ɫɫ��

No one is forcing me. It’s a first-world issue.

My recommendation for the “red carpet fans” is to pony up and purchase actual tickets to screenings.

You may get a chance to see talent and you definitely will walk away with an experience.

It’s not the same as watching a flick at home.

Christina Colalillo, ɫɫ��

Ontarians must wake up to what Doug Ford is doing to school trustees

Doug Ford says people ‘done’ with school board spending scandals as his education minister considers axing trustees, Aug. 27

Among the important issues we must to pay attention to here in Ontario, I am certain the Doug Ford government hopes election of school board trustees will not be a high priority for Ontarians.

Before I became a certified teacher, I worked for 15 years as a school community advisor for the former ɫɫ�� School Board. My day-to-day work involved helping members of the public, particularly parents, understand and navigate the policies and procedures of the board.

It was fascinating work and often resulted in parents challenging trustees and other government officials on such matters as adequate funding for both physical facilities and programs.

But that was during a time when municipal authorities collected the education tax, and trustees could actually vote to make real changes. Former premier Mike Harris took away that fiscal control. Subsequent Liberal and Conservative governments consistently failed to meet the needs of boards or the children they serve. Now Doug Ford wants to control it all from Queen’s Park and diminish the role of trustee.

I taught in schools that needed urgent repair. I taught children with special needs who did not receive adequate support. I taught with colleagues who became burnt out under the burden of inadequate support. So I urge my fellow Ontarians to pay more attention to what we all stand to lose with Ford’s actions, for the sake of our children.

Paul A. Wilson, ɫɫ��

The U.S. will never play by the rules. Get used to it

I’ve known Janice Stein for three decades, yet there was still one question I’d never asked her — till now, Aug. 30

Upon reading Janice Stein bemoaning a U.S. president who regularly flouts international rules, norms and treaties, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Just when does the U.S., or any other nation that counts itself amongst the most powerful allow itself to be bound by inconvenient treaties, the International Criminal Court, U.N. resolutions or trade agreements?

While I agree Donald Trump’s gradual destruction of the U.S.‘s domestic political institutions, its much ballyhooed checks and balances, is something novel and frightening, his international transgressions are nothing new.

In dealing with a now capricious and unreliable former American ally, Canada is learning what the rest of the world has always known: There are one set of rules for the strongest nations and another for the rest of us.

Get used to it.

Craig Gibson, Thornhill

We can respond to Diageo factory closing with our wallets

Spirits maker Diageo, which bottles Crown Royal products, to close Amherstburg, Ont., facility next year, Aug. 28

American spirits maker Diageo announced it will be closing its facility in Amherstburg in February.

Personally, I don’t drink Crown Royal, but I do stock it for my friends.

As a result of their decision, I will no longer buy the brand.

Robert Carruthers, Thornhill

Unions play a key role in the life of Canadian workers

The Air Canada strike wasn’t just a win for workers. It was also a wrench in Mark Carney’s plans, Aug. 21

The recent Air Canada strike reminded me how thankful I am we have unions.

I recall working at my first job after university. My job was with the federal government, authorizing work permits for non-citizens. The criteria was simple: if there were skilled Canadians available to do the job, the permit was refused. If there weren’t, it was given.

One day, my boss asked me to review a permit I had turned down. I did so, finding as before, there were many Canadians available for the job. I refused to sign it. He ordered me to sign it, and I refused, surprising myself because I really needed that job. He immediately moved me to another assignment, and there began an escalation that had me in tears every evening as I took the bus home.

Finally a workmate said to me, “Have you told the union what’s happening?”

I hadn’t.

Within five minutes after my meeting with the local union president my boss came around, all smiles and an invitation to lunch. I asked for a transfer to another office and I think they were glad to be rid of me.

That was my only one-on-one contact with my union. Now, when I hear people denigrate unions, I just think, “You have no clue how helpless we’d be without them.”

Carol Gardner, Stouffville

Hey Doug Ford, stifle yourself. Leave law and order to the police

‘Something is broken’: Doug Ford speaks out on charges laid against Lindsay resident after intruder allegedly assaulted, Aug. 20

So what is a burglar to do, now that our premier has played the panic/indignation card and encouraged us to stomp intruders as hard as we like? Well, if I were an enterprising thief I would probably escalate the situation. I would assume the home owner to be motivated to defend, so I would upgrade to at least a taser, or maybe a length of lead pipe.

This, of course, might lead the homeowner to seek out more firepower in response. 

At what point do we begin to feel safer?

Maybe someone should remind our premier it is the police who lay charges; the officials with the information on what actually happened. Blowhard political opportunists should perhaps stifle themselves until we have all the evidence.

Proxy outrage, which is what our premier seems to be advocating, is an empty-headed way to make policy.

Peter Omnet, Willowdale