching Sleeping Tigers, where actual footage of the time can be viewed in a moving tribute to the Asahi team and its supporters.

Frances Itani, Ottawa

Poor? We didn’t know

Re I Will Forever Treasure A Book By Arthur Black (First Person, Feb. 21): What a heartfelt essay; I can so relate to Angel Turcotte’s comments about growing up poor. We had no electricity until 1950 in rural Manitoba – no telephone, no refrigerator or running water either – but we did not know we were poor, because everyone lived the same way.

The big box radio was operated by battery, and I can remember looking inside it at the back to try to see the wee people dancing to music. They were never there!

Library books were only available at school, and the selection was small. No one I knew owned a book. However, I consider myself fortunate for those experiences, because today I can appreciate the fine things in life and not take them for granted.

Kudos to Ms. Turcotte for her essay, and for recognizing the charity of Arthur Black.

Nadia Hanson, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Que.

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