‘Bring this messy squabble over trade to an end’

Re: Trump wants trade — just not on terms anyone can decipher — Carson Jerema; and Canada wants free trade — only on its terms — Peter Navarro, both July 22

In the interests of freeing Canada and the U.S.A. to work together on solving critical global issues, both nations must quickly bring this messy squabble over trade to an end.

Let Canada and the U.S. both openly acknowledge that they need each other, that neither nation can operate efficiently saddled with unreasonable, ultimately destructive high tariffs and trade embargoes. Let each side tabulate the minimum set of reasonable trade rules that they need to make possible the efficient management of their affairs, note the trade rules where there is agreement, draw up a treaty framed around those agreements, sign it and get back to work running their respective country’s affairs.

Remembering the frequent spectacle of two kids duking it out in the school playground came to mind reading these two articles about the never ending tit-for-tat of the Canada-U.S. trade “negotiations.” The school teachers typically didn’t bother to intervene to stop the fights — nobody ever got hurt, we were very young, weighed very little and were friends again afterwards. But the thing was the fights usually just ended without the intervention of a referee, simply when the boys just agreed silently to call the pointless fisticuffs quits.

So who is the referee in these interminable thrusts and parries between the two nations of — adults? Why, it’s the electorates of course. In each of whom is vested the power of the vote. Unfortunately these two power brokers must wait for election time to render their decisions. But then again unfortunately, in Canada at least, our electorate has persistently exhibited an annoying habit of electing mediocre individuals to our nation’s highest office, resulting in a continuation of the same old childish, fruitless conduct.

As a super salesman, surely President Donald Trump has long ago learned the wisdom of the age-old dictum that a customer will come back for repeat business if both he and the seller always end up winners, i.e. each party gets what he wishes for, or close to it. If the seller tries to get a big win at the expense of the customer, he can say good bye to that customer.

But even if Canada is short-changed by Trump, as often seems a highly likely outcome, it will still need to do business with the U.S., albeit while harbouring deep resentment. Prime Minister Mark Carney then will be motivated to seek alternate trade partnerships, a quest he appears to be pursuing with potentially dubious actors.

This performance by two mature nations, each sitting on the other’s front doorstep, is rank childishness. The peoples of the two nations deserve better. At least the two school boys had the common sense to admit when their fisticuffs were pointless, and to quit.

David Green, Thornhill, Ont.

Freeland versus the ‘bully in chief’

Re: Freeland calls Trump ‘bully in chief’ in scathing rebuke: ‘Canada must fight back’ — Chris Knight, July 28

Chris Knight quotes Chrystia Freeland as saying that Donald Trump’s “Blame Canada” tactics remind her of “the pathetic human tendency to point fingers at someone — anyone — else for our own failings.”

That may be an instinct for some people, but Freeland should remember that as finance minister and deputy prime minister, she was an integral part of Justin Trudeau’s 10-year reign of economic failures that we, our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren will be paying for, with no end in sight.

It’s not Trump’s fault that, had Freeland and Trudeau not squandered a great chance to develop our oil, minerals and other resources, we would not be in this weak financial situation today and would be in a better position to respond to the tariffs. Maybe she should look in the mirror instead of blaming other people.

Ed Lacelle, Gatineau, Que.

Fauci wise to plead the 5th

Re: Fauci invokes Fifth Amendment as Republicans go on attack at U.S. Senate COVID hearing — Aidan Williams, July 29

At a July 29 U.S. Senate committee hearing focused on the COVID-19 pandemic response, Republican members of the committee repeatedly tried to question Dr. Anthony Fauci, who has long been a target of the committee chair, Republican Sen. Rand Paul. Fauci answered questions by invoking the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The former chief medical adviser to the president even refused to answer a question about what day of the week it was.

Back in the 1950s, Republican Sen. Joseph McCarthy and his aides tried to catch “commies” the same way. It was learned by citizens who were questioned that even answering a question about their name could lead to other questions that they were obliged to answer. The technique was to ask a question that appeared innocent but led to a series of related questions that gradually become a trap.

The U.S. “justice system” is — as Conrad Black has observed — dangerous. Fauci is now being threatened with contempt charges. Fortunately he has an able lawyer.

Charles Hooker, East Garafraxa, Ont.

Good luck with government-run grocery stores!

Re: Toronto bungles transit, now wants to sell groceries — Matthew Lau, July 28

Toronto need only look to Newfoundland to see the joys of government-run food services. In 1995, Newfoundland’s Health Sciences Centre opened a Tim Hortons with a prediction of annual profits of up to $300,000, which would pay for seven nurses — or 11 support staff, or maybe even help pay for chemotherapy drugs for cancer patients. The doughnut shop was closed in 2012 amidst annual losses of $260,000.

“Let me tell you why (the hospital franchise loses money),” Vickie Kaminski, the health authority’s president and CEO, told reporters. “We charge you a buck-ninety-four for that large coffee, but we insist that the staff who are pouring the coffee are Eastern Health staff, and they get paid $28 an hour. No Tim Hortons pays that.”

