Readers laud former PM's stance on Israel, slam the cancelling of a Jewish speaker, decry the doctors and housing shortages, and more
Re: Israel’s war is just, Hamas must surrender or be eliminated — Stephen Harper, Feb. 18
Stephen Harper’s op-ed in the Post reminds us of what moral clarity in leadership sounds and looks like. Israel has been under fire from the moment it was created by UN Resolution 181 in 1947. Its right to exist was challenged by Arabs then and continues to be challenged by Palestinians and their supporters today ignoring or rejecting its legal creation and the very right of Jews to a homeland in the place where Jews have lived for 3,000 years.
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I was part of a Canadian delegation to Israel accompanying Mr. Harper 10 years ago and was never more proud of Canada as we, 208 strong, stood in the Knesset gallery with others and applauded as our prime minister spoke of our support of Israel “through fire and water.” Then, there was no confusion as to where Canada stood when it came to Israel’s right to exist. Then Canada, through its prime minister, spoke and acted with moral clarity. Our friend Israel was under assault internationally and we went in number to show support. Then Canada was respected for its principled decision-making. Today, Canada is recognized for not fulfilling its NATO commitments, for not supporting friends, notably Germany, Japan and Israel, for its leadership’s mealy mouthed platitudes, and for its prime minister’s fancy socks. How sad. How embarrassing!
Ron Hoffman, Toronto
Re: Jewish B.C. cyclist disinvited from International Women’s Day event because of IDF service — Feb. 20
Such a disheartening piece of news among so many others about the Israel-Hamas conflict, the horror of which just keeps spreading into the most unlikely of places, this time to the cancellation of an event to celebrate International Women’s Day in Peterborough, Ont.
Leah Goldstein, a most remarkable athlete and inspirational woman, was invited to be the keynote speaker, and then ghosted because “someone” discovered she had served in the Israeli army three decades ago. She lives in Vancouver and actually won a 4,800-kilometre bike ride across the United States. And yet simply because she was in the Israeli army (which everyone with the exception of the ultra-Orthodox is required to do), the organizers cancelled her.
One could be outraged and blame the woke INSPIRE organizers but it is more than likely that they invited Goldstein not realizing they would be attacked and shamed for their choice. Another tragic piece to this intractable puzzle.
Jane Harris, Vancouver
The message this story gives to young people is both upsetting and dangerous. Preventing someone from speaking because of their Jewish heritage normalizes prejudice against all Jews. The fact that the organizers of an event that seeks to “honour, share and celebrate the remarkable stories of women” capitulated to the bullies demanding Leah Goldstein’s removal presents a missed opportunity to show girls (and boys) how to use their voice to stand up to the hate, intolerance and misogyny they will encounter in their lives.
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We urge the leaders of INSPIRE to follow the example of the NHL, which stood up to an International Ice Hockey Federation ban against Israel participating in a hockey tournament and convinced IIHF to reverse its decision. Let’s send the right message to future generations.
Marcy Bruck, The Foundation for Genocide Education, Montreal
INSPIRE should be required to change its name to CAVE or SUCCUMB or FECKLESS or COWARDICE to better reflect the intent and meaning of the organization.
Jack Shore, Toronto
Re: Steven Guilbeault’s latest command – no new roads for all the electric cars — Don Braid, Feb. 14
From an economic perspective, Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault’s “no more highway funding” idea is truly a cul-de-sac. The Liberals have consistently told us that Canada is going to supply the world with the critical minerals needed to electrify the planet. How is that going to happen? How do you build a mine in the middle of nowhere and then ship the product to market without roads? This is just my humble opinion, but I don’t think Monsieur Guilbeault has properly connected the dots between point A and point B.
Paul Baumberg, Dead Man’s Flats, Alta.
Re: MPs spending big sums on travel paid for by foreign groups — Ryan Tumilty, Feb. 15
Inviting Canadian parliamentarians to visit Taiwan serves Taiwan’s interests and the broader good of the free world, including Canada. Offering moral support to Taiwan is a vital deterrent against potential Chinese aggression.
Taiwan is ranked as the top “fully democratic” country in Asia and No. 10 in the world, according to the annual Democracy Index published by The Economist Intelligence Business Unit, surpassing even the United States.
Taiwan’s subordination to Beijing’s totalitarian regime would impede democratic progress not only in the region but in China itself.
In the unfolding cold war between Beijing and the free world, Taiwan is the West Berlin equivalent, necessitating a multinational commitment to its defence and preservation of freedom. Increasing visits to Taiwan by Canadian leaders would mark a positive step towards this collective endeavour.
Jonathan Yang, Toronto
Re: Everyone knows why protesters targeted Mount Sinai Hospital — Chris Selley, Feb. 16; and New Brunswick synagogue vandalism an all too familiar attempt to intimidate Jews — Editorial, Feb. 1
If the so called “pro-Palestinian” demonstrations were really motivated to help Palestinians, then the war that is causing so much suffering would likely be over by now. To them the destruction of the state of Israel with its Western democratic and free enterprise values is far more important than the lives or well-being of Palestinians.
