A wind farm in Alberta.The Canadian Wind Energy Association
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Uniting for renewables
I agree with Martha Hall Findlay who says, "[Prime Minister Justin] Trudeau needs to become a leader for all of Canada" (As Pipelines Create Provincial Rifts, Trudeau Needs To Unite Canada, Feb. 7).
However, to do so in the face of our climate change crisis, he and fellow Canadians need to do everything to meet, and indeed surpass, our Paris Accord commitments. Ontario has reduced its greenhouse gases by approximately 20 per cent, mostly through closing coal plants. Unfortunately, the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario, in her annual greenhouse gas report last year, says Canada as a whole is cancelling this progress with its puny 1.1-per-cent reduction in greenhouse gasses.
Experts say the world would likely soon move into catastrophic climate change effects if it keeps turning up its thermometer with ever more greenhouse gases. New pipelines equal more greenhouse gasses. Albertans are smart people with vast natural resources. I will cheer for its citizens as it ramps up its economic growth by increased investment in renewable energy rather than pushing Mr. Trudeau to stand up for its narrow provincial interests.
Carole Lavallee, Chelmsford, Ont.
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In dismissing the B.C. government's (and residents') concerns about the Kinder Morgan pipeline as local, and characterizing the pipeline as being in the national interest, doesn't Ms. Hall Findlay have it backward? For in today's age of an imminent and real climate crisis, isn't standing up for a newer, cleaner sustainable economy in the national interest, and clinging to an old and untenable fossil fuel economy, in fact, parochial?
Michael Polanyi, Toronto
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Uncaring care
Thank you to the always excellent André Picard for bringing Quebec's policy of separating sick children from their parents to our attention (No More Pathetic Justifications For Cruelty, Feb. 6).
I am 69, yet I remember vividly being hospitalized at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto when I was 4. My parents told me they would be right back, but did not return until the next day, which seemed like an eternity.
Since I knew they would never abandon me, I waited terrified, sick with a high fever, wondering what might have happened to keep them away. My imagination could not conjure the truth: It was hospital policy to limit parent access. That policy changed long ago, and no parent would accept anything less than 24/7 access to their hospitalized child today. Or so I thought.
Separating sick children from their parents is wrong, given what we know now about human healing.
However, it is not only children who need their loved ones close by. When my husband was hospitalized, I was able to be by his side, and that made a difference to his care. The gold standard today is to allow close family unlimited access to all patients, regardless of age. Quebec needs to examine its policy with that in mind.
Marcia Zalev, Toronto
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I live in the North – Whitehorse to be exact – and last year my son was put on an air ambulance and sent to Vancouver for much needed medical help. He was seven years old at the time, my wife flew with him, and the air ambulance crew assisted us in every way to make the flight as easy as possible. It was without a doubt the hardest time of my life.
It crushes my soul that Quebec could have such a barbaric and evil policy, preventing the same kind of accommodation we got. That the province would do this to mainly First Nations people makes me sick to my core.
Lee Johnson, Whitehorse
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Sour grapes
Utterly extraordinary (Alberta Moves To Block B.C.'s Wine Imports, Feb. 7). Alberta Premier Rachel Notley is going after British Columbia by hurting those who cultivate the land (wine producers) because we're not willing to destroy the land (by the transmission of risk-laden oil sands bitumen).
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Paul Nash, Vancouver
To hell with B.C. wine. I'm switching to one litre screw-cap Western Canada Select. Heavy bodied, steel aged, with pleasing notes of roofing tar and xylene. Pairs well with trade war.
Jonathan Skrimshire, Pincher Creek, Alta.
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So Alberta doesn't want any of our B.C. wine and we don't want their toxic bitumen. Sounds like a good deal to me.
Jamie Alley, Victoria
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Skills from within
Canadian manufacturers can do much to to solve their problem with attracting skilled labour by investing in their own employees and setting up apprenticeship programs like we have done in the construction industry (Factories Are Desperate For Skilled Workers, Feb. 4).
More than 50 years ago, construction employers and unions set up apprenticeship programs funded by joint contributions of a few cents per hour worked. Today, these training programs graduate thousands of newly qualified skilled tradespeople every year. Manufacturers, in fact, often hire our graduates.
To supplement our efforts to train apprentices, building trades unions and our employers have also established initiatives such as Alberta's Trade Winds to Success Training Society that encourage youth from First Nations to consider careers in the trades. Helmets to Hardhats, a program that helps members of our military find new careers in our industry after returning to civilian life, has also played a significant role.
Canadian manufacturers don't have to wait for governments to solve their labour-supply problems for them. Some initiative and investment in their employees will go a long way toward getting them the workers they need.
Joseph Maloney, international vice-president, Canada International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Edmonton
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Fitness friends
Paul Landini notes that camaraderie in small gyms is a boon to others (Fighting The Urge To Bail On 'New Year, New Me' Resolutions, Feb. 5). I could not agree more.
I am in a group that takes part in cardiac rehabilitation. Twice a week (or three times a week for the keeners), we huff and puff on treadmills, stationary bicycles, weights and the like under the supervision of kinesiology angels.
But most us feel the mutual support and friendships developed through the exercise are just as important as the workouts. I have met some wonderful people through the program. The only downside is that all of us had to have what's called a cardiac "event" to get into the gym. I'm glad I had such an event; without it, I would never have met these lovely folk.
Rupert Taylor, Waterloo, Ont.