Letters to the editor, May 14: ‘If we do not have a focused cabinet … results will likely mirror the last 10 years – and that we cannot afford'

Globe and Mail

14-05-2025

Re 'With a new cabinet in place, it's on to the business of governing' (May 13): I must admit I did not vote for the Prime Minister's party, but I am somewhat relieved he got the job. Now that he has announced his new cabinet, I hope he has a chance to read this opinion with his morning coffee.
The prescriptions for how to govern are exactly how I hope the new government chooses to execute in this time of stress. Governments have only so much bandwidth. If we do not have a focused cabinet and agenda with the power to deliver, results will likely mirror the last 10 years – and that we cannot afford.
Give cabinet the power to utilize the levers they have and hold them accountable. Mistakes will be made, but as the old saw goes, 'If you are not making mistakes, you are not trying hard enough.'
Stew Valcour Halifax
Re 'Poilievre staying in Stornoway pending by-election' (Online, May 12): I find it completely inappropriate that Pierre Poilievre is staying rent-free in Stornoway when he was voted out of office.
If this is indeed a 'transition phase,' he can hand over market rent for the period he is not an elected official. This taxpayer is not interested in subsidizing his free ride.
Susan Watson Guelph, Ont.
Re 'As the U.S. trade war escalates, LNG Canada is poised to start exports to Asia' (Report on Business, May 10): All of the structural steel used in LNG Canada's new terminal came from China. That steel could, and should, have been sourced from Canadian steel mills that employ Canadian steelworkers.
But LNG Canada, a consortium of Chinese, British, Japanese, Malaysian and South Korean interests, seems to have no interest in using Canadian steel. It wanted Chinese steel, and the federal government was happy to oblige.
While it has become fashionable for our business and political leaders to wrap themselves in the Canadian flag in response to the threats from the United States, these same people have mostly failed to protect our national economic interests for the last 40 years.
I see the LNG Canada project as merely the latest example of this failure.
Mark Rowlinson Toronto
Re 'Trust the numbers' (Letters, May 12): A letter-writer who works for a health-data organization is highly critical of health-data companies selling access to patient records. He therefore recommends that 'the use of health data for targeted marketing without patient consent should be prohibited.'
In Ontario, it is already prohibited. Under the Personal Health Information Protection Act, Section 33 states that a health care provider cannot use or disclose an individual's personal health information 'for the purpose of marketing anything or for the purpose of market research unless the individual expressly consents,' and the provider must comply with all requirements and restrictions set out in the act.
Lise Hendlisz BCL, LLB; Toronto
Re 'Ontario hospitals spent more than $9-billion on agency staff over 10 years, study finds' (Online, May 12): The elephant in the room regarding soaring private nursing and allied hospital workers' utilization is chronic staffing shortages amid rising patient treatment demand.
As a retired job evaluation specialist for Canada's largest union, I know hallway health care is the unintended consequence of shortchanging regular employees on pay and benefits. Those of us who have been at the negotiating table pointing out the farce of paying for-profit agencies up to three times regular staff rates to fill shifts share the experts' finding that this devil's bargain is 'poor value for money.'
Let's stop this preventable predicament before it entirely undermines medicare.
Tom Baker Burlington, Ont.
Re 'Is in-depth and expensive blood work worth it?' (May 12): A read of this article suggests yet another reason that no one wants to practise family medicine any more.
Imagine the tricky position in which a doctor is placed when faced with a patient who has ordered their own battery of blood tests, then arrives at the doctor's office waving the results and demanding an explanation.
Many things seem to have been turned upside down in our modern era, but one principle which remains fundamental to good medical practice is the order in which a patient's problems are assessed: that of receiving the history, performing a physical examination and only then performing such ancillary lab tests as may be indicated by the first two steps in the assessment.
Physicians and nurse practitioners who participate in a process in which lab tests are performed first, without the requisite history and physical exam, are frankly being unprofessional.
Alban Goddard Hill MD (retired); Windsor, Ont.
Re 'Eat it up' (Letters, May 12): A letter-writer notes the incongruity of increased life expectancy with the rise in consumption and reported deleterious effects of ultraprocessed foods. The answer is that the cited statistic is life expectancy from birth, which is primarily a measure of neonatal and maternal care.
Think of a young 19th-century mom giving birth to six children, of which only three lived beyond 12 months. Even if these siblings lived to 100, life expectancy from birth would only be about 50 years.
Perhaps a better statistic to measure the effect of diet is life expectancy from age 40. This has continued to rise through the decades, though not as pronounced as from birth. Even still, teasing out the effects of decreased war and violence, social policies reducing poverty, increased access to health care, environmental engineering and medical advances may cloud the analysis.
Oh, and good luck with that Leafs' playoff run.
Stephen Halman MDCM, FRCSC; Toronto
Re 'Leafs, Panthers return to Toronto battered, bruised and even in series' (Sports, May 13): For 57 years, the Toronto Maple Leafs have been chasing the Stanley Cup.
Every season, we blame someone else: players, coaches, referees, management. But we never look in the mirror. I believe Leafs fans have become part of the problem.
We celebrate our players when they're flying high. But the moment they struggle, we turn on them. It's a toxic cycle, and it creates crushing pressure.
That pressure seems to show up when it matters most. Since 2018, the Leafs are 1–13 in games where they could eliminate an opponent. That's not just bad bounces, that's the weight of a fan base.
But this is not the same Leafs team any more. This group is different. They're learning, evolving and pushing through adversity. If they're changing, maybe it's time we do, too.
If we want different results, we should be a different kind of fan base.
Geoff Hilhorst Banff, Alta.
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