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
......................................................................................................................................................................
Grass sold here. And here …
Re Ontario To Allow Sale Of Cannabis At Dozens Of Storefronts, Online (Sept. 8): This is surely the most deluded business "startup" in history. A cash-strapped government plans to offer higher pricing, regulation, licensing, bureaucracy and government oversight as an attractive alternative to a well-oiled, more than 60-year-old, tax-free "black market." What's not to like? It worked with cigarettes.
Pssst … I know a guy …
Jay Nicholson, Toronto
......................................................
Allowed to be independent
Re Memo To Parents: Lock Up Your Kids (editorial, Sept. 8): I first started letting my daughters walk the six blocks to school on their own four years ago when my oldest was 10 and her sister was 7. Since then, they've moved on to taking public transit solo, riding their bikes to the local pool and more.
Reactions from other parents have ranged from enthusiastically supportive to quietly judgmental but the opinion which has left the greatest mark on me came from my youngest daughter, now 11.
In a card she gave me for Father's Day this year, she lists the 10 best things about me, her father.
No. 2: You allow us to be independent.
Charles Pick, Toronto
......................................................
Of taxes, chainsaws and pencils
Re Trudeau Set On Tax Plan, But Open To 'Tweaks' (Sept. 7): Justin Trudeau correctly states that: "People who make $50,000 a year should not pay higher taxes than people who make $250,000 a year." And they don't. Depending on the province, the taxes on an annual income of $50,000 would range from roughly $11,000 to $14,000. In comparison, the initial corporate taxes alone on an income of $250,000 would range from some $32,000 to more than $46,000. Further taxes are paid when money is taken from the corporation. The amount paid will vary, but realistically, even with income sprinkling, would be in the order of another $20,000 to $40,000.
Mr. Trudeau's statement shows either a poor grasp of how our tax structures work or a blatant disregard of the facts. Either possibility is deeply concerning.
Jeffrey Eppler, Kelowna, B.C.
......................................................
History's road to reconciliation
Re How Well Do You Know Canada's History? (Folio, Sept. 4): If the study of history is to be used to help achieve reconciliation, then, to be of value, history must go beyond the superficial treatment it receives. Take, for example, your quiz question about Major General Isaac Brock: "During the War of 1812, General Isaac Brock won battles with the collaboration of which Indigenous leader?" The correct answer provided is Tecumseh.
Brock won only one battle, not several battles. He successfully took Detroit in the summer of 1812, however, his charge at Queenston Heights that autumn nearly lost the battle. Victory is owed to others, including John Norton, a Mohawk chief, who with a small band of warriors from Grand River held the Americans while the British and Canadians marshalled for the attack that resulted in a British-Canadian-Indigenous victory. Tecumseh was not involved in the Queenston battle.
Public discourse forgets Norton, who fought throughout the war and left a fascinating memoir of his experiences; nor does popular history give credit to the Indigenous warriors from the Montreal area, whose timely arrival in the Niagara Peninsula in the summer of 1813 helped restore the situation in favour of the British. By restricting ourselves to the surface of history, important elements that will help us on the road to reconciliation are missed.
Major Tanya Grodzinski, associate professor, Department of History, Royal Military College of Canada
......................................................
Disaster recovery? Think 1666
Reading, among other similar reflections, Doug Saunders's discussion last Saturday on the need to actually plan for repeated weather events (Disaster Recovery: The Script Never Changes), I am amused to recall that many of the same things were said about the City of London after the Great Fire of 1666.
The burned city was a rat warren of unsanitary, badly built, thatched houses whose roof lines almost touched across the narrow and fetid streets. Several well-placed people, including Sir Christopher Wren and John Evelyn, offered rebuilding plans for a city that would have been a marvel of Baroque elegance and easy movement. But, no, the old city was replaced by another one of much the same plan, with the exception that buildings had to be stone or brick, not wood and paper. Even the Second World War's bombing had little effect on the layout of London. The only force strong enough to cause significant change was an inanimate one, the car.
In Houston, the car will prevent the next needed replanning, since people are rarely to be considered.
John Whitmore, Hillsborough, N.B.
......................................................
$5,000 sneakers? That's so 1636
Re Canadian Sneaker And Streetwear Resellers Profit From Hype And Demand (Folio, Sept. 5): When sneakers hit $5,000 a pair, it's not strictly a case of supply and demand – the term "insanity" comes to mind. Think Dutch tulip mania of 1636.
P.T. Barnum built his empire on a simple premise, best captured in the phrase: There's a fool (sucker) born every minute. So, if the shoe fits, wear it.
Or maybe not, at these prices!
Dave Hurley, Belleville, Ont.