Today's letters: Ottawa's homeless need an income source

Saturday, March 23: A guaranteed basic income would solve a litany or problems, along with a proper dose of compassion, readers say. You can write to us too, at [email protected]

Published Mar 23, 2024 • Last updated 21 hours ago • 10 minute read

A homeless person sleeps in the ByWard Market in Ottawa in February, 2024. The lack of affordable housing has put so many people into poverty. Photo by Jean Levac /POSTMEDIA

How about a guaranteed basic income for the poor?

Re: Rynor, Ottawa’s homeless — let’s do better than just shelter, March 20.

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What a wonderful commentary by Becky Rynor. The lack of affordable housing has put so many people into poverty, dependent on some form of shelter and the kindness of charities to feed them. More housing is desperately needed for those individuals and families who now live in subsidized motel rooms as well as privately owned but poorly maintained pest-and mould-ridden apartments.

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It would be so much better if the federal government would directly fund municipalities to provide those living below the poverty line with a basic income to allow at least most people to sustain themselves with dignity. The provinces and municipalities have a role to play in cooperation with the federal government, to ensure that a guaranteed living basic income would not remove the essential extras which those on disability supports require once that guaranteed basic income is instituted.

Past studies have shown that being lifted from poverty allows more people to gain the education to find work suited to their capacities, whether mental or physical, and to contribute to their communities.

A forum to examine basic income will be held at uOttawa from May 23 to26 at uOttawa. Registration is open (https://forum2024.ca/registration/)

Carolyn Herbert, Nepean

We’ve lost sight of compassion

Neither homelessness nor the lack of affordable housing is causing the malaise in our world today. These are merely symptoms of a larger problem resulting from the shift in ideology that has been eroding our social fabric over the past 30 years.

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Whereas life was once good and we could afford a collective social conscience, today, because the economic pie is shrinking, it’s everyone for themselves. As a society we are increasingly chasing profits and competing, which leads to an environment of “winners” and “losers.” Outrageously high rents and food prices, the stealth privatization of our health-care system, housing focused on the luxury market — these are but a few examples of our “Brave New World” (with my apologies to Aldous Huxley).

Catherine Devonport, Ottawa

Mulroney’s family was impressive

Re: Public respects for former PM, March 20.

After Brian Mulroney’s lying in state for two days in Ottawa, it was symbolically fitting that prior to the hearse and family vehicles leaving for Montreal, they did a drive past on Parliament Hill, for this was Mulroney’s second home. Aside from his family, it was politics that was his passion and that took him from humble beginnings to the global stage.

Anyone watching or attending the lying in state probably came to the conclusion that his real and enduring gift was his family. His family, probably due to Mila’s good taste, handled and orchestrated this sad and difficult occasion with great discipline and class. Although the former prime minister won’t be back on the Hill, there could easily be a future prime minister amongst his impressive legacy: his children.

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Douglas Cornish, Ottawa

The Mulroney family has class

How do we conduct ourselves when faced with the inevitable?

Tuesday afternoon was bitterly cold. I waited in line to show my respects to Brian Mulroney, 18th prime minister of Canada. The progress through a maze of barriers was painfully slow.

Inside the Sir John A. Macdonald Building, the security screening was tedious. There was yet another lineup in the foyer. I whispered to myself, “patience is a gift.” Finally, the doors to the reception chamber opened.

To my amazement, Mila Mulroney and her four children were standing in a greeting line. Totally surprised, at a loss for poetic words, I expressed my condolences to Mila and her children and thanked them for being here. Throughout the lying in state, they showed courage, grace and deportment at a very poignant moment.

Mila and Brian Mulroney should be very proud of their family. A class act, one we should all aspire too.

Brendan Hennigan, Ottawa

Fossil fuels aren’t the main culprit

Re: Van Geest, City of Ottawa must stop accepting fossil-fuel advertising — now, March 18.

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The article by an Ecology Ottawa official objects to the notion that export of Canadian liquid natural gas will reduce global emissions. This is a classic case of the perfect being the enemy of the good.

If coal is replaced in Asia by Canadian LNG, that may be less than perfection, but will obviously reduce global emissions. Global consumption will only be reduced by addressing demand, not supply. When will the eco-Puritans realize this?

John Edmond, Ottawa

Why not replace dirtier fuels?

A great many places in the world use coal, wood and more polluting fuels than what Canada offers. By exporting what we have, we are replacing use of these dirtier alternatives. How can this be a bad thing?

Not ideal, true. But is it better to burn the old dirty fuels when we can help now? Let’s do what we can now, practically speaking.

So I must take issue with the writer from Ecology Ottawa who has framed promotion of fossil-fuel exports as a black-and-white proposition. It is not, since the transition away from fossil fuels will take decades. Right now, we can export cleaner fuels and help immediately to reduce global pollution.

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Jay Miller, Ottawa

What’s your plan, Mr. Poilievre?

Re: Poilievre to force confidence vote over looming carbon tax increase, March 20.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre wants to have an election on cutting the “carbon tax.” I think that everyone would like to do that — if it were possible.

In a way, he is asking to contest the election on climate change. Unfortunately, he does not have a platform on that subject. I don’t know what he likes so much about tornadoes, wild fires, floods, droughts and the like. These are very costly events that affect all us, including those in agriculture.

Without this tax on pollution, costs are likely to increase much more than under our current situation.

Stephen Silcox, Ottawa

Poilievre: slogans, not solutions

Pierre Poilievre is big on slogans but thin on solutions. If his common-sense Conservatives axe the tax, what are his plans to reduce carbon emissions? I am all for spiking the hike; thinking of paying more for gas, heating and food is frankly discouraging. But what are his concrete plans for paying for new houses and fixing the budget? Amid all this rhetoric how does he propose to stop the crime?

