Deer souls
Thank you to all the guys that saved the deer that had fallen through the ice. There are some fabulous people in this world and you are some of them. I wish we had more people like you guys in this world that have that kind of love for animals.
D Chambers
Consume Carefully
The Letters to The Editor page often demonstrates the pulse of the community and gives individuals a chance to ‘have their say’. This can be a benefit to us as a society but also detrimental.
In a recent paper, we see a letter from Garry Haas decrying the lack of evidence to support a point. He implores writers to substantiate their claims. Yet, beneath his call, a letter from Andrew Maksymchuk chooses to provide select evidence while ignoring facts that don’t support a particular viewpoint. For example, Mr. Maksymchuk refutes there was any injustice in a 1978 criminal proceeding. This statement ignores the fact that one of the men initially convicted (David Hoffman) served 4.5 years before having his conviction overturned, not on a technicality but, by the police’s own (initially withheld) wiretap evidence. He claims that one of the convicted men obtained a degree “on the taxpayers’ dime” and this is incorrect – a fact which he would have known had he actually attended the talk to which he is referring. This author sandwiches untrue claims in with verifiable ones to give them an undeserved air of legitimacy.
Freedom of speech is important in a democratic society but that right comes with obligations. The letters page gives people an opportunity to express their viewpoints but it is imperative that we be careful consumers of their ideas. The withholding of some facts, the dismissal of ideas not already in line with our own as ‘fake news’, and the uncritical adoption of pseudo-scientific claims are the very things we are required to resist.
Sharon Munn
Coldstream
School Shooting
Well it happened once again. What is the answer? Mental health counseling? Gun control? Maybe technology is an answer. There are huge schools being heated and cooled year round and big school busses going back and forth full of kids. This all adds to global warming, not to mention the huge costs to the taxpayer. I think that after Grade six the entire curriculum could go online and the kids could be safe from bullying and tragedy by staying home. Once a year the kids would travel to their schools for their final exams. Every school would maintain a few teachers and or professors to answer their calls when the student was stuck on a problem. Either by phone or e-mail. It appears to me that the transition to this would be smooth for the kids these days.
Ron Schwartz
Eliminating tuberculosis
According to a Feb. 19 article in the Indian Express newspaper, the government of India announced Prime Minister Modi’s vision of a TB free India by 2025, five years ahead of the global TB elimination target of 2030. TB in India kills half a million people a year, a third of the 1.4 million killed globally, despite the fact that India as a nation has been engaged in TB control for over 50 years.
Prime Minister Trudeau, after a trip to India that received decidedly mixed reviews in the press at home, should do more than congratulate Modi. Canada has been a strong supporter of the Global Fund which aims to fight TB. Our prime minister should use the opportunity of leadership at the G7 to help India meet its ambitious goal by committing additional funding for TB to the Global Fund and by championing the elimination of the disease in Canada as well.
World TB Day is March 24.
Randy Rudolph
Calgary