Readers debate the financing of new pipelines, reining in gambling, renewing national pride, respect for the trades and much more
Two views on funding for pipelines
Re: Why Governments Will Pay For A Pipeline, July 8; Canada Can’t Afford Another Unbuilt Pipeline, Bryan Brulotte, July 13.
Why shouldn’t governments pay for a pipeline? Who paid for our national railways? Who paid for the Gordie Howe Bridge? Who paid for our network of highways? Who paid for our airports? Who paid for the St. Lawrence Seaway? Who paid for our ferry services on the East and West Coasts? In every case, governments put up the money to finance construction and users subsequently reimbursed our governments over time.
Why should oil pipelines be any different? Private enterprise attempted to build the Trans Mountain pipeline and failed. Only when the federal government stepped in was that project completed. This may seem strange, but once governments commit to paying for these major projects, then the various authorities fall in line and grant all necessary approvals for construction to proceed. It seldom works any other way. Only later when the economics are pretty much set in stone and all the land has been assembled can governments privatize major transportation networks.
Patrick Cowan, North York, Ont.
Energy and Resources Minister Tim Hodgson’s statement that the new pipeline “is a good investment for Canadian taxpayers” stands unique in its lack of credibility.
There is no doubt that a new pipeline from Alberta will probably contribute to the maintenance of national unity, but it will do nothing to relieve the pain of constantly raising taxes generated by the need to borrow money to pay for it. The abandoned Kinder Morgan pipeline (now the Trans Mountain pipeline) was originally estimated to cost $5 billion. The government spent $4.5 billion to take over the project, with its total construction cost climbing to approximately $34 billion. It is now apparently making money. How much money, you might ask, is it making and what benefit has it created for Canadian taxpayers?
Now that the Canadian and Alberta governments have conceded that 90 per cent of the cost for their new pipeline be paid by taxpayers, what return on that investment will be directed to those taxpayers? Hodgson indicated the dividends generated by the pipeline will be returned in dental plans, health care, child care and sundry other government programs with virtually no linkage to the cost of borrowing another $35- 43.7 billion.
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It would be an enormous step forward for the economic credibility and competence of this government if a small measure of honesty started to be applied to public statements on the impact of its socialist economic growth policies on future levels of taxation that already absorb more than 43 per cent of our income.
Raymond Foote, Ottawa.
Rein in online gambling
Re: ‘Dancing With The Devil,’ July 11.
Despite knowing that gambling is addictive, the government has allowed it online and for a while, even allowed sports stars to endorse it.
In the meantime, the government has banned ads on cigarettes. If such ads were still allowed, can you imagine one saying, “Smoking is addictive. Just smoke a few — and then stop.” Yet, we know gambling is addictive — and the government is in on it. First it was the lotteries, and now you have Vegas on your cell. Way more fun — and way more dangerous.
As to government works to end smoking, it should be treating online gambling in the same way. It’s a life-long addiction and maybe it won’t hurt your health, but it can cause you to lose your home, your property, your life savings, and sadly, some will end their lives because of it.
L.G. Anderson, Spruce Grove, Alta.
Tanker ban illogical
Re: West Coast Tanker Ban Still Defies Logic, Robert Lyman, July 8.
As a former submarine navigator, I can tell you I would rather visit the Port of Prince Rupert as it is much safer to enter and depart than the Port Vancouver, and certainly much safer to navigate than the confined, ice-infested waters of the St. Lawrence River.
If Prime Minister Mark Carney thinks the world is willing to pay a higher price for decarbonized oil, why does he not demand that Quebec buy decarbonized oil from such places such as Saudi Arabia? Furthermore, Newfoundland offshore oil does not have a federal requirement to be “decarbonized” for export.
The Liberal Government of Canada has one set of laws for the West and a different set of laws for the East. That is no way to keep a country together.
Patrick Hunt, Victoria, B.C.
Renew pride in Canada
Re: Dominion Of Freedom, National Post Editorial Board, July 27; Glorious Republic Of Freedom, J.D. Tuccille, July 4.
As I watched the July 4th celebrations in the U.S., I was reminded of how the woke crowd in Canada got things wrong. In America, they tore down statues of Confederate generals, traitors who wanted to destroy their country. When it turned out that we didn’t have any traitors, the wokes went after our leaders instead.
CBS did a report on July 4th celebrations at Mount Vernon, the home of George Washington, which is nothing short of a national shrine. Nobody denies the fact that Washington was a slave owner and, in the museum, that truth is dealt with honestly and in a mature way. It doesn’t take away from the nation’s honour of a great leader.
It is time to restore Sir John A. Macdonald to his rightful place in Canadian history, to stop misinterpreting the stories of people like Egerton Ryerson and Henry Dundas to suit a woke agenda, and to renew pride in Canada.
Maxanne Ezer, Toronto.
