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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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Welcome. And not

Looking for the difference between Canada and the United States? Look no further than The Globe and Mail's front page on Thursday.

At the top, Canada seeks and will welcome immigrants (Canada Aims For Immigration Boost To Buttress Economy). At the bottom of the page, Donald Trump is still building his wall. Immigrants are terrorists, he warns (Trump Links New York Terrorist Attack To Immigration, Vowing Crackdown).

Compare, contrast, extrapolate.

I may be a dual citizen, leaving my heart in San Francisco, but I am delighted to live here.

Geoff Smith, Kingston

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It looks like Canada's immigration policy is the demographic equivalent of a Ponzi scheme: Keep pumping people in at the bottom so that those at the top can keep reaping their dividends – i.e. pensions, medical and social benefits. I fearlessly predict that the scheme will not end until Canadians are standing shoulder to shoulder, from sea to sea to sea.

Ian Guthrie, Ottawa

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Why so eager?

Re Ottawa Adds $36-Million In Funding For Cannabis-Education Campaigns (Nov. 1): If the federal government truly wanted to limit harm from marijuana, it would only legalize it for sale and consumption in forms that aren't smoked and have standardized amounts of THC per unit. It would also delay legalization until there's a roadside test that's as accurate as breathalyzers.

The Liberal government is willing to postpone its deficit reduction timeline, and not to proceed with a referendum on voting reform, but implementing recreational drug use is a campaign promise the Liberals just can't delay.

Why are they so eager to legalize marijuana? Is dealing with the Trump administration really that bad?

Beth Bailey, Ajax, Ont.

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It doesn't add up

Re School Boards Ask For Standardized Testing To Be Halted (Nov. 2): I note, with not a little consternation, that it seems that at least two Ontario school boards are asking for the halting of standardized testing, and that other boards are considering it.

These – admittedly few in number, to this point – boards' reaction to Premier Kathleen Wynne's observation that the math test scores are "disappointing" is to suggest halting these tests, in part on the basis of input from a number of parents who do not like the test or the stress that it creates in their households.

Suggesting that testing be suspended while a "refresh" on teaching techniques occurs would seem to be a case of damage control, or as Charles Pascal, former deputy education minister, put it, taking a "defensive" posture. It is also hiding one's head in the sand.

In this age of widespread exposure of political and social issues, these boards are missing an opportunity to (re)take the moral high ground, and demonstrate leadership in a critical component of our children's lives.

Rick Inman, Mississauga

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Standardized testing should be halted for two years years until a new curriculum is developed that would improve math outcomes? That just doesn't add up. I am a bit surprised these boards haven't suggested that testing be changed to ensure more students achieve the desired standard. Then the boards could pat themselves on the back that they are doing a wonderful job.

Michael Gilman, Toronto

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Chasm is growing

Re When Journalism Deepens America's Great And Sickly Divide (Nov. 2): Although Lawrence Martin accurately characterizes the recent Wall Street Journal editorial calling for Robert Mueller's resignation as an embarrassment, the reality is that few voters within Donald Trump's support base are likely to be subscribers or readers of the WSJ.

If they see the editorial at all, it will probably be as part of a Facebook or Twitter entry that serves primarily to reinforce an already entrenched, polarized position. The bigger issue is the dissemination and widespread public belief of factually incorrect "news" from so many sources that, despite their obvious inaccuracy, by the magic of electronic publication, are afforded a patina of legitimacy.

The leader in this parade is the opinion side of Fox, reinforced by other charlatans such as Rush Limbaugh, Lou Dobbs, Infowars, Breitbart, and various TV evangelists to name just a few. Until a gullible public realizes that all news sources are not created equal, the dangerous polarization of American society that gave us the manifestly unfit Mr. Trump will continue to grow.

Frank Malone, Aurora, Ont.

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Gender fairness

Re Liberals' Choice Of Judges Under Scrutiny (Oct. 31): In reporting the statistics on judicial appointments, Sean Fine states that men made up a much larger proportion of "highly recommended" candidates; that there were 75 highly recommended men compared with 54 highly recommended women.

Unless the number of male and female applicants were exactly equal (which is unlikely), then this is not a comparison of relative proportions. In fact, if there were many fewer women applicants, it may be that the proportion of highly recommended women is actually higher than that of men.

A second factor is perhaps more relevant when comparing evaluations of men and women. A substantial body of research shows that when CVs or other descriptions of people are rated, identical descriptions receive more favourable evaluations when the raters believe they are evaluating a man, rather than a woman. This effect has been shown to exist even among highly qualified raters, for example, university professors evaluating the CVs of alleged academic job applicants.

Shockingly (perhaps), both men and women tend to discriminate in this way – which means that the presence of women on assessing committees is not necessarily evidence of gender fairness. This nearly universal and usually unconscious bias makes it impossible to know whether the evaluations of the male and female judicial applicants are actually comparable.

Olga Eizner Favreau, psychology professor (retired), University of Montreal

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Even if it hurts

Re Don't Ghost Me, You Coward (Facts & Arguments, Oct. 31): I have great empathy for essayist Jennifer M. Smith's account of her sudden loss of a friendship. I had a friend for 20-odd years with whom my husband and I shared our home when she needed a place to stay, when her marriages were dissolving and when she was generally down.

Certainly, she had given us some lovely gifts, but we had given her our friendship. We included her on a trip to Europe where we had free accommodation, and took her to some lovely places she would otherwise never have experienced.

I, too, felt a chill during one summer and asked if there was something wrong. I received a negative reply. A couple of months later, she completely disappeared from our lives without a word.

A friendship involves telling the truth, even if it hurts. If you are angry, explain why. This way of "ghosting" left me wondering what I did wrong and, at the same time, with a feeling of being used and manipulated. It has been some time now, and if I were ever to run into her, she would definitely be a ghost to me – I would simply look through her. Sad but true.

Jennifer Zelmer, Ottawa

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