The labour force participation rate for Canadians aged 65 and over hit a record 15.2 per cent in 2025.stock
Older workers
Re “We need more government incentives for older adults to keep working” (Report on Business, July 30): Canada is aging faster than it can replace itself. Immigration has slowed, and the economy needs workers of all ages to remain productive. Economists call the false belief that older workers take opportunities away from younger workers the “lump of labour fallacy.”
Our longer lives have outpaced associated institutions and norms. More people are continuing to work well beyond age 65; the labour force participation rate for that age group hit a record 15.2 per cent in 2025.
Pitting generations against one another is unproductive. Canada benefits when all ages work together to optimize the standard of living we have come to appreciate.
Helen Hirsh Spence Ottawa
Keep it flowing
Re “Carney rules out using energy as leverage in U.S. trade talks” (July 30): While I am no fan of Canada’s overwhelming dependence on the United States for our energy exports – especially oil and gas – threatening to cut them in retaliation for recent tariff threats invites U.S. President Donald Trump to cite national security as an excuse to act against Canada’s sovereignty.
Remember what happened to Venezuela? I estimate it would take 27 minutes, more or less, for a large contingent of Black Hawk helicopters carrying Navy Seals and Marines to land on Parliament Hill, overcome a few security guards, secure the building and plant the American flag.
“America’s saviour” and “Manifest Destiny”– the belief that the United States is divinely ordained to expand across the North American continent – would play very well among Donald Trump’s supporters and, I expect, many Alberta separatists.
Mike Priaro Calgary
While I agree with Prime Minister Mark Carney’s recent plan to rule out restricting exports of oil or natural gas to the U.S. in retaliation for tariffs and insults, I question why he chose to make that position public. He has repeatedly said that Canada would not negotiate in public, yet this announcement seems to do exactly that.
A more effective response would be to charge world market prices for the energy we export to the United States. That move would benefit Canada far more than restricting supply and is better than retaliatory tariffs, which ultimately raise costs for Canadians.
And speaking of restrictions, removing American liquor from store shelves was a mistake. Put it back and make Ottawa’s task easier.
Peter M. Gallop Toronto
The Prime Minister is right to withhold making knee-jerk moves in retaliation tariffs. As the saying goes, an eye for an eye makes the world blind. We see it in the mess of our tit-for-tat world, as wars churn on – including ones that Trump has either insinuated himself into or fomented.
Energy is to life as is our need for clean potable water. Over the coming months, it is incumbent on the American people and their representatives to turn the tide and reign in the Whitehouse.
Until that happens, Canadians must hold our dignity powder dry; it is globally held in high regard. Let the United States go low while change happens as it must and as the polls shout it will.
Marianna Kingsmill Hamilton
Hate is everywhere
Re “Normalized and ignored, hate absolutely has a place in Canada” (Opinion, July 29): This column is wonderfully clear-eyed in revealing the doublespeak mirage that antisemitism (and, I would add, anti-LBGTQ, anti-women, anti-Muslim et cetera) rhetoric “has no place in our communities” (or that “this is not who we are”) and then making us face the reality that fear, distrust or dislike of “the Other” so often escalates to hate here, there and everywhere in the world, since time began.
I agree that the most important question now, not just for government but for all of us, is whether we intend to actually do something about it.
Michael A. Tukatsch Toronto
The attitude of our political leaders at all levels seems to range between indifference and hostility on this issue.
The Office of the Prime Minister in particular has the opportunity – and obligation – to set the tone. Take, for example, a recent open letter by leading non-Jewish Canadians in business and other sectors decrying antisemitism. As Mr. Carney’s words were quoted therein, it represented a clear opportunity for the Prime Minister to build upon them. However, his response was deafening silence.
The Canadian Jewish community continues to contribute much to our country. The fight against the normalization of hate requires political leadership. We continue to wait.
Ronald Birken Toronto
Robots don’t shop
Re “China is AI-maxxing and it has a lot to teach us” (Report on Business, July 30): It is hard to avoid news of AI in the world of work. I can’t help recalling union leader Dennis McDermott telling me about an alleged encounter between Henry Ford and Walter Reuther of the United Auto Workers. Ford remarked that one day the work undertaken by UAW members would be handled by robots. To which Reuther replied, “But will these robots buy Ford cars?”
John Harker Lunenburg, N.S.
Another take
Re “Prescription for burnout” (Letters, July 30): I don’t believe people turn to emergency departments because “primary care, home care and timely follow-up” have failed them.
Many patients are more complicated than they used to be. Cancer can now be a chronic condition. Heart failure – a condition that didn’t exist before advanced stenting and cardiovascular techniques – has become the second most common reason for hospital admission (after childbirth). Biologic medications have controlled previously devastating diseases, but run risks of immunosuppression (among other side effects).
While I wholeheartedly support hospital-at-home programs, I would propose that it’s the lack of primary care that is failing emergency departments. One needs a care provider on the other end for continuity.
I cannot control where my patients go, but if I direct them to the ED, it’s because their chest pain or shortness of breath obligates investigations and care beyond my stethoscope. This is not a failure. It’s triage.
Benjamin Reitzel, MD North Bay, Ont.
Kick off your shoes
Re “When life’s moving too fast, go barefoot” (First Person, July 25): As someone who grew up on a farm in southern Alberta, I recall glowing with satisfaction when I strode barefoot on gravel or rocky ground without flinching in front of visiting city cousins. Admittedly there was no need for vigilance to avoid scorpions or other venomous creatures lurking in the underbrush, but I still experienced glimmers of Tom Sawyerish freedom that made me feel brave and unencumbered.
Paul Thiessen Vancouver
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