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Letters To The Editor News

Hold Kellie Leitch accountable: Reader Love and Hate

Lighting a candle on Kellie Leitch

Kellie Leitch Shoots To Thrill, by Enzo DiMatteo (NOW, December 21). Just a short note to let you know how much I enjoyed and benefited from reading this article. It was well researched, factual (a rarity these days) and exposed Leitch and her followers for what they are. Too often, her stances on public policy matters are softened by the mainstream media, so I was delighted to see you frankly describe what these would mean.

Part of me also hopes she wins the Conservative Party of Canada leadership, but I am so disturbed that in these times we have to deal with such hate-mongers. Thanks for lighting another candle to combat this. 

Kerry Badgley, Kemptville, Ontario

Is “Canadian values” test clickbait for the mainstream media?

Why are Canada’s media doing such a poor job of holding Kellie Leitch to account for her proposal to test immigrants for “Canadian values?” 

A brief examination of some of the Canadian values she has suggested would show that her party would fail this test. A cynical Canadian might say Ms. Leitch’s anti-Canadian values test was cooked up to increase buzz about a long-shot leadership candidate – i.e., clickbait.

Moses Shuldiner, Toronto

If we’re being honest, Leitch is a racist

Letter-writer Patricia Starr argues that Kellie Leitch “tells it like she sees it” and that “once upon a time that was called honesty” (NOW, December 22, 2016-January 4, 2017). I’m telling it like it is, too. Kellie Leitch is a racist. And maybe, like Trump, she is “telling it like it is” to attract the same voter base. In which case, she is not just another honest racist but one with the potential to cause powerful consequences.

Scotty Robinson, Toronto

Talking turkey on sexual assault at College Street Bar

Just received your newsletter extolling all the festivities of the season and wonders of the food world, and tagged in the mix was a tragic story about a woman who may or may not have been assaulted at College Street Bar (NOW, December 19). I find this adjacency in very poor taste. Does this story truly warrant top billing? Then don’t mix it in with other entertainment and leisure features. What chefs in Toronto are doing with their turkey leftovers is not on a par with an alleged sexual assault!

Mai-ya Mersereau, Toronto

No fanfare for Keith Emerson in R.I.P. file

How could you remember Greg Lake but forget to include Keith Emerson (both of Emerson, Lake and Palmer) in your R.I.P. file for 2016 (NOW, December 22, 2016-January 4, 2017)?

Rosi Platt, Toronto

Whistling Dixie on gift guide

Many of the suggestions in your last gift guide (NOW, December 15-21) aren’t what I would consider budget-oriented. A $2,000 guitar? I’d be more inclined to get one at Best Buy for one-fifth the cost. A $7 lipstick case with a $21 refill? Not with my money.

Here’s my shopping recommendation for those who live in the west end: Dixie Outlet Mall, especially the flea market that’s open only on weekends.

I bought most of my gifts (a variety of gourmet coffees and treats and a nice bed sheet set and very cool vintage things) for modest amounts. With a list of 24 people to shop for, I managed to keep the spending to about $400 total. On top of that, it isn’t nearly as busy before Xmas as fancier malls.

Peter Stern, Toronto

Gaps in map on T.O.’s musical brain drain 

Re Hamilton Calling (NOW, December 15-21). As a music fan and realtor, I definitely know a few friends who have moved to Hamilton in the past few years. I’m nerdy about numbers, so would like to point out a couple of things I found misleading.

1) The map loses a lot of meaning because it mixes houses and condos. For instance, by the waterfront, 98 per cent of sales this year were condos. So of course the average price is lower than it would be for a house.

2) To say the cost of the average home has “more than doubled in the past 20 years” is technically correct, but using November 2016 Toronto (416) average home prices (houses plus condos), they’ve actually doubled in the last eight years. 

Doubling in 20 years isn’t that great a feat. In fact, November 2016 prices are 3.8 times what they were 20 years ago. 

The mix problem is also in these numbers, as condos were only 34 per cent of 416 sales 20 years ago but are now 58 per cent. The average house price has actually increased 4.8 times in 20 years, and the average condo 3.5 times.

Scott Ingram, Toronto

Kensington Market development surprise

Re Kensington Market Fights For Survival (NOW, December 8-14). It will come as a big surprise to current and former residents of 387-403 Bloor East that Claude Bitton and CB Holdings are not developers. 

Bitton took over a mid-rise condo and other low-rise buildings here around 2012-13 in preparation for the construction of a 42-storey residential building.

D. Young, Toronto

Allied a tour de force in film

Much as I’ve enjoyed Norm Wilner’s insights when I’ve occasionally been fortunate enough to find the time post-workday to immerse myself in NOW’s wonderful articles (especially political), I must concur with letter-writer Tim Himes on Wilner’s review of Allied (NOW, November 24-30).

Two masterful thespians play off against each other sublimely. The viewer is actually immersed in the experience there on the rooftops of Morocco by night. 

Likewise the in-car eroticism amidst an all-engulfing sandstorm, with a passion convincing enough for any real-life spouse to file for divorce!

William Gouzelis, Toronto

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