Letters to the editor, Aug. 18: ‘Pierre Poilievre should stick to constructive proposals and quit attacking Mark Carney'

Globe and Mail

11 hours ago

Re 'The Trump-Putin summit isn't Munich, 1938. It's Paris, 1973″` (Report on Business, Aug. 15): U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently stated that, in order to bring the war in Ukraine to a conclusion, both Russia and Ukraine must make concessions.
This framing ignores a fundamental truth: Russia is the aggressor, having invaded Ukraine first in 2014 and again in 2022.
What concessions did the United States make to Japan to end the Second World War?
Peter Rozanec Toronto
Re 'Only outcome' (Letters, Aug. 15): 'Vladimir Putin started this and must pay the full price.' In a word: yikes.
After the First World War, the Allies took the same approach: Germany had caused massive carnage, and so the German people should have to pay restitution.
The government did not have the cash, so it fired up the printing presses. The resulting inflation obliterated the German middle class and set the stage for Adolf Hitler. Dealing with him cancelled out any cash the Allies received from the treaty ending the war, and then some.
To their everlasting credit, Allied leaders learned from that experience. After the Second World War, there were no calls for reparations. Instead there were boatloads of rebuilding aid and, lo and behold, former enemies became customers and trading partners. Decades of prosperity followed.
God forbid, but if the current situation evolves into world war, let's remember the lessons of the 20th century.
Ken Johnston Ottawa
Re 'Disquiet on the Western front of the tariff war' (Editorial, Aug. 14): I believe it is a mistake to think that if we hand over Canada's electric vehicle market to China, they will be kind and reliably buy our canola. We should not be buying anything from China, except where we have no choice.
China is by far the world's most powerful autocracy. It is systematically taking over one economic domain after another, with EVs next in line.
The more we buy from China, the more we empower a tyrannical and threatening regime. Losing the Chinese canola market hurts a lot. But it is a price we should pay to stand up to them.
We should make a serious push to trade and collaborate with like-minded liberal democracies, which no longer includes the United States, and become more economically and militarily self-reliant.
The powerful are on the march and have no use for rules. Elbows up.
Jim Paulin Ottawa
You note that the auto, steel and aluminum industry jobs being protected by the federal government are in 'Liberal-friendly ridings.'
Without getting into a deep discussion of how far auto industry workers commute to get to their jobs, an examination of the Ontario ridings where auto assembly plants are located, and how they voted in the last election, reveals a large percentage in Conservative ridings.
There is Stellantis Canada's head office in Windsor, along with a minivan assembly plant; Volkswagen's PowerCo electric vehicle battery plant in St. Thomas; General Motors's CAMI Assembly in Ingersoll; Toyota's assembly plants in Woodstock and Cambridge; Honda's assembly plant in Alliston; GM's assembly plant in Oshawa; the head office of Magna International, Canada's largest auto parts maker, in Aurora.
As for Liberal ridings, there is the Stellantis car assembly plant in Brampton and Ford Canada's Oakville Assembly Complex and head office.
Greg Keenan Editor, Trillium Network for Advanced Manufacturing; Toronto
Re 'Carney says supports for canola sector coming after facing criticism from Poilievre' (Aug. 15): Hopefully the federal government will address the unfair impact of Chinese tariffs on canola growers. Wab Kinew made a good suggestion: Use money from electric vehicle tariffs to compensate canola producers.
Pierre Poilievre made the same proposal, but also took shots at British Columbia's Chinese ferry contract and accused Mark Carney of not caring about the West. Notably he did not suggest removing EV tariffs, which might give Canadians access to reasonably priced cars.
If Mr. Poilievre is serious about opposing Alberta separatists in his new riding, he should stick to constructive proposals and quit attacking Mr. Carney. He might even talk to the Prime Minister instead of demonizing him.
We need all hands on deck to deal with the trade war; we don't need Mr. Poilievre firing from the sidelines.
David Steele Saskatoon
It's sad that China has suddenly put a huge tariff on Canadian canola, causing a huge loss to Western farmers who stand to lose so much. It's sad that this represents a huge chunk of our national economy, with so many jobs at stake.
But we've been here before. Whenever China wants to harm Canada, it stops importing our canola. We learned this the hard way six years ago.
So why have we let canola exports to China again become such a vulnerable part of our economy?
John Horman Waterloo, Ont.
Re 'Northern Ontario communities propose widening sections of Trans-Canada Highway' (Aug. 13): Widening the Trans-Canada Highway should be a no-brainer as an infrastructure project. This is also true in mountainous British Columbia, where the narrow TCH gets shut down regularly due to collisions or transport trucks going off the road.
But rather than a piecemeal approach, there should be a federally funded national highway plan, perhaps modelled on the U.S. Interstate Highway System. Such a plan would improve the efficiency and safety of commercial, personal and defence transportation from coast to coast to coast. It would set design, construction and maintenance standards across Canada, with deep involvement by provinces, territories and local communities.
Highway travel would also be more enjoyable and safe with regular rest stops and clean flush toilets, rather than the more common pit toilets. To achieve this latter need, perhaps a new government role is needed: a minister of toilets.
Glenn Johanson Columbia–Shuswap Regional District, B.C.
Re 'For Saskatchewan, Chappell Roan's name-check serves up a surge of interest' (Aug. 13): No one has yet name-checked the song Girl in Saskatoon by Johnny Cash and Johnny Horton.
Those of us who lived in Saskatoon in 1960, which I did, could not help but feel a little proud of being singled out by the great country and western singer (though, actually, I truly dislike country and western music).
The song has an odd and somewhat tragic history. Mr. Horton died shortly after penning the tune with Mr. Cash. And despite being promoted by the record label, the song never hit the charts – except in Saskatoon, of course.
However after a Saskatoon woman, who performed the song on stage with Mr. Cash in 1961, was later murdered, he apparently never sang the song again.
Perhaps this is why it has fallen out of our collective memories of Saskatchewan's pop music history.
Nancy Bjerring London, Ont.
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