This is obvious from the fact that they do not call for actions by anyone other than Israel that would actually help Palestinians caught up in a war. For example, unlike the many European countries that took in Ukrainian war refugees, not a single neighbouring Muslim country has offered to provide such protection to Palestinians. In fact, Egypt has increased fortification of its border with Gaza to prevent them from escaping into their Sinai desert. Taking in refugees would save many lives, yet these demonstrators do not call on any of these countries to do so. They also do not call on Hamas to take any action whatsoever to protect its own people but cynically provide unconditional support for Hamas’s war tactic of deliberately placing civilians in harm’s way.
Referring to these demonstrators as “pro-Palestinian” is a non sequitur because they serve only to prolong the war and the suffering of the Palestinians and Israelis. They are just antisemitic and pro‑Hamas.
Harvey Kaplan, Thornhill, Ont.
Demonstrators in front of Mount Sinai Hospital chanted, “There is only one solution, intifada revolution.”
While geographic and historical ignorance might explain an inability to apprehend the more subtle meaning of “From the river to the sea,” no such excuse exists for this chillingly direct reference to the Nazis’ “Final Solution” plan hatched at the 1942 Wannsee Conference.
Chris Selley appropriately called out the blatant antisemitism of this deplorable incident, and the grossly inadequate response of the Toronto Police Service.
Paul Ranalli, Toronto
Jesus Christ was a Jew. Why aren’t our Christian churches out supporting Jews against those who wish the annihilation of Israel? What a shame the Holocaust receives scant coverage in our schools, so that we now have an uninformed generation of people who are being corrupted by foreign-controlled demonstrations. Christian churches should be defending their Jewish brothers.
Gwen Johnston, St. Albert, Alta.
Re: Canada’s family doctor shortage: 10 million will soon lack access to primary care — Sharon Kirkey, Feb. 16
To remedy the family doctor shortage, innovative structural changes to delivery methods and physician compensation are required. But rather than solving this problem, the federal government contemplates a diversion — a multibillion-dollar pharmacare program that will lead to unintended consequences similar to the “safer supply” program where addicts receive free drugs from the government and then resell them on the black market. This, too, will be taken advantage of by scammers offering government-supplied prescription medications for sale to U.S. users facing much higher drug costs.
Trudeau has a record of starting expensive “feel-good” programs. But as for finishing, results are suboptimal. Let’s solve the physician shortage before embarking on yet another billion-dollar diversion.
Daniel McAlister, North York
Re: Warnings about too many international students were clear. The Liberals ignored them — John Ivison, Feb. 14
Asked why, as the federal minister of immigration, he had ignored warnings that allowing hundreds of thousands of foreign students into Canada would drive up housing costs, Sean Fraser, now minister of housing, gave the disingenuous answer that the Liberal government had instead listened to warnings about what would happen to our health-care system, the homebuilding industry and the business community if those students, who work part-time, were not here.
Does Fraser believe that the foreign students coming here have medical degrees? Or that foreign students taking courses at community colleges and universities are studying to be carpenters, electricians or plumbers? Further, why did the Liberal government ignore warnings that dramatically increasing the number of immigrants would itself put a strain on the health-care system?
Christopher Brett, Gloucester, Ont.
Re: A Magna Carta to protect us from the 1% — Frank Stronach, Feb. 20
It seems to me that the 1% are using taxation and its bizarrely complex laws as a kind of societal sheep farm on which all the sheep need fleecing annually.
Klaus Rohrich, Cobourg, Ont.
Re: We’re entering the age of permanent crisis we aren’t equipped for: Canada Undefended — Michael Higgins, Feb. 19
Our military personnel, current and veteran, deserve our support, respect and praise. The Trudeau government has only hollowed out and diminished our Armed Forces.
Michael Higgins avoids the obvious painful fact that Canada’s military will never catch up to modern warfare. Given that, we will eventually formalize an agreement with the United States to defend our land. It’s the world’s worst kept secret that we’ve been under such an (unwritten) arrangement for decades.
David Korchinski, Calgary
Re: The Ontario government needs to get out of the booze business — Michael Taube, Feb. 7
The Liquor Control Board of Ontario’s plan to scan customers’ IDs would have been one of the biggest corporate blunders in recent memory. What were they thinking?
Since theft is out of control ($77 million in 2018 and estimated to be much higher now), I propose a better alternative. In the 1960s, people would determine what they wanted to buy from a display panel of products and then fill out a little chit. After they paid, a clerk would retrieve the orders for them. Today it could be all done online, or by using a terminal in the store to place the order.
No more need for extra security. Plus LCBO stores could reconfigure their retail footprints and save space.
Mark Borkowski, Toronto
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