{"id":173848,"date":"2026-08-19T08:43:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T08:43:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/173848\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T08:43:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T08:43:07","slug":"letters-to-the-editor-aug-19-most-of-us-seem-ready-to-accept-some-compromise-everyone-needs-to-put-a-little-water-in-their-wine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/173848\/","title":{"rendered":"Letters to the editor, Aug. 19: \u2018Most of us seem ready to accept some compromise \u2026 everyone needs to put a little water in their wine\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Prime Minister Mark Carney and U.S. President Donald Trump speak at a working luncheon during the G7 summit in Evian-les-Bains, France, on June 16.Christopher Katsarov\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Follow the leader<\/p>\n

Re \u201cWill Canadians\u2019 deference to Mark Carney survive this trade war?\u201d<\/a> (Aug. 18): I\u2019d replace \u201cdeference to\u201d with \u201cconfidence in\u201d Mark Carney. <\/p>\n

My impression is that most Canadians are confident he and his team will land the best trade deal possible under the circumstances, which are convoluted, enigmatic and constantly shifting. Most of us seem ready to accept some compromise, as in any negotiation, but the deal should be reasonable and fair, which is the most we should expect. <\/p>\n

Everyone needs to put a little water in their wine. <\/p>\n

Joyce Rowlands Toronto <\/p>\n

Do people think the Prime Minister is in the negotiating room making decisions? Are there examples of decisions he would make differently than, say, Justin Trudeau or Stephen Harper?<\/p>\n

Negotiations are done by professional negotiators. We should give credit to the people doing the work.<\/p>\n

Final decisions on what may be a sacred cow are done by politicians, and we will mourn it (or, more likely, part of it) if lost. Regardless of who is prime minister, I hope they would make decisions in the best interest of Canada. <\/p>\n

Mark Carney does not deserve leadership credit nor blame \u2013 he has been dealt the worst cards. He should be criticized for running a campaign on turning them into a good hand. It is clear to me that has not happened.<\/p>\n

Jason New Foothills County, Alta.<\/p>\n

A little help<\/p>\n

Re \u201cElections Alberta seeks help from other provinces to run fall referendum\u201d<\/a> (Aug. 18): How ironic that Alberta can\u2019t run a referendum on separating from the rest of Canada without help from \u2013 wait for it \u2013 the rest of Canada.<\/p>\n

Makes one wonder what else an Albertan republic would find itself unable to do on its own.<\/p>\n

Frank Burgess Edmonton<\/p>\n

Many of the referendum questions invite Albertans to remove provincial services to immigrants. To do so, the government is open to hiring immigrants to staff the referendum process. <\/p>\n

Generally, this referendum is far different from recruiting election workers from other provinces to run an election. Elections choose governments; this process invites Albertans to separate from the provinces where these workers are from.<\/p>\n

David Steele Saskatoon<\/p>\n

Points of view<\/p>\n

Re \u201cAn appealing case for judicial restraint\u201d<\/a> (Editorial, Aug. 17): As an avid cyclist, retired lawyer and retired mayor, I see the Ontario Court of Appeal decision on bike lanes from multiple perspectives.<\/p>\n

As a lawyer, I agree with the decision. The court\u2019s role is not to make policy, but to ensure governments act legally and constitutionally.<\/p>\n

As a cyclist, I know that cycling lanes are an essential part of transportation infrastructure that make our roads safer for cyclists, pedestrians and motorists.<\/p>\n

As a municipal politician, I am concerned about provincial overreach. Municipalities should be free to regulate their own streets. Some municipalities support bike lanes, others do not. That\u2019s real democracy. <\/p>\n

I\u2019m all for judicial restraint, but I\u2019m also for provincial restraint. Let municipalities take care of municipal issues. <\/p>\n

Doug Ford should stay in his lane.<\/p>\n

Steve Parish Ajax, Ont. <\/p>\n

Think of the children<\/p>\n

Re \u201cTrump\u2019s fixation on undermining vaccination harms kids\u201d<\/a> (Aug. 14): This makes all the correct observations and rebuttals to the U.S. plan to drastically alter established vaccination protocols that have protected children for decades. However, none of this seems the point. <\/p>\n

I think Donald Trump and his circle simply seek to undermine any authority outside the White House; science, data and facts must be subservient to the state, and children will be collateral damage. When the American public are trained to this standard \u2013 if former chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci is jailed, for example \u2013 then the effort will be completed.<\/p>\n

Greg Cosentino Burlington, Ont.<\/p>\n

An irony of Donald Trump undermining vaccines is that it contradicts what I believe history will judge as one of his greatest legacies.<\/p>\n

During Mr. Trump\u2019s first term in office, he poured extra money into research to find a safe, effective COVID-19 vaccine through Operation Warp Speed. As a result, a number of vaccines became available in record time and saved countless lives not only in the United States, but eventually around the world.<\/p>\n

If Mr. Trump got a chance to see his obituary in advance, I wonder what he would say about accolades for this achievement.<\/p>\n

Ed Dunnett Qualicum Beach, B.C.<\/p>\n

Setting logic aside for a moment, may I suggest, as someone in his 80s, that there are now multiple generations who have no experience of a largely vaccine-free world. <\/p>\n

In my case, and this would not be unusual for my generation, I have known someone with lifetime disabilities as a result of diphtheria (my mother), someone with mental health problems due to measles (an uncle) and friends and work colleagues scarred by smallpox or handicapped to varied extents by polio. I guarantee anyone who has seen and heard a child with whooping cough, as I have, will not forget it. <\/p>\n

I can only conclude that the anti-vaccine cohort are happier following some twisted religious logic.<\/p>\n

A.S. Brown Kingston, Ont.<\/p>\n

On gender dysphoria<\/p>\n

Re \u201cThe debate over puberty blockers needs more science and less politics\u201d<\/a> (Editorial, Aug. 12): Health Canada should revise recommended treatment for gender dysphoria as has been done in Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Britain, Australia and some U.S. states after discovering harms caused by puberty blockers and finding original studies to be inadequate.<\/p>\n

Few questions were raised about what would happen if blockers were discontinued. Parents were assured they were reversible, but evidence shows hormonal damage occurring in many cases. Some young persons suffer from stunted growth in their sexual organs; some became permanently infertile. <\/p>\n

I believe a great harm has been the repudiation of past evidence that, if given counselling and no hormonal interventions, a majority of older teenagers \u201creturn\u201d to the gender indicated in their DNA and chromosomes. If there is hormonal intervention, returning becomes more difficult.<\/p>\n

Health Canada should ban interventions unsupported by data. Concentrate on providing gender dysphoric minors with evidence-based treatments and the good of these young people will follow.<\/p>\n

Moira McQueen LLB, MDiv, PhD; consultant bioethicist; Burlington, Ont.<\/p>\n

Going, going\u2026<\/p>\n

Re \u201cConfused by best-before dates on food packages? Here\u2019s a primer\u201d <\/a>(Aug. 17): I maintain there should be three dates on food packages: best before, adequate until \u2013 fatal after.<\/p>\n

David Youngs Guelph, Ont.<\/p>\n

Letters to the Editor should be exclusive to The Globe and Mail. Include your name, address and daytime phone number. Keep letters to 150 words or fewer. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. To submit a letter by e-mail, click here: letters@globeandmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Prime Minister Mark Carney and U.S. President Donald Trump speak at a working…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":173849,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[616,111,484,617],"class_list":["post-173848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mark-carney","tag-letters-to-the-editor","tag-mark-carney","tag-noastack","tag-nopolly"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173848\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/173849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}