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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Villagate debate
The villa-fication of Finance Minister Bill Morneau is getting silly. When your article's headline – Morneau Opted Not To Set Up Blind Trust, Ethics Watchdog Says – is rebutted by its own subheading – Commissioner says she told Finance Minister that it 'wasn't required' for his holdings' – then this is not news. It is certainly not worthy of a front-page headline in The Globe and Mail.
Katharine Lake Berz, Toronto
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Bill Morneau knew, or should have known, that as Finance Minister his policy decisions could affect his personal business and wealth. Did he need to ask? He should resign.
Juan E. Muñoz, Ancaster, Ont.
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The conflict of interest and ethics commissioner was responsible for providing guidance, which she did. Weighing options, taking decisions and acting were and are the sole responsibility of Bill Morneau, alone. One would have hoped that he would have borne these responsibilities with some grace. He has not.
Martin Birt, Uxbridge, Ont.
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The Finance Minister didn't put his substantial assets in a blind trust. What would you do if Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson says it isn't necessary to establish a blind trust for your assets, and then, in an attempt to clarify her position, says she didn't advise you against establishing a blind trust? Am I the only one who is scratching his head to parse this classic example of public-service obfuscating double-speak?
No wonder Bill Morneau is asking for another meeting with her.
Welcome to Ottawa, Bill!
Jim Arnot, Ottawa
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Are we confusing the messenger with the message? Bill Morneau is a wealthy man. His handling of his personal fortune while in office has generated bad political optics. However, the real question is why these things should have anything to do with judging the desirability of the government's steps to make the Canadian tax code more equitable.
H.W. MacFadyen, Canmore, Alta.
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Tax this, not that
Re Tax Cut Receives Lukewarm Welcome From Small-business Owners (Report on Business, Oct. 18): Eliminate corporate tax at every level. Reinstate the 2 percentage point GST cut by Stephen Harper, thereby generating some $14-billion plus annually in revenue. Increase consumption taxes further as necessary, to replace lost corporate tax.
Allow 50 per cent of corporate earnings to be reinvested in a two-year window; all additional earnings must be dividended. Set a personal flat tax at 25 per cent for all income up to $200,000. Increase the rate by 25 per cent on income above that level. Provide a threshold deduction for personal tax at $10,000 for all adults, and $5,000 for children.
Eliminate current loopholes, except the capital gains exemption for small business, and abolish agricultural supply management and remove all tariffs and subsidies.
Fair, simple and transparent. Eliminates the need for expensive tax auditors and consultants.
Gary A. Hodgins, small business owner, Toronto
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'White guilt'
"White guilt" seems to be in vogue.
In Tuesday's Globe and Mail we read on the front page how even Legos of all things pertain to this so-called "white privilege" notion (How Legos Helped Build A Classroom Lesson On White Privilege, Oct. 17).
The Law Society has jumped on the bandwagon, requiring Ontario lawyers to "acknowledge their obligation to promote equality, diversity and inclusion" (Statement Of Dissent – letters, Oct. 18). Not "respect," as the law already requires, but rather an "obligation to promote" this political agenda, despite the lawyer's own beliefs on this issue.
The dark, unspoken premise of the Law Society is this very Legos concept that white people are, by virtue of their whiteness, guilty of an original and unremovable sin.
Canada has a Charter of Rights. Article 2 provides for the centuries-old, war-scarred concept of "freedom of thought," guaranteeing freedom of conscience, belief, opinion, expression and association. I therefore oppose this infringement of my liberties vehemently, as well as defying the Law Society's implied bigotry.
I am so proud of that Grade 11 Caledonian anthropology student who called out his teacher for this same insult to his liberty. No one can demand how he should think: It really is that obvious.
Richard Barrett, lawyer, Mississauga
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#menneedtochange?
Re We Owe Sexual Abuse Survivors More Than #MeToo (Oct. 18): Zosia Bielski makes an excellent point when she says that awareness is just the beginning of the conversation.
Women are baring their souls, and the stunning prevalence of sexual assault in the workplace is once again brought to the forefront.
But why aren't more men coming forward and admitting their inappropriate behaviour? #menneedtochange? We should be talking about what needs to be done to create a culture where workplace sexual harassment is not tolerated. Now that sounds like the conversation we need to have.
Mariam S. Pal, Montreal
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I was one of the #MeToo.
People ask why I keep telling my story of violence and abuse. The answer, at first, is simple. I need to tell until the violence I have known privately becomes a public issue, and stops. I tell because every time I do, someone else says, "Me, too."
I tell because, even now, I struggle to convince myself that I am not to blame. I tell my stories in first person because other people don't get to tell it for me, or decide how much I was at fault, if I was asking for it, or use my character as a gauge to measure my veracity.
Although #MeToo initially flooded social media, our presence, as expected, has diminished. Do you want to tell your story? I'm listening, and collecting audio recordings of our stories of sexual violence, harassment, and abuse. My goal is to give voice to our stories of violence so that, together, we will be heard.
And it all counts, not one story is insignificant, nor is one story too much. We need to know and tell until it stops, until the stories become a burden we bear together, and we commit ourselves to stopping the violence.
Tara Mills, Dartmouth, N.S.
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(Too) smart city?
Re Google Streets: Toronto Steps Toward Smart City With Sidewalk Deal To Transform Waterfront (Oct. 18): Affordable housing, carbon-neutral, pedestrians and transit, all are wonderful and what community activists have hoped for ever since Waterfront Toronto was founded. Forgive me for wondering if, however, Google and its sibling company Sidewalk are doing this out of concern for the well-being of Torontonians and Canadians, or whether serving corporate interests will take precedence.
The least the community should insist on is that the land involved stays in public ownership, leased rather than sold to this foreign corporation.
Julie Beddoes, Toronto
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At the moment, I do not own a smart phone, but as soon as Google tells me what to buy, I will buy exactly what they suggest and be off to visit their "Sidewalk" in Toronto.
I'm especially eager to be told where to park, what side of the street to walk on, where to have a latte, how long to sit, what store to shop in and what brand of shorts to buy (they will surely be able to detect the condition of my underwear).
A better name for their project might be "Big Brotherville."
Steve Harker, Kingston