Letters to the editor, May 9: ‘Donald Trump … starts negotiations with chaos, then extracts what he wants, it all makes sense'

Globe and Mail

09-05-2025

Re 'Trump's betrayal of Canada is starting to unravel' (May 8): After a 30-plus year investment banking career, I have long lost count of how much money or how many deals I had a role in negotiating.
Negotiating styles vary widely from person to person, and industry to industry. Negotiations range from instant agreement on terms to complicated, protracted and sometimes hostile processes.
In my experience, the real estate industry was amongst the toughest to negotiate with. Finalized deals often needed abrupt changes. Agreed terms were not always met until further modifications were installed.
Participant predictability was tough. Boldness to the extent of truculence occurred. Sound familiar?
We should stop calling Donald Trump stupid, crazy, inconsistent and unpredictable. Once one realizes that he starts negotiations with chaos, then extracts what he wants, it all makes sense.
It's painful, but it works for him.
John Budreski Whistler, B.C.
Re 'How can Canada credibly take on Trump when we, too, break global trade rules?' (Report on Business, May 6): As stated, since 2017, the United States has paralyzed the World Trade Organization's Appellate Body by blocking new judge appointments, crippling the dispute resolution system and undermining the rules-based order that country had championed.
The U.S. has also withdrawn from major international agreements, such as the Rome Statute that established the International Criminal Court. Israel and Russia have done the same.
Given this record, it seems more than a little hypocritical for the U.S. to lecture Canada about following global rules. If credibility is in question, the U.S. should examine its own actions which are far more concerning, as it has removed itself from oversight and consequences entirely.
Timothy Kwiatkowski London, Ont.
Re 'Indigenous leaders warn that Alberta separation would violate treaty rights' (May 7): Danielle Smith is lowering the bar to enable citizen-led referendums on any issue, including separation. At the same news conference, she stated that any referendum must uphold and honour Treaties 6, 7 and 8 and not violate the constitutional rights of First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples.
These two actions seem incongruous to one another. First Nations leaders have vehemently denounced the idea of a referendum. Why hold a referendum on separation when, by her own assertion, it could not occur?
Perhaps the Premier is trying to coddle her base or, what seems most likely, distract Albertans from the serious 'CorruptCare' scandal. Whatever her motives, she should just cut it out.
Randy Gurlock Edmonton
Re 'How many?' (Letters, May 7): It never seems enough for Danielle Smith and some Albertans. I am wondering whether it's an unwarranted persecution complex.
A few exhibits: It was a Conservative government that updated Canada's equalization formula in 2007, the same one Ms. Smith criticizes so vehemently. In 2018, it was Ottawa and Canadian taxpayers who financed the $4.7-billion purchase of the Trans Mountain pipeline.
In the 1950s, it was Ottawa that provided loans to ensure the TransCanada Pipelines project would be routed through Canada to get Alberta gas to domestic markets. And today, Ottawa provides billions of dollars in tax subsidies to the oil and gas sector.
As for hardships suffered by Albertans: Its citizens pay no provincial sales tax and enjoy the lowest income tax rates and highest average household income of any province.
So why the separatist threats that exacerbate an already difficult situation between the United States and Canada? I don't get it.
Steven Diener Toronto
When outside of Canada, I identify as Canadian. When in Canada but outside of my home province, I am a New Brunswicker. When in province, my community is Harvey Station.
I would argue that allegiance to one's home turf is not treasonous, but simply a reflection of human nature. My strongest attachments are to my neighbours and the landscape around me.
Albertans are probably as loyal to Canada as the rest of us, if the right question is asked.
Ted Wiggans Harvey Station, N.B.
Re 'Fair vote' (Letters, May 6): I respectfully but completely disagree with a letter-writer who believes ranked-choice balloting is a better alternative to proportional representation.
I do agree that ranked-choice balloting tends to skew to the centre, but it can also skew away from being truly fair. In favouring the second choice of most voters, it robs them of the representation they deserve from their first choice.
Only a proportional representation system would guarantee a true and fair representation of what voters want, even if it results in more minority governments, which have proven to be one of the most fair and effective governments in many countries across the world.
Gerrard Weedon Toronto
Re 'Hospitals across Canada installing weapons detection systems amid apparent rise in ER violence' (May 5): Workplace violence has always been present in health care. In Ontario, especially, the frequency and severity of attacks on health care workers, particularly nurses, is on the rise.
I hear of increasingly violent attacks on our union members and the often lacklustre response of hospital CEOs. In my decades-long career as an emergency room nurse, I have been kicked, hit and assaulted numerous times. My own hospital board was reluctant to purchase panic buttons for nurses to call for help in case of violence.
Our union has been working with front-line nurses to have effective, proven measures put in place to reduce workplace violence. Part of our advocacy is calling for minimum staffing levels, a proven way to reduce violence, and improve care, retention and recruitment.
Until health care management and the provincial government step up and take more action, both patients and nurses will remain unnecessarily at risk.
Erin Ariss RN; provincial president, Ontario Nurses' Association Kitchener, Ont.
Re 'The measles outbreak shows why we need a vaccine registry' (May 6): I grew up in Malaysia and Singapore. When it was time for vaccinations, nurses came to our school with medical supplies.
Students lined up, class by class, held out their bare arms and received the relevant vaccines. Teachers handed over lists of student names and other relevant information to the vaccination team. It was an orderly and routine operation.
In our classrooms, teachers provided us with the identities of the vaccines we had received; we had to memorize the names. I went home and told my parents I had received the vaccine Bacillus Calmette-Guérin.
A registry was easily compiled. No parental permission was required. Every child in every school was vaccinated.
There were also attempts to vaccinate children who were not at school. My aunt was a public nurse who visited families on her bicycle and vaccinated children she encountered.
Surely we can do better.
Poh-Gek Forkert Toronto
Letters to the Editor should be exclusive to The Globe and Mail. Include your name, address and daytime phone number. Keep letters to 150 words or fewer. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. To submit a letter by e-mail, click here: [e-mail]