Mail bag: 04/02/26
‘Muddled thinking’
Dear Editor:
RE: ‘I’m glad you shot the guy’: Doug Ford, March 26.
Premier Doug Ford’s ill-considered, uninformed comments suggesting that a homeowner who wounded an intruder should have taken it upon himself to become a judge, jury and executioner are outrageous.
The suggestion that the majority of people in Ontario share this opinion is an insult to our collective intelligence. The defence of self-defence allows the use of reasonable force. Ford’s suggestion that someone who has successfully defended themself should then impose the penalty of wounding or death on their alleged attacker is appalling and a sad commentary on the muddled thinking of our premier.
Had the homeowner taken Doug’s advice to shoot his attacker a couple more times, he would have had a dead body in his home, been charged with murder, had to live with having killed someone. His assailant would be a murder victim, and not in custody facing a long sentence, while being questioned about the other alleged attackers.
It would be nice if there were simple answers to the problems of crime, but there aren’t. Pretending there are is useless at best and likely dangerous.
David Strang,
Fergus
‘Very biased opinion’
Dear Editor:
On March 25 my wife and I attended an information session at the Wellington County Museum and Archives for people considering running for council.
The presenters were Kelly Linton, a former Centre Wellington mayor and county warden, and John Mascarin, a lawyer who specializes in municipal law.
Mr. Linton’s presentation was a useful insight into what it’s like to be a councillor, its demands and the limitations of municipal power.
Mr. Mascarin, however, was another story. He stressed the need for a politician to be unbiased and open to ideas and input from all sources and to respect the staff and structure of the institutions while making decisions on behalf of residents. He also spoke about the legal structures of government and noted the province creates municipalities and they are therefore creatures of the province; what the province says goes.
Then he proceeded to go off on a pet peeve of his about the Ford brothers and strong mayor powers brought in by the current provincial government. I found it to be a very biased opinion and not helpful to prospective or current councillors who were in attendance
I think it should have gone more like this: “Doug Ford has had three consecutive majorities and therefore is a premier with a mandate from the majority of Ontarians. Like him or not, he’s the premier and municipalities have to work with the province’s directives.”
We were later informed that Mr. Mascarin is both legal council and acts as the integrity commissioner for our town. I have a feeling he was playing to the clerks and politicians, knowing that’s how work is gotten in the world of municipal contracting.
It seemed like another example of the revolving door spoken about recently in the Wellington Advertiser opinion piece by Mike Barcz (The consultant class – how municipalities outsource judgment, March 19).
I would have liked more Kelly Linton and less playing to the bureaucrats and gatekeepers.
Tom Carroll,
Erin
‘Political theatre’
Dear Editor:
Members of Parliament are switching sides under what look like shady back-room deals, Canada’s position on the war in Iran is flip-flopping more than flapjacks at the Gorge Country Kitchen, and now Prime Minister Mark Carney is publicly going after the Air Canada CEO for offering condolences in English only?
That’s the hill the Liberals are choosing to die on?
I can’t remember seeing a prime minister this desperate for a majority, and, it’s getting really painful to watch without voicing an opinion. This isn’t leadership. It’s political theatre, and not even good theatre! It’s sloppy, obvious and insulting to anyone paying attention.
So what’s the angle? Because there’s always an angle. A Quebec by-election coming up, maybe? Need to score a few quick points with the Francophones? Fine, but at least have the decency to not make it this obvious. Watching this play out feels less like being governed and more like being manipulated.
And the real kicker? We keep falling for it. Over and over again. At what point do Canadians stop shrugging and start demanding something better than this circus?
Because right now, this isn’t just disappointing, it’s a joke! And we’re the ones stuck in the audience.
Doug Vanderveen,
Belwood
‘Gentle’ kindness
Dear Editor:
RE: Should save lives, March 26.
I feel the need to respond to Pat Woode’s letter as my mother, in full capacity of thought, decided she was done with this world.
She was 98 years old, had broken her hip and knew that her independence was over. She had led a full life and her husband and friends had all died years before.
The decision to take the MAID (medical assistance in dying) option was discussed as a family. We had all taken this kindness with our beloved pets and knew this next step was the right step for my mother.