Tawdry opportunism
Re: Rahm Emanuel’s Threats Will Have Zero Impact, Avi Benlolo, July 10.
Kudos to Avi Benlolo for singling out Jewish former Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel for his rant against current Israeli policies, at, of all places, Tel Aviv University.
TAU has a stellar reputation as a world leader in medical research, particularly in the fields of neuroscience, biotechnology and cancer.
Of course, most university students are left-leaning and perhaps Emanuel’s words resonated with some of the crowd.
However, that he used this soapbox to strengthen his position with the woke, democratic socialist, anti-Zionist members of the Democratic party (including Bernie Sanders, AOC and the like) in his 2028 bid for the U.S. presidential nomination is the ultimate in tawdry political opportunism.
Israel is a sovereign country with a right (and obligation) to defend its citizens against unrelenting terrorist attacks; to be lectured by a foreign visitor is indeed the height of chutzpah.
Susan Silverman, Toronto.
Beware socialism
Re: How Americans Gave Up Their Own Republic, Bruce Pardy, July 4.
Thanks for Bruce Pardy’s interesting article about how decades of court rulings and legislation have shifted power from elected leaders to unelected bureaucracies in the U.S. However, he did not warn of the lurking threat from socialism that is also confronting the U.S.
Socialism is often regarded as a more compassionate and morally superior form of government. But socialism has a blighted history unknown and/or forgotten by too many people. This blight is well illustrated in the word Nazi. The official name of Hitler’s party was: “Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei.” The four letters n,a,z,i in the first word formed the acronym by which the party became known. The English translation of the German name: National Socialist German Workers Party. Please remember the millions crushed under its boot.
Wayne Joseph Kelly, Courtenay, B.C.
Respect the trades
Re: Apprenticeship special insert
A recent six-page insert in the Nation Post about the need for the creation of a skilled population through massive investment in apprenticeships reflects decades of neglect by all levels of government, policy-makers and the educational establishment. From mining companies to aircraft industries, from shipbuilding to housing construction, the neglect is showing in the ever increasing shortages of a creative and productive trades-based labour force.
Canadians should be reminded that this was not always the case. The post-war immigration from the devastated European continent brought to Canada waves of highly-skilled workers, from bricklayers to machinists. It was the era of Avro Arrow airplanes, the St. Lawrence Seaway, CANDU reactors, and Canadarm. Unfortunately, somewhere along the way the word “trades” became a word depicting a realm of uneducated, unskilled individuals, locked in factories, manning assembly lines, deemed to toil in an anonymous background.
Then, a new trend emerged — higher education. Institutions emerged, shifting available manpower from the skilled working class into the world of diplomas and degrees based on illusionary values and prospects. Still, a diploma, or a degree, commanded “respect and weight.” At the same time, the waves of post-war skilled immigrants steered their children away from their own professions, seeing the loss and recognition of their skills.
Now, a generation later, policy-makers, employers and educators are practically begging young people to consider a future in the trades. From the defence industries to the new drive for nuclear energy, we have to find the way to push this country forward. The trades ask for our respect and recognition. Being a carpenter is not a dirty word.
Zdenek Kutac, Calgary.
History lessons
Re: Difficult Decision, letter to the editor, June 27; Staring Down A Lose-Lose Situation, Rob Breakenridge, June 6.
In his letter to the editor of June 27 regarding the separatism movement in Alberta, Greg Yost wrote that espousing separatism is one thing but making the difficult decision to actually uproot your family and move to another province is another. According to Statistics Canada (2023), close to 900,000 English and foreign-language-speaking Quebecers have left the province since 1966. Along with them they have taken over at least 700 major companies. Montreal, at one time the most populous city in Canada, the economic centre of Canada, essentially moved to Toronto.
We must not diminish the lessons of history.
Keith Cummings, Telkwa, B.C.
Kudos to Terry Newman
Re: A Gunman’s Long Trail Of Roiling Resentments, Terry Newman, June 24.
Canadian journalism students, take note: If this country ever needed a master class in cutting-edge journalism — and God knows it does — Terry Newman’s column about the tragic Montreal shooting would be it.
Newman’s uniquely informative and simply brilliant political-contextual analysis of the shooting stood alone in exposing the deep pathological mindset that drove it.
Unlike the gush of shallow print and electronic journos passing off parroted “anti-women” and “incel” labelling as the news we supposedly needed to know, it was strikingly clear that Newman first laboriously researched and then detailed the communist-inspired text of the suspect’s lengthy manifesto.
That all-important coverage now indelibly on public record, Canadian journalism is now ethically obliged to advance beyond the immediate bounds of this case, to weigh and track the broader negative fallout from the same, all-too-common Marxist ideological corruption misguiding many today.
Anything less would be, well, just another day at the office for most Canadian media.
Peter Sauvé, Montreal.
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