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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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See C Series … go?

Re Bombardier Hands Control Of C Series Airliner To Airbus (Oct. 17): Most commentators are predicting doom and gloom, should President Donald Trump decide to tear up the North American free-trade agreement. Really?

The business of business is to seek new markets. Bombardier's deal with Airbus is evidence of this.

With Canada's entry into new commercial relationships with Europe under CETA, and with the nations of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (the largest trade pact ever struck), opportunity abounds.

And even without NAFTA, our historical trade relationships with the United States, after some period of disruption, will continue, as ingenious politicians and resourceful businesses find ways to maintain mutually beneficial trading arrangements.

This only inures to Canada's benefit, by reducing our overdependence on U.S. trade, and contributing to our maturation as a global trading presence in our 150th year.

Sean Michael Kennedy, Oakville, Ont.

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Yes, Bombardier's C Series joint venture with Airbus makes sense from a market perspective. However, over the decades, the Beaudoin family entity, with its multiple voting share structure, has drawn down billions from the federal, Quebec and U.K. governments.

Does anyone truly believe that in a Trump environment, the U.S. International Trade Commission is going to roll over on the punishing tariffs imposed on the C series? The quid pro quo in this era of "flexible tariffs" will be the assembly of the C Series in Alabama. Will our governments partially fund the eventual expansion of the Alabama facility?

David Girvin, Toronto

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Morneau, villa-fied?

Re Mr. Morneau's Inconvenient Villa (Oct. 17): Finally, with his villa in France owned by one of his companies, the Finance Minister has provided a good example of "dead money" held in a corporation.

I would welcome a column from Bill Morneau's accountant to explain to the rest of us small business owners how to take advantage of this non-loophole.

Brian Stowe, Ottawa

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Oh, that the majority of Canadians' wealth was so substantial that we could miss a little thing like a villa when summarizing our assets.

Doug Wilson, Kitchener, Ont.

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Bill Morneau's critics should stop trying to vilify, oh okay, villa-fy the Finance Minister.

If his explanation for the missing maison is a bit rich, well, so is he. His heart is in the right place. There, with Margaret Wente's help, I've reassured myself.

Gillian Knowles, Halifax

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A recent report informs us that the Finance Department approved an expenditure of more than $200,000 to design the cover for Bill Morneau's federal budget.

Seems Washington isn't the only swamp that needs draining.

Martin C. Pick, Cavan, Ont.

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On strike

Re Ontario College Strike: What You Need To Know (Oct. 16): Teachers of all stripes, university, college, high school and public schools, should be made an essential service. Using children and their education as a bargaining tool is unacceptable.

Dorothy Kent, Mississauga

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When will they ever learn?

Nothing has changed for the better since I retired from the college system in 2006. Things are worse now than when I decided, sportingly, that after three strikes, I was out.

College management is still too far removed from classroom reality. Managers, many of whom have never marked a paper, still control the lives of students and faculty.

Part-time teachers earning a pittance with no job security, no benefits, no on-the-job training by teachers in their field are expected to teach huge classes of students with limited literacy, how to follow instructions, meet deadlines, retain information, communicate clearly.

College management is concerned with profits from more overseas students, and more bums on seats.

Who cares about education in this province? Not the managers who get high salaries for attending pointless meetings. Sears anyone? Liquidation anyone?

Margaret van Dijk, Toronto

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Statement of dissent

Re Why I'm Ignoring The Law Society's Orwellian Dictate (Oct. 17): Kudos to law professor Arthur Cockfield and his stand on the Law Society's mandatory requirement to write a "Statement of Principles."

I was equally outraged by the demand that I comply with "group think" and have written directly to the Law Society outlining the restrictions which I once faced and overcame.

I speak for myself and, I think, for most Canadians and most lawyers, including those in my increasingly diverse firm, in supporting the values of diversity and equality which Prof. Cockfield espouses and rigorously teaches.

Liberal democracy cannot function in a world where compulsory "opinions" are mandated and dissenting opinions prohibited. Ironically, this is what lawyers battle every day on behalf of their clients.

I remain hopeful that this Orwellian demand will be rethought and withdrawn.

Ronald Birken, partner, Garfinkle Biderman, Toronto

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Did Prof. Arthur Cockfield forget about the oath he swore in order to be issued a licence to practise law in Ontario in the first place?

This oath reminds lawyers that to practise law is an "honour and a privilege," one that requires lawyers to, among other things, "seek to ensure access to justice," to "champion the rule of law" and to "safeguard the rights and freedoms of all persons."

If the professor is not willing to simply acknowledge an existing obligation to promote equality, diversity and inclusion, then perhaps he might be better suited to a less Orwellian profession?

Nicole Chrolavicius, lawyer and lecturer in legal ethics at Osgoode Hall Law School

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The 'why' for kids

Re Freed Hostage Explains Why He Had Children As A Captive (Oct. 17): The more one reads about the thinking of former hostage Joshua Boyle, the more the mind boggles.

First, he says he believed that although "no NGO, no aid worker and no government has ever successfully been able to bring the necessary help" to villagers in Afghanistan under Taliban control, he and his pregnant wife could do the job.

Then, with nothing much to do after being captured, it seemed like a good idea to bring children into the world, not knowing what their future entailed or even if they'd have one. After all, he says, "Cait's in her 30s, the clock is ticking." Should they be freed, the former call-centre worker planned to support up to, hey, perhaps 12 children, he says.

It is hard to imagine a more selfish reason for bringing children into the world, given the harrowing start to life these children had to endure.

Ann Sullivan, Peterborough, Ont.

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Starstruck, literally

Re The Celestial Crash That Became A Gold Mine For Astronomers (Oct. 17): This collision of neutron stars gives a whole new meaning for "starstruck." I'm going out as a kilonova this Halloween!

Barbara Klunder, Toronto

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