With the support of our health care practitioners, we followed my mother’s wishes and watched her fall into the deepest sleep she has ever had before succumbing to her forever sleep. How gentle it was and I will never forget it and I will never regret it!
Carol Radonicich,
East Garafraxa
‘Disingenuous’
Dear Editor:
Love him or hate him, there’s no middle ground in people’s opinion of Trump. His flaws are as obvious as his permanent tan, but to equate him with the Iranian Ayatollah or Venezuela’s Maduro, or even Adolf Hitler is ridiculous.
Maduro is a thug, responsible for exporting huge amounts of drugs into the U.S.
Venezuelans, both inside and outside the country cheered when he was ousted. Consider the terrible harm caused by drugs coming into Canada from Venezuela and China – we have lost a whole generation of people due to addiction. To even consider all those destroyed drug boats as being just pleasure craft is being disingenuous.
And to compare Trump to the Iranian Ayatollah, a murderous tyrant who has executed thousands of his own people, subjugated women and publicly beheaded 2SLGBTQIA+ people, is a step too far. Two protesters were unfortunately killed by ICE agents, who were originally sent in to clear immigrants involved in a massive fraud investigation. Compare that to the thousands of Iranians who have been murdered, like the young woman recently whose only crime was to wear her hijab incorrectly.
At the time of the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, which were hijacked by a Palestinian militant group who murdered and kidnapped Israeli hostages, I worked on an air force base in Germany. Every day, before going to work, we had to check under our car for traces of bombs. I can not imagine living like this, year after year, as the Israelis do. Thank God America is on their side.
Trump is no Hitler. Bear in mind it was the Americans who jumped in and helped the allies win both World Wars. And if China or Russia poke their heads over the parapet of our northern border, who on earth is going to come to our aid?
I don’t like Trump’s tariffs, or talk about Canada becoming the 51st state, but now that we’ve finally met NATO’s target perhaps we’ll have something to bargain with. Although until we get a prime minister who can actually negotiate with our southern neighbour instead of racking up the air miles on his constant world tours, I won’t hold my breath.
Jeanette Clarke,
Fergus
‘Now more than ever’
Dear Editor:
I have learned that Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) plans to close seven federal agricultural research facilities across the country, as well as the Organic and Regenerative Research Program. Over 600 staff will be affected.
We live in the most populated part of Canada with some of the richest agricultural land in the country. But I grew up knowing almost nothing about where my food came from, other than what I saw in books or along the roadside.
I have learned in the past 15 years by living on a farm and making friends with farmers that growing food is one of the hardest, loneliest, least appreciated professions one can have in Canada and yet the survival of every Canadian relies on access to food.
In these turbulent times, we need more local food security, not less. Agricultural research allows the continued development and sharing of essential knowledge, skills and hands-on expertise to keep our country thriving into the future. My daughter is currently taking environmental studies at university, and I want her future to have mentors and work opportunities to help grow these programs that our people will be depending on for generations to come.
These seven agricultural stations across Canada should remain open. Sustainable and effective farming solutions, organic farming and soil health are vital now more than ever. We cannot afford to rely on private corporations to protect our public good.
The federal government should be investing in these research facilities, as well as providing other real rewards to sustain our farmers (i.e. – tax breaks, incentive programs, better pensions).
Please consider signing the online House of Commons petition e-7214 before April 3 or send an email to agriculture minister Heath MacDonald.
Rebekah Jamieson,
Guelph
Literacy ‘essential’
Dear Editor:
How we treat each other as human beings is the measure to use regarding the condition of the human society that we bequeath our children. Each and every day offers opportunities for us to take actions that are kind, generous and compassionate, to co-create fuller inclusiveness so that all individuals are nurtured and strengthened to find their place in the world.
That is even more true for fellow human beings whose wrongdoings cause imprisonment where, morally speaking – given the fact that many of them will one day return to society into our communities – those individuals need to be provided with programs that can rehabilitate and prepare them to do so.
Basic tools such as literacy are essential to function, and a human right. Recent online articles inform us that federal prisons are planning to terminate librarians, and more.
According to Don Head, former commissioner of the Correctional Service of Canada, this regressive action was attempted nearly 20 years ago; but he stopped it. Once again, this shortsighted plan by federal bean counters must be stopped.
