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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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For richer, for poorer

Re Scotiabank Spends $800-Million To Rename Air Canada Centre (Aug 30): Apparently they really are richer than they think.

Karen Barker, Toronto

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Let's call this renamed $800-million stadium what it is: "A waste of my service charges stadium." You're poorer than you think.

George Oliver, Toronto

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The irony of the home of the Maple Leafs and Raptors being named after a bank is lost on no one. The old Maple Leaf Gardens was also known as the Carlton Street Cashbox, given all the money the team made playing there. And nothing has changed – exorbitant ticket prices and your first born as the price of a beer.

So if the shoe fits, wear it.

J.D.M. Stewart, Toronto

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The stuff of heroes

Re A Fight For Recognition Of Canadian Hero's Role In Rescuing 200,000 At Dunkirk (Aug. 30): Nearly 30 years ago, Cameron Graham, a distinguished CBC producer, produced a documentary on Dunkirk, We Shall Fight On The Beaches, which revealed that several Canadian naval officers played significant roles.

In particular, Commander Campbell Clouston RN, and Sub-Lieutenant Robert Timbrell RCN, both distinguished themselves, Clouston with his truly heroic actions on the beach and the young Timbrell with his remarkable and repeated rescues of troops, for which he earned the Distinguished Service Cross. Despite repeated efforts to get Canadian recognition of these men, neither the Canadian government nor the defence establishment has bothered to respond.

Mr. Graham, who owns one of the Little Ships of Dunkirk, Dragonfly, has attended several celebrations of the Dunkirk evacuation, but could find no support to take the vessel itself, which had been acquired by the late General Victor Allard and brought to Canada more than 40 years ago.

Mr. Graham acquired this little ship a few years later, and has preserved it with tremendous devotion, but received no support from the Canadian political and military establishment when he proposed to join the flotilla of little ships at the 65th anniversary of that great achievement.

W.A.B. (Alec) Douglas, former director, General History, National Defence Headquarters, Ottawa

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The reason why Commander J. Campbell Clouston did not receive the recognition many Canadians feel is due him is likely fairly straightforward: As a serving officer in the Royal Navy, he was merely doing his duty.

The role assigned him – to take command of the Mole to facilitate the evacuation of the tens of thousands of troops waiting to board the (mainly) Royal Navy warships – would be considered vital, if dangerous. But all those involved were exposed to the same dangers, including imminent death from enemy strafing.

Cdr. Clouston may have been Canadian-born, but he was at Dunkirk as a commander in the Royal Navy. While the length of exposure to danger would, in his case, be significantly greater than most, nevertheless, singling him out for special recognition would have been viewed, at the time, as unusual or even unfair. Medals for any form of gallantry are not generally awarded for doing one's duty, however worthy the case.

Why not honour this courageous Canadian here and thank him posthumously for his sacrifice? Perhaps a memorial in his place of birth, Montreal. Or a postage stamp? Or a posthumous Canadian decoration?

Perhaps Canada's Navy might ask the Royal Navy if there is any more specific record of his role at Dunkirk in the Royal Navy's archives, and suggest to their British colleagues that some joint recognition would be a fine gesture!

David Hamilton, Toronto

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Before publishing the assertion that J. Campbell Clouston is "perhaps this country's greatest war hero," did The Globe and Mail compare the valour and devotion shown by Commander Clouston, in the face of a hostile force, to that shown by the 94 Canadian recipients of the Victoria Cross, including the most famous, Billy Bishop? Not to take anything away from Cdr. Clouston, who – who knows? – might be our greatest hero, but an exaggerated assertion disrespects our VC recipients, and other acknowledged heroes, and does a disservice to Clouston by undermining the credibility of the push for greater recognition of him.

Chris Baldwin, Vancouver

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As a start, perhaps we could name a few schools after J. Campbell Clouston. I understand that there are several candidates.

Nigel Waters, Calgary

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Monument wars

Re I've Had It With The Monument Wars (Aug. 29): Margaret Wente presented the results of a Washington Post/ABC poll to suggest that the current interest in taking down monuments is hugely overblown and misdirected.

She states that "only" 9 per cent of those polled felt it was acceptable to hold neo-Nazi or white-supremacist views. Only 9 per cent? She doesn't find it disturbing that almost one in 10 people thinks these views are acceptable? Since when is that statistic so mainstream that it isn't shocking?

As somebody else is known for tweeting, "Sad."

Douglas Lawrence, Toronto

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Tear down the statues. Change the names. Modify the curriculums. This is madness. (Disclosure: I have Secwepemc ancestry). Canada's shame is the way it treated its Indigenous peoples. But if our descendants are to understand any of our history, it should not be destroyed by shooting the messenger.

My suggestion would apply equally to the U.S. situation. To balance the eulogistic messages engraved on statue pedestals, add a counterbalancing denunciation delineating in detail the individual's misdeeds. If space or legibility doesn't permit that, a companion cairn and plaque could be placed alongside.

Let us not get caught up in the movement to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Graham Ross, Victoria

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Respect for Clinton

Re Clinton Should Do Her Party A Favour – And Vanish (Aug. 30): Lawrence Martin unfairly demeans Hillary Clinton. Forget the unbecoming ageism, the drive-by swipes at the 69-year-old Clinton and 77-year-old Nancy Pelosi. Forget that Ms. Clinton got three million more votes than Donald Trump, a fact Mr. Martin glosses over near the end.

What galls is the implication that this woman, who has dedicated her life to public service, is persisting because she needs to salvage her reputation, or because she can't bear giving up the limelight. If anything, she should be admired for her idealism and energy, and for not fading into the twilight for a well-earned rest. The column's rationale amounts to a zero-sum argument: as if Ms. Clinton were sucking up all the Democratic air; as if her prominence can only come at the expense of deserving up-and-comers.

She won the popular vote by three million votes. So perhaps she still does have something worthwhile to contribute.

Brian P.H. Green, Thunder Bay, Ont.

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