Money that should have gone to patient care was instead used to subsidize coffee and muffins. Good luck, Toronto!

John P.A. Budreski, Whistler, B.C.

Don’t blame these boomers for Liberal government

Re: Boomers drunk on CBC are the source of Carney’s power — Amy Hamm, July 24

Regarding Amy Hamm’s column, in which she blames “out of touch” boomers for being responsible for keeping the “rotten” Liberal party in power, my husband and I are in our 70s and neither of us, nor have any of our friends, voted Liberal. We all think the Liberal party has ruined Canada. We all always vote Conservative, and I am insulted at being stereotyped!

J.M. Jung, North York, Ont.

Step up water bomber production

Re: France is desperate for more Canadair water bombers but the wait is long — Ty Ferguson, Agence France-Presse, July 28

The words “crisis” and “emergency” are tossed around with reckless abandon when it comes to climate policy. We have seen critical deadlines and catastrophic predictions come and go, yet the same voices continue to issue new warnings.

During the Second World War, Ford Motor Company’s Willow Run Bomber Plant in Belleville, Mich. (now a flight museum ) was producing a four-engine B-24 Liberator bomber every 63 minutes. The world faced an existential threat, and the industrial response was immediate, massive, and measurable.

Today, we are told that climate change represents an equivalent existential threat. Yet when it comes to manufacturing one of the major weapons in the fight against increasingly severe wildfires — Canadair water bombers — we produce only 10 planes per year.

If this is truly an emergency, why does the pace of production look anything but urgent? Either the threat does not warrant the language being used, or governments have failed to respond with the sense of urgency that the word “emergency” implies. In either case, the disconnect between the rhetoric and the action deserves an explanation.

Glen Leis, Aurora, Ont.

U.S. cutbacks related to food safety cause for concern

Re: Michigan reports first U.S. deaths related to cyclosporiasis outbreak — Rachel Roubein and Lena H. Sun, The Washington Post, Aug. 4

The unsolved origins of the cyclosporiasis infection that has afflicted Americans in 45 states since May highlights the risks Canadians face even now under CUSMA and will face to a higher degree if the U.S. is allowed to export foods to Canada in new trade agreements without new restrictions.

Donald Trump’s administration has reduced staffing at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) required to trace the sources of pathogens. In addition, it has suspended quality-control programs for food-testing labs, weakening food safety oversight; implemented budget cuts; and reversed or stalled steps on pesticide and environmental protection.

One would assume that trade negotiators would be cognizant of the dangers that have been created and ignored by Trump’s personnel and budget cuts. Still, Canada must insist that all foods imported from the U.S. meet Canadian food safety standards, as I am sure we do with all other importing countries.

Don J. MacWilliam, King, Ont.

Let consumers decide if they want to buy U.S. booze

Re: Of course we should not put U.S. booze back on shelves — Scott Stinson, July 23

Columnist Scott Stinson says we shouldn’t be putting American booze back on the shelves. I respectfully disagree.

I am tired of governments telling me what to do, what to buy, what not to buy, what I can eat, what I cannot eat, what to drive, where to live, where to take a vacation, where I can walk. And especially how to raise my children and what they should learn in school. If Ontario Premier Doug Ford and B.C. Premier David Eby want to try to convince me to forgo California wine and Kentucky bourbon, they can go ahead and make their best case. But try influence and logic instead of fiat and prohibitions.

How about letting Canadians decide for themselves what to do, what to say, and what to think? I bet that, with the right messaging, the vast majority of Canadians would, all by themselves, choose not to drink U.S. booze after all. That way, Donald Trump wouldn’t be able to blame our governments for the actions of ordinary Canadians. That’s an old-fashioned win-win right there.

Lloyd Vinish, Kelowna, B.C.

Naheed Nenshi bends a knee

Re: Naheed Nenshi bends the knee to Avi Lewis and the far left, Rob Breakenridge, July 20

Naheed Nenshi succumbed to political pressure to distance himself from the Jewish community and from Israel. Should Canadians blame him for this cowardly behaviour? Of course. However, what is equally shameful is the silence of other politicians regarding this incident. Nenshi’s letter of apology for circulating a photo of himself with the Israeli Ambassador was simply a reaffirmation that the rampant antisemitism across Canada is quietly, and sometimes not so quietly, supported by too many of our political leaders.

It is time for Canadians to support and vote for individuals with the courage and moral backbone to stand up to those who push against the core values of our country: honesty, tolerance and fairness (for each individual and each group); egalitarianism, mutual respect, and the rule of law.

Canada once prided itself on the success of multiculturalism. Weak-kneed politicians like Nenshi undermine that success. The majority of Canadians value a fair and democratic Canada. We must work together to ensure politicians like Nenshi and his ilk do not get re-elected. We deserve better.

Phyllis Levin, Toronto

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