Neil Young hops on the enviro bandwagon
One gets so tired of Canadian-born celebrities like Neil Young coming up to Canada to condemn the oil sands (NOW, January 16-22). The oil sands, like any industrial site, is not very pretty.
But to compare the destruction to Hiroshima, as Young did, is despicable and insulting to the people of Japan. The oil sands provide good-paying jobs to thousands of Canadians directly and indirectly. The oil industry is vital to Canada’s economic well-being.
The oil sands are not a pretty sight, but neither is the sight of an aging rock star jumping on the anti-oil bandwagon.
Andrew van Velzen
Toronto
Hiroshima vs the oil sands
The oil execs, Alberta government and Fort McMurray residents have all sold their souls for profits.
But the really sad part is that they are selling their children’s future and that of all Canadians along with the environment.
Neil Young was drawing an analogy when he compared Hiroshima to the oil sands. The devastation goes way beyond just the carbon footprint: massive toxic waste lakes, polluted rivers, increased cancer rates among natives, caribou herds decimated, wolves shot to keep up numbers in those herds and ancient boreal forest turned into wasteland. The oil sands is a Hiroshima that grows bigger daily.
Scotty Robinson
Toronto
Message to Mi’kmaq in fracking battle
Re Breaking New Ground (NOW, January 19). Legal charges for protesters after altercations with the RCMP in a January 10 New Brunswick anti-fracking protest are unfortunate new obstacles facing the movement.
I am a fourth-year university student at Western and have just finished Peter Edwards’s book on the 1995 Ipperwash crisis, One Dead Indian (2001).
The perseverance the George family and the Kettle and Stoney Point natives showed in their 12-year legal battle with the Ontario government and OPP over the murder of Dudley George and ownership of Chippewa lands resulted in the province finally ceding the park in 2007.
My message to the Mi’kmaq people and others involved in the New Brunswick anti-fracking dispute: your battle will be a hard one, but one that is necessary. I am just one Canadian, but I salute and support you.
Madeline Marmor
London
HarperCons fly flag of convenience on sex
Terri-Jean Bedford’s Six Questions For The PM On Prostitution (NOW, January 9-15) were excellent.
Stephen Harper is a Toronto boy who went out west. He obviously met one of them buffalo gals who turned him from a Reach For The Top nerd into a straight-shootin’, piano-playin’ wannabe Beatle.
Conservatives want less government but still want to run our sex lives.
The simple solution is to have sex cruises under a flag of convenience just outside Canada’s 12-mile limit. Even Rob Ford might like that if he didn’t get “enough to eat at home.”
Bafan Inkulo
Toronto
Ice storm lessons not so obvious at City Hall
Adam Giambrone’s 10 Lessons Learned From The Ice Apocalypse (NOW, January 16-22) seem so obvious, it’s a shame that he’s not back down at City Hall right now showing some of the other councillors how to run the city.
Linda Bissinger
From nowtoronto.com
Knock on firewood
I’ve always been a fan of Ecoholic, but in Adria Vasil’s last column comparing fake logs with real wood (NOW, January 16-22), she lost me.
She actually gives fake logs a higher rating than good old-fashioned real wood? Seriously? Fake logs are manufactured, packaged and then transported to the store. Each of these steps uses energy and creates pollution. These fake logs are filled with wax, glue and other contaminants, not to mention each “log” comes in its own plastic wrapper.
There is nothing more natural or green than cutting wood from your own backyard (I live in the country) and using it to heat your house. Even if you have to buy your wood from a supplier, it’s still local and not shipped from some factory miles away.
Matthew Andrews
Halton Hills
What’s behind Island airport tax deal?
Thank you your recent article on Island airport expansion (NOW, January 9-15). We can only hope it will spark public interest on some of the shady arrangements surrounding the near-monopoly of airport facilities enjoyed by Porter Airlines.
Now we hear that the city has secretly offered the Toronto Port Authority a deal on the taxes it owes. All this time the mayor and his friends on council have been bleating about higher taxes, etc. Surely, the public has a right to know what is going on with the Island airport?
B. Menezes
Toronto
Steadman crossing
I care about pigs. I care about crispy bacon. Pigs are among Hogtown’s most delicious critters. What I care even more about are brainless letters like David Regan’s (NOW, January 16-22) on NOW’s brilliant Rob Ford cover illustrated by Ralph Steadman. That’s Mr. Ralph Steadman to you, Regan, the artist whose work is world-renowned, who worked with Hunter S. Thompson, Rolling Stone Magazine, the New York Times, etc.
I can barely contain my outrage. Ford was a worldwide scandal, and NOW brought in a world-class artist to illustrate it. I framed my copy.
James Moore
Toronto
Giving heritage issues a chance
I belong to a small history group in Parkdale and I clip articles of interest whenever I see them.
Sorting through these clippings this past holiday, I noticed that NOW Magazine keeps coming up on cityscape and heritage issues. I was pleasantly surprised to know that in addition to publishing political articles, NOW has been taking photos of historical interest around Toronto.
I would like to say how grateful I am that you have been taking these photos and keeping alive the interest in preserving our Toronto heritage. I know that the number of concerned people is growing, but thanks to NOW for giving the subject prominence .
Mary Hurley
Toronto
NOW welcomes reader mail. Address letters to: NOW, Letters to the Editor, 189 Church, Toronto, ON M5B 1Y7. Send e-mail to letters@nowtoronto.com and faxes to 416-364-1166. All correspondence must include your name, address and daytime phone number. Letters may be edited for length.
