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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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26 is an insult

Re Supreme Court Justice Offers Explanation For LGBTQ Decision (Aug. 3): Even if Justice Richard Wagner chose the wrong nine intervenors, 26 is too many. The nine he chose were already repetitive.

If the Supreme Court can't do justice with only the main combatants, a small number of intervenors can fill the key gaps. Letting in 26 is an insult to the other cases of national importance that the court rejects each year for lack of time. A courtroom isn't summer camp; it isn't important that everyone gets their repetitive turn.

Lower courts have the same problem. The constitutional challenge to Ontario's referrals for medical assistance in dying wasted three days of court time.

Endless pro- and anti-religion intervenors made a simple hearing bloated. One day was plenty.

Derek Smith, Toronto

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It's secret(ish)

Re Pallister Used Wife's E-mail For Sensitive Documents (Aug. 3): Why, I wonder, would the Manitoba government deny access to the press to information in a legal opinion under the Freedom Of Information law, when the Premier's spouse, a schmo like the rest of us, was able to receive the sensitive document via her Bell MTS e-mail account?

I guess she didn't peek when she opened the message.

Brian Caines, Ottawa

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He's extraordinary

Re Hanging Up His Hat (Aug. 3): That was a truly stunning photograph of Prince Philip on your front page Thursday, emotionally stirring, profoundly expressed, deeply discerning, tender, dignified … a great and memorable photo of an extraordinary man.

Thank you for publishing it.

Connie Kenney, Edmonton

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The article you published on Prince Philip's retirement from official duties (Prince Philip Makes Final Solo Appearance, Aug. 3), focused on his off-handed quips and occasional inappropriate remarks, instead of the contributions of this Royal gentleman.

The Prince is patron or president of more than 800 charities worldwide; he established the Duke of Edinburgh Awards which now recognize the achievements of youth in 144 countries.

He became a champion of conservation long before environmental issues were popular.

He served in the Royal Navy for most of the Second World War with distinction, so it was very fitting that his last public appearance should involve the Royal Marines.

The Prince, a leader in the development of the Commonwealth, has visited Canada more than 20 times. He is the longest living consort of the longest living monarch in the history of Britain. These are just a few of the many, many things that could have been said of the Duke of Edinburgh. Instead, the article focused on some gaffes the Prince has made over the years. That was inappropriate and shameful.

Keith McKee, London, Ont.

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Regrets? Regretted

Re PM Says He Regrets Brazeau Comments (Aug. 2): Justin Trudeau fails to address the real problem with what he did. The basic issue was not being quoted saying what he did in a periodical, but the fact that he would cynically use someone (in this case, Patrick Brazeau) as a means to advance his personal political objective.

By doing what he did, Mr. Trudeau demonstrated a complete lack of respect for Mr. Brazeau as an individual.

Far from resolving the issue, his expression of regret only serves to demonstrate either a profound cynicism or a complete lack of understanding. Canadians deserve much better than this.

John Sutherland, Victoria

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The context of Justin Trudeau's comments underpin the legitimacy, the positive aspect of his words. At the time of the boxing match in 2012, Patrick Brazeau was an Indigenous politician who matched the Caucasian politician, then a Liberal MP. Both were willing to challenge the other in a very public way, to meet in the boxing ring, for charity and fun.

The outcome could have easily been in Mr. Brazeau's favour. I find no steam with this particular tempest in a teapot.

Barbara Mathias, Langley, B.C.

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Rx for MD taxes

Re Ottawa's New Tax Measures Unfairly Target Many Doctors (Aug. 1): The small business tax regime was designed to help entrepreneurs and risk-takers create commercial growth and jobs, but it incidentally has also offered generous tax shelter to highly paid professionals, such as doctors, lawyers and accountants.

André Picard objects to the new taxes on passive income and limits on capital gains exemptions because they restrict the ability of these professionals to build up tax-sheltered investments for their retirement. He concedes that these corporations have little, if any, enduring commercial value.

Mr. Picard is a fine columnist whose views on the medical world I always enjoy reading, but in this case, I disagree with him. It is an unfair tax policy that specifically pampers high-income, well-off professionals.

Mr. Picard also argues that these measures will be a betrayal of physicians by a government that preferred to grant tax relief rather than award higher fees.

I disagree again. It is better to treat the disease than the symptom – that is, increase MD fees to fair value and eliminate the unfair tax relief.

Harry Sutherland, North Vancouver

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Weighing in …

Re Dignity Of Office Comes Down To Three Things (Aug. 3): Paul Gooch has written a small, non-partisan treatise on the dignity of office that is sorely needed in these troubled times, and he has done so in a manner that is itself an instruction in dignified expression, worthy of its subject. He wisely refrains from mentioning the particular office holder to whom many of us would consider his remarks to be greatly relevant.

James Spence, Toronto

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Re White House Says President 'Weighed In' On Trump Jr. Statement (Aug. 2): Wow! I can't wait till one of my kids is a senior adviser to the President of the United States of America. Then, like dads everywhere, I'll get to "weigh in, and offer suggestions, like any father would do."

Eric Pelletier, Toronto

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It looks like Donald Trump is trying to get rid of illegal "aliens." Is that because they are of a different colour – not orange – or because they speak a different language … or because he fears they might take him back to his home planet?

Dennis Fitzgerald, Box Hill, Australia

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Each day I open The Globe and Mail, hoping that this will finally be the day when there is no letter published about Donald Trump.

And then … Oh. Right. Sorry.

Larry Davies, Toronto

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