Letters, Oct. 3: It’s about amplification
Article content
For musicians, Marshall amplifiers continue to be highly regarded. Climate, too, is an amplifier. The former deals with sound, the latter is increasingly amplifying disasters. The intensity of the Marshall can be instantly turned down. Not so with climate. Humans have been increasing climate-amplified disasters for over 200 years, unwittingly at first. As the dynamics of climate change became better understood, unwitting changed to premeditated.
Article content
In Europe, six Portuguese citizens have filed a suit against 32 governments for not taking sufficient action on climate change, the first suit of its kind filed at the European Court of Human Rights. California is suing the largest oil companies for misleading the public about the risks associated with burning fossil fuels. This began in 1989 with the formation of the Global Climate Coalition, an advocacy group to promote the fossil fuel sector and cast doubt on climate science. In British Columbia, West Coast Environmental Law is working on a class action suit to hold Big Oil accountable for the costs associated with climate mitigation.
Article content
Culpability is the unifying theme bringing together both government and industry.
Ron Robinson, Nelson,. B.C.
Government surveys, ads are biased
Please tell Premier Danielle Smith in any way you can, that the CPP works well for all Canadians, so let’s keep our retirement money there!
The Alberta Pension Plan online survey that launched last week is incredibly biased towards APP but you can use the few freeform spaces to tell the government why you do not want an APP.
Article content
P.S. Who paid for the ad for APP on page A5 on Sept. 27th? It better not have been our tax dollars.
Sheelagh Mercier, Calgary
Sergeant-at-Arms, not government, should vet Parliamentary guests
Re: Rota’s Resignation doesn’t ease gaffe, Opinion, Sept. 27
Don Braid’s “experts in procedure,” who find it astonishing if former House of Commons Speaker Anthony Rota had not informed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office that he intended to recognize a Ukrainian-Canadian, once a member of the Waffen SS fighting against the Russians in the Second World War, are simply speculating.
Any student of Canadian government knows that the Speaker is an independent actor, elected by parliamentarians, to preside over the House of Commons. It is among the Speaker’s prerogatives to invite and acknowledge guests in the Speaker’s Gallery.
In this case, someone in the Speaker’s office appears to have erred. The solution is not for the government to step in, as the Opposition demands, but to have the office of the Sergeant-at-Arms, which is responsible for parliamentary security, do the necessary vetting.
Donald Barry, Calgary
How was daycare kitchen operating without a licence?
I was shocked to learn that Fueling Minds kitchen did not even possess a valid business licence to operate in the City of Calgary? Would this not be a part of the Department of Health inspectors’ purview to ascertain that they would have said permit when they paid their visits to inspect this facility?
Diane Chalupiak, Calgary
Share this article in your social network