Poilievre can't help himself

Re: LeBlanc, MacKinnon take over for Freeland as she leaves Carney's cabinet, Sept. 16

Pierre Poilievre once again demonstrated his petty negativity in his comment about Chrystia Freeland's departure from politics after 12 years of service.

Normal people, with some sense of perspective and decency, would have taken a moment to comment on her dedicated efforts on behalf of Canada and to wish her well. Not Poilievre.

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Instead he uses her departure to be his typical nasty self and imply that she is fleeing the imminent collapse of Mark Carney's government. Is this the most we can expect from our leaders?

So much for working on his "likeability."

Judy Meldrum, Grimsby

Time for one school system

Re: Teachers' union should rethink push for smaller class sizes in Ontario schools, Sept. 17

Micheal Zwaagstra has a couple of good ideas about school reform, but his arguments about class sizes don't hold up.

He argues if class sizes decrease the new teachers hired will be brand new to the job and inadequate to the task. He also indicates schools already are short-staffed. By this logic, hiring new teachers must happen anyway, but they're simply going to be failing more students if the class sizes remain uncapped.

I strongly disagree with the notion of police in schools ever since I read an account in this very paper of a Black student hounded throughout high school by a school cop who had some inexplicable problem with him.

If we're serious about education reform, why are we avoiding the elephant in the room? Why not amalgamate the Catholic school board and the public schools? The cost savings in eliminating the duplication of administration staff alone should be substantial.

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David La Rush, Hamilton

Caution urged for good reason

Re: You can't be protected from life itself, Sept. 13

I can agree that some parts of our society are overprotective. For example, the city putting up "no tobogganing" signs on a hill where everyone has been having fun for years. Usually this happens due to a careless person who has run into a tree and sued the city.

I cannot agree with the writer regarding water safety. Far too many people enter the water with "no swimming" signs. Some of these people can't even swim. Undertows are silent and deadly. Many vacationers have succumbed to this deadly threat by ignoring the red flags.

Also, regarding baseball, I once saw a pitcher hit in the face with a hard line drive, resulting in disastrous injuries to his orbital cheek bone. This can also happen at third base or shortstop with an awkward bounce on the infield. Do you want to lose some teeth simply playing a sport? I think it is smart to wear a mask.

To say we should throw caution to the wind and suffer serious injuries is sticking your head in the sand. Even top level ball players wear helmets.

Andy Price, Ancaster

Announcements are the easy part

Re: Carney and Poilievre have competing projects underway, Sept. 13

I always enjoy editorial cartoons, even ones that mock politicians and parties that I support. However, Graeme MacKay shouldn't get too smug just yet.

The list of nation-building projects that Prime Minister Mark Carney recently announced, and others to come, are just that: announcements. I'll wait until the projects are completed, funded by private capital, not taxpayer dollars, before I celebrate his achievements.

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As former prime minister Justin Trudeau proved, making announcements is the easy part.

Bruce Forsyth, Barrie (formerly of Burlington)

Advance directive would make more sense for MAID

Re: Beloved children's author Robert Munsch approved for MAID, Sept. 17

As a retired social worker, I was very upset to read that Robert Munsch, as well as others, will likely end their lives prematurely due to the need to actively consent to comply with the MAID rules.

At one time, there was legislation proposed which would allow a person to make an advance directive, which in Munsch's case, would mean medical assistance in dying would take place when he would have trouble talking and communicating.

This makes more sense than having people severely stressed over selecting a date to comply with the law, when they may feel not quite ready to take this final step or, perhaps, feel that they still have some quality of life left.

Ruth Weisbrod, Toronto

Do away with school trustee position

Re: Ontario's school boards are ungovernable and unaccountable. Shut them down, Sept. 3

I am in total agreement with the Minister of Education regarding eliminating trustees from school boards, but for dramatically different reasons.

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He is consolidating governmental power rather than liberating education from its century's long history of patriarchy and authoritarianism.

Trustees are elected with a minuscule number of votes in their ridings and spend their political careers accomplishing very little that is discernible -- all at taxpayers' expense. Over my career in education, I had no constructive contact or interactions with trustees either at the school or board level. This was a travesty.

What they contributed was a mystery.

Robert Bahlieda, Newmarket