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Letters To The Editor News

Letters to the Editor

Monáe mathematics

I don’t usually dabble in patriotism unless it’s the Olympics or K’naan is wavin’ the flag on some international stage. But you guys made me break my rule this week by featuring an American R&B singer on the cover for Canadian Music Week (NOW, March 10-16).

Did somebody misplace their atlas and assume Kansas City was actually Manitoba? Were you subtly saying that Canadian bands and artists are good for page 38 but not the cover?

I know. You were thinking page views for the website and eyeballs for the paper version. Janelle Monáe is a name the coveted 18-to-34 demographic will recognize. Bachman & Turner or Yukon Blonde, on the other hand, not so hot!

It’s all mathematics, as Mos Def once said.

Eloi Minka

Toronto

No-fly fine point

In are we about to bomb again? (NOW, March 10-16), I am rightly quoted as expressing strong reservations about the implications of a Western-led no-fly zone over Libya.

But I am in no position to determine the extent of Gaddafi’s massacres against civilians, nor did I assert that such massacres have certainly not happened yet, as the final statement attributed to me might suggest.

I also believe that supporting or opposing any form of Western intervention must take into account the collective wish of the Libyan people.

Hicham Safieddine

Toronto

Libya lip service

Paul Weinberg, in his excellent piece on the standoff in Libya, quotes Phyllis Bennis of the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington as saying the U.S. has done the right thing by “invoking the International Criminal Court” to weigh Gaddafian abuses.

Could this be the same judicial body, based in the Hague, that the U.S. has variously ignored, condemned and obstructed since it was created nine years ago?

Sure, put Gaddafi on trial at the ICC. But ahead of him on the docket let’s see Iraq War criminals George W. Bush and Tony Blair as well as those responsible for the 2008-9 Israeli slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza.

Dana Cook

Toronto

Tenant priorities at TCHC

While the recent uncovering of TCHC’s mismanagement of funds is a tremendous step in the right direction (NOW, March 3-9), it is disappointing to TCHC tenants that so little attention has been paid to the deplorable conditions experienced by many living in Toronto’s public housing.

As a TCHC resident and board member of Toronto ACORN, whose community organizers have knocked on the doors of roughly 25,000 low-income tenants to talk about their issues, I would like to see more emphasis on the needs of tenants.

But I am also concerned about what will happen if a serious effort is made to privatize public housing. If landlords are guaranteed rent though Ontario Works or ODSP, there will be no incentive for private landlords to properly maintain the already aging public housing stock. In fact, the worst buildings in Toronto are [owned by] private landlords housing rent-geared-to-income tenants.

How quickly the public forgets that the city had to pull people out of 1775 and 1765 Weston Road when the private landlord was exposed as exceptionally substandard.

Privatization of public housing will only result in a whole new breed of slumlord. Privatization is not the answer. Proper TCHC administration and allocation of funds is.

Kay Bisnath

Toronto

Black eye for NHL

Hockey players need to learn to live with the consequences of their aggressive actions (NOW Daily, March 13) and be responsible for them, regardless of intent.

It’s time the National Hockey League relearned the lessons of the 1970s, or we will be left with 32 goon squads and a desert of real hockey talent. It’s time for the league to step up and act responsibly and enforce rules against violence.

Those corporate sponsors that are demanding the NHL take action should be applauded.

Roy Santin

Toronto

NHL needs heads-up

Having experienced a concussion in an accident, I will say that someone should start a petition to have any player who causes this injury eliminated from the NHL. Headshots can maim.

M. Martin

Malton

Time for de-amalgamation?

Why hasn’t the notion of de-amalgamation, à la Montreal, been seriously raised amid the calls for voting reform in Toronto (i.e. RaBIT)?

The last municipal election proved to both left and right that downtown and the burbs have decidedly different priorities.

Etobicoke seems to be as much Toronto as it is Mississauga, and these regions ought to operate independently. I’m pro-Miller, but he was a downtown mayor.

We should reverse Mike Harris’s megacity nonsense for the benefit of the right and the left in every community.

Chris Orbz

Toronto

West boom going bust

Although the boom isn’t totally bust, I caution people heading to Saskatchewan or Alberta for work.

Unless you are highly skilled [and have] a job offer, you could face months seeking work. The labour laws are stacked against the worker. Employers are unwilling to give workers necessary training. The cost of living is astronomical.

Your credentials and experience may match the job, but employers would rather hire cheap labour they can push around.

The West typically has a boom-bust cycle. Mix in fast big-money arrogance and small-town intolerance and you have a taste of the West. It isn’t worth the trip.

David Wayne Pristupa

Saskatoon

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