Letters to the editor: 'Inflation and the higher prices it beckons may be an ideal solution for our economy and … – The Globe and Mail

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Make do

Re “Canadian mortgage rates pause climb, but will the calm last?” (Report on Business, Aug. 11): Contrary to popular beliefs and professional wisdom, inflation and the higher prices it beckons may be an ideal solution for our economy and environment.

The higher the prices, the less of everything we, by necessity, consume. As buying power decreases, so conversely would creativity for stretching a dollar further. Superfluous consumption would decrease.

The environment would benefit and the economy would experience deflation, which is also a welcomed curb to runaway inflation. Soon the price of housing would fall, as would the cost of labour to build new ones. All prices would fall in line with reduced buying power.

All of these monumental gains, which no one seems able to provide, may be too simple to be recognized.

Neil McLaughlin Burlington, Ont.

Low power

Re “Alberta’s pause on renewable energy projects is so brazen, it’s almost impressive” (Opinion, Aug. 12): As an Alberta consumer whose power bill has doubled over the past two years, I would like to know what is wrong with kicking back and seeing how to make some of this renewable energy more sustainable.

Looking at the Alberta Electrical System Operator’s generation stats for 2022, wind energy made up 20 per cent of the nameplate capacity but only generated 8 per cent because of seasonal factors. Solar energy is much the same, making its maximum daily contribution during the summer and almost nothing in the short daylight winter months.

Then there is the “orphan well” problem. If developers of renewables are so socially responsible for projects that only have 20- to 25-year lifespans, why are they so opposed to putting up performance bonds and guarantees?

We should stop being the wild west and start building a truly sustainable future.

Chris Tworek Calgary

Greenbelt grief

Re “Doug Ford is trying to gaslight voters about what he did in the Greenbelt” (Report on Business, Aug. 11): I’d like to assume that people running for office, and their parties, will act with integrity in serving the public interest. This would allow me to vote based on my perception of their competence and platform.

I’m dismayed when public trust is so blatantly betrayed and, when this is exposed, a party then has the gall to refuse to reverse an indefensible decision. It is distressing to be forced to vote strategically, just to get rid of people who show themselves to be dishonest and self-serving.

Roy Cameron Kitchener, Ont.

The sale of lands from the Ontario Greenbelt to developers clarifies for me the Progressive Conservative slogan – “getting it done” – during the 2022 election campaign.

We now know what “it” is and for whom.

Steve Iscoe Kingston, Ont.

Thanks to Ontario’s Auditor-General for verifying what we all suspected: Influence peddling is alive and well in Ontario politics, and the Ford government is a willing participant. However, the solution should not be to fire the Housing Minister, as opposition parties have demanded.

In 2003, the Chrétien government passed a campaign-finance bill which set limits on the amount of contributions to federal political parties. Subsequent amendments in 2007 prohibited corporations and trade unions from making any contributions whatsoever.

This should be the defining issue for the next provincial election. My vote would go to whichever party promises to follow the federal model.

Brian Dougall Ottawa

If this level of corruption won’t bring a government down, what would?

Leonard Conolly Toronto

Struggling young Ontarians pay nosebleed rents, and many of them have no reasonable prospect of ever in their lifetimes affording to own a home. All this while watching rich developers add billions of dollars to their stash, for what I consider no effort and minimal risk.

And we expect them to buy into “the system?” As a boomer, I am ashamed of what we are bequeathing our youngsters.

Keith Bradley Mississauga

Go wide

Re “To advance Canada’s economy, universities must stop valuing specialization over range” (Report on Business, Aug. 7): As a former senior academic administrator at four Canadian research-intensive universities, I can attest that despite the presence of “moles,” we’ve been encouraging multidisciplinary “mutts” for well over a generation.

At my current institution, for instance, there is no faculty that does not have strong interdisciplinary research and teaching, in areas ranging from neuroscience and bioengineering to business and even the much-maligned humanities. Many professorial job recruitments and funding decisions are based on interdepartmental, multidisciplinary collaboration.

We can always do more, but our country’s universities have been well down this road for at least three decades.

Daniel Woolf Principal emeritus, Queen’s University; Stone Mills, Ont.

On the other side

Re “The climate-friendly cows bred to belch less methane” (Report on Business, Aug. 9): If cattle were fed less corn, they’d probably belch a lot less.

What a laugh to see a photo of Holsteins on pasture. When did we last see that?

Studies in the past have shown that pasture-raised cattle produce less methane, because they eat what they’re supposed to eat: lots of grass.

Susan Halliday Organic dairy farmer (retired); Sarnia, Ont.

Good fortune

Re “Prince Harry and Meghan buy movie rights to Carley Fortune’s Meet Me at the Lake” (Aug. 8): The future screen version of Carley Fortune’s book will probably turn into a “meet me at the bank” for Prince Harry and Meghan.

From Royals to film producers in one quick step, via the telling of a romance in, of all places, Toronto. Perhaps a hint of déjà vu for the couple.

Douglas Cornish Ottawa

Canadian legacy

Re “Robbie Robertson was the chief craftsman behind The Band’s music” (Aug. 10) and “Expulsion of the Acadians begins” (Moment in Time, Aug. 10): These consecutive articles in the paper were a timely coincidence for me.

More than 40 years ago, when I was teaching high-school French in Rosthern, Sask., I used to play the Band’s beautiful song Acadian Driftwood in class. It is more than six minutes long and covers this important, tragic event in Canadian history – and the last stanzas are in French.

It is from their 1975 album Northern Lights – Southern Cross and was written, of course, by Robbie Robertson.

Linda Holmes Ottawa

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: [email protected]

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