An easy and quick act of compassion offered to any of us to be helpful to stop it is to sign an excellent petition composed by the charitable organization Book Clubs for Inmates.
Please study the excellent letter that powerfully describes the significant roles of prison librarians to facilitate authentic rehabilitation, and note the long list of signers.
The potential of healing and transformation offered by reading cannot be understated.
Federal bean counters are cited in news articles as arguing we are in a digital world; consequently, human librarians are not needed. That extraordinary stupidity is what is destroying the fabric of human society, where basic literacy and even human interaction face-to-face, is being undermined by bureaucrats and power holders encouraging reliance on digital technologies.
About 75 per cent of people who enter prison do not have a high school diploma. Therefore, personal assistance by a librarian is essential.
Even more illuminating is the point contributed by a former inmate who is a well-educated professional, recovering from addiction, who emphasized that, while most prison personnel were “security focused” the library technician instead offered a supportive human connection.
As a lifelong reader and published writer, I would add that human development requires experiences – which include access to written stories – that illustrate the possibilities and activities co-created by people through time, far beyond the past and present of each individual’s limited personal reality.
Vistas are broadened about how life could change for the better through the power of story-telling, and learning what we hold in common.
Sandy Greer,
West Grey
‘Attack’ on authorities
Dear Editor:
In yet another example of his lack of judgement, Doug Ford has expressed support for many of Trump’s policies with, of course, the notable exception of tariffs. With his attack on Ontario’s conservation authorities through amalgamation, we see Ford, like Trump, trying to undermine environmental regulation.
Ontario’s conservation authorities were created through the passing of the Conservation Authorities Act in 1946 and are based on the underlying principles of organization on a watershed basis: a joint municipal-provincial partnership and local initiative and involvement. Conservation authorities have been effective in helping to reduce a number of often-interrelated environmental problems, including flood damage reduction through floodplain regulation.
Now, however, the Ford government, through amalgamation, is attacking the conservation authorities and ignoring the principles that led to their creation in the first place.
The Ford government’s heavy handed approach to amalgamation is being done without the support of the conservation authorities’ municipal partners, and the creation of nine regional organizations through amalgamation will not provide for the same level of municipal-provincial partnership, nor the same level of local initiative and involvement that has existed until now.
Equally concerning is the Ford government’s proposal as part of the amalgamation to put the regional organizations under a new level of bureaucracy called the Ontario Provincial Conservation Agency. Through the agency the provincial government will be able to exercise more control, to the benefit of Ford’s developer buddies, but to the detriment of the environment.
Dan Kennaley,
Rockwood
‘Fiscal fire’
Dear Editor:
The “Protect Our Food Act” is being sold as a shield for Ontario’s farmers. But look closer at the timing and the targets, and you’ll see it for what it really is: a weaponized piece of legislation designed to stop one specific development at the cost of every municipality in the province.
Bill 21 was drafted with a surgical goal: to kill the Nanticoke MZO. The proponents have built a “foodbelt” trap specifically designed to override the Minister’s Zoning Order process. But here is the problem with using a shotgun to kill a fly: you hit everyone else in the room.
Under Bill 21, new aggregate pits are targeted by mandatory “foodbelt” mapping and agricultural impact assessments designed to prohibit them. When we can’t source gravel locally, it may have to be hauled from 50km away. With oil prices surging past $90 per barrel this month, those haulage costs are skyrocketing.
Who pays that bill? Your local municipality. And when the town can’t expand its tax base because Bill 21 has “encircled” the community, the council has only one lever left to pull: raising property taxes on the people already here. That includes you.
But the squeeze doesn’t stop at your tax bill; it hits your barn. Look at our chicken farmers. A quota for 17,000 birds only works if there are 17,000 customers who can afford to buy them. When Bill 21 freezes housing supply and drives up property taxes, the family’s food budget gets cut. They switch to cheaper alternatives.
Suddenly, your 17,000-bird market shrinks to 14,000. Your margins are being crushed by rising input taxes on one side and falling consumer demand on the other.
Don’t let the “noble cause” fool you. Bill 21 was drafted to solve a private political grudge in one riding, but it’s going to cause a fiscal fire in yours. It’s time farm organizations start reading the fine print before they accidentally finish endorsing our own insolvency.
Gary De Bock,
Delhi