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If Poilievre wants to bring down the government, he will need to have concrete solutions for Canadians to understand. Because right now it’s a devil-you-know situation.

Marie-Lyne Fréchette, Orléans

Axe the tax, or Cool the drool?

At every turn, Pierre Poilievre loves to bellow his mantras “Axe the tax” and “Spike the hike.” The Liberal party should not let a golden opportunity pass by to join in the levity and reply in kind.

I humbly suggest the following, and enjoin any of my frivolous friends to chip in: “Stuff the guff,” “Cool the drool,” “Pull the bull,” “Toss the dross,” “Check the dreck,” “Block the crock” …

Robert Soucy, Ottawa

Carbon tax is ‘cost of polluting’

Re: Letter, We’re not naïve about carbon taxes, March 19.

This letter-writer fails to understand the basics of Economics 101 and Behavioural Economics.

Under the first concept, if you want to reduce the demand on a certain product, you raise the price — and if you want to encourage the demand to go to another product, you reduce the price. In the case of carbon taxes, the free-market route is to indeed increase the price of fossil fuels.

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In Canada, the government decided to then take the money received and give it back —but at a different time, thus disassociating the taking of the monies and the giving back of these monies. This is where Behaviour Economic kicks in: “Ouch, the price of gas has gone up” and then later “Oh what do I do with this extra money?”

In this case, it may be that a person has no choice but to put it right back into purchasing gas. However, in most cases, people can use the money to purchase cheaper and/or alternate products.

The trouble is that quite a lot of people do not even know that they are getting a rebate and secondly, they appear to be unable to connect the dots between the pricing of pollution (carbon tax) and the use of the rebate to shift to another product. The government has, from the very beginning, done a poor job in creating a convincing and informative communication package so that the population can better understand these concepts.

Finally, the so-called carbon tax is only one of more than 50 strategies being employed to fight climate change in Canada. It nevertheless is a good free-market solution but it certainly has attracted a huge and outsized negative reaction, mainly because of the word “tax.” Maybe it should have been called the “cost of polluting.”

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J. Ted Legg, Almonte

Tick that box for organ donation

Re: ‘I want to live so badly’: How Zach Colton survived for years without a bite to eat, March 16.

The about article about Zachary Colton living and surviving with hollow visceral myopathy, a rare disease, was both moving and inspiring. Zachary recently underwent a desperately needed five-organ transplant which will now allow him to live a normal life. To Zachary and your family, I wish you well.

This is a stark reminder to everyone filling out your income taxes or renewing your driver’s licences. Please tick the box YES to organ and tissue donation. Help save a life.

Janet Martin-Salmon, Orléans

Why is Ottawa a trucker short-cut?

Re: Let’s change course on building a Kettle Island bridge, March 20.

Patrick Bendin’s column is critical of “old thinking” that won’t solve the bridge problem. He does not, however, analyze the nature of the problem. Surely it mostly is huge tractor trailers, or 18-wheelers as they are often called, that clog Ottawa’s downtown traffic.

So the question becomes: why are these large beasts permitted to cross the Ottawa River at any point, let alone close to Canada’s national capital? For the most part, they transport goods back and forth between Laval and Toronto. Should Ottawa continue to facilitate this disruptive short-cut? It should not.

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Nevertheless, the genuine needs of trucks emanating from, say, northern Quebec need to be considered. These trucks could be allowed to continue crossing at the Macdonald-Cartier bridge based on a special permit. As for all other trucks, “Ottawa” could give notice that it intends to introduce a restriction within one or two years. This action would at the very least help to revive downtown Ottawa, which is in such desperate need of resuscitation.

Even if a tunnel were to be an appropriate solution, how long would it be before it was built? And who would suffer in the meantime?

Andrew Lumsden, Ottawa

East-end bridge is badly needed

Patrick Bendin’s thesis that “old thinking” will not solve the bridge problem is seriously flawed. We need a bridge in the east end more than ever, to alleviate downtown traffic. Our remaining five links are aging fast.

The east-end population is growing by leaps and bounds and needs to get across the Ottawa River without going downtown. We need that new bridge sooner than we realize.

Nicole Beauchamp, Ottawa

Don’t ignore Kettle Island biome

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Cue Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi.”

The article about the bridge is another discussion of The Kettle Island/Upper and Lower Duck Island proposals with nary a word on the fragility of the biome of this piece of paradise.

No one with first-hand experience of this natural area would ever propose paving it over to accommodate the King Edward Avenue rush hour traffic. And yet enviro-blind people keep bringing it up.

I will add that all three islands have shorelines and interiors littered with trash and discards. We should be cleaning them up and posting more “no dumping” advisories.

Thomas Brawn, Orléans

French high school thrives on St. Patrick

Re: Central Ottawa urgently needs a French-language high school, March 19.

I’m not sure what the writer is referring to when he states there is no French high school in the city core, as École secondaire publique De La Salle has been on Old St. Patrick Street for more than 25 years and was founded in 1971. It is the flagship school of the French public school board of Eastern Ontario (CEPEO), and a francophone centre of artistic culture in Ottawa.

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Perhaps he meant there was no French Catholic high school in the city core — but an amalgamation of public and Catholic school systems in Ontario would solve the equity issue he advocates for.

Monika Ferenczy, Ottawa

Will Sens ever be contenders?

Bruce Garrioch often writes about our Ottawa Senators embracing the spoiler role. I’m getting tired of them doing that year after year. It would be nice if they could start embracing the contender role one of these years.

Bob McRae, Aylmer

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