More rate hikes? Plus other letters, June 7: ‘Do they look back to 1933 and the Great Depression for the ideal scenario?’

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Got receipts

Re “David Johnston’s lead counsel on foreign interference probe attended Trudeau fundraiser in 2021″ (June 6): Sheila Block has spent decades honing a reputation for honesty and integrity. She is known for providing sound judgment to all her clients.

To me, David Johnston undoubtedly chose his counsel for these attributes, and not as a result of any modest Liberal donations she may have made along the way. Any suggestion to the contrary feels ridiculous and, frankly, takes away from the serious issues raised by Chinese interference.

Dan MacDonald Mississauga

The message from Sheila Block’s donations (less than $500 per year): Contributing to a political party can be a career-limiting move.

What would happen if we all just stopped? Mr. Poilievre, Mr. Singh: Any ideas?

Ab Dukacz Mississauga

Political forecast

Re “Canada’s no good, very bad summer is just getting started” (Opinion, June 3): Danielle Smith may have won a majority of seats, but her margin of victory was thin. The United Conservative Party dropped many seats and many more were narrowly retained.

Several high-profile, moderate UCP candidates were defeated. Ms. Smith may be forced to cater further to her far-right base, further damaging a party brand that has suffered from her extreme views.

Coming battles with the federal government would only hurt Alberta while detracting from other problems. I have hope that moderate UCP supporters will recognize a leadership vacuum and oust Ms. Smith as party leader (lots of precedent there) or seek a home with the more centrist NDP.

Dreaming? Maybe.

Mark Roberts Gananoque, Ont.

What goes up …

Re “Bank of Canada rate hike a possibility this week, economists say” (Report on Business, June 5): “Strong economic growth and low unemployment are usually a good thing. But right now, they’re a problem for Canada’s central bankers.”

Do they look back to 1933 and the Great Depression for the ideal scenario? Not being a banker, I find this logic beyond my understanding.

Ron Sigler Lasalle, Que.

Re “The Bank of Canada let housing run amok in 2021 – now it needs to act by raising rates” (Report on Business, June 6): The fact that high interest rates have not prevented house prices from surging proves to me that insufficient supply, and not low rates, is the main reason behind it.

Raising rates further may dampen prices somewhat, but not make housing more affordable. Higher rates would mean higher mortgage payments, higher rents and less construction.

The Bank of Canada could meaningfully reduce prices by raising rates so high as to cause a deep and long recession. Eventually the economy would recover – and prices would shoot right back up again.

The only real fix I see for the housing crisis is a drastic increase in supply.

Eric Stutz Toronto

Get going

Re “What’s the right number of immigrants for Canada?” (Report on Business, June 5): To determine the right number of immigrants, one should first determine the population level desired. Then, as critics point out, the other consideration is the need to increase per capita GDP.

Suppose it is calculated that 50,000 immigrants are needed in five years. That means today we should begin building communities for them, in a culturally appropriate manner depending on where they are from. That would be a far cry from the overpriced, monolithic façades pushed right up to the sidewalks on Surrey streets cheek by jowl.

This building should begin five years before arrival. Sorry, but we are out of basement suites to cram immigrants into, a sorry existence in contrast to promises of a better life in Canada.

Kathleen McCroskey Surrey, B.C.

Point made

Re “The real costs of gender-based violence in Canada” (Opinion, June 3): Thanks to contributor Eliza Robertson, I now have all the information I need to defend the landfill search for Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran.

I feel well prepared to respond whenever someone questions the cost of or need for such a search. And I will respond.

Protecting all women, and Indigenous women and girls in particular, should be a priority.

Carol Angus Toronto

Day to day

Re “Families are being left to wander in Canada’s child-care desert” (Editorial, June 3): We find that your editorial doesn’t paint a full picture.

The problem of high-cost, low-quality and hard-to-access child care was not caused by our plan. It’s the reason our plan exists. Building from scratch a national system of child care is a multiyear endeavour.

Creating spaces, hiring staff and improving wages takes time, but Canadians know that $10-a-day is not just a “slogan.” For hundreds of thousands of families, it’s already a reality.

In April, ahead of schedule, nearly half of all provinces and territories achieved $10-a-day on average for regulated child care. The others have already reduced fees by 50 per cent.

Fifty-thousand new spaces are being delivered, with 250,000 to be created by March 31, 2026. Provinces can – and should – create more. Tax credits are one layer of support, but they do not create new spaces.

Conservatives tried tax credits – our plan is actually delivering.

Chrystia Freeland Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance; Ottawa

Karina Gould Minister of Families, Children, and Social Development; Ottawa

Not all parents in poverty want daycare. Should they be forced to use it? No.

They should, however, get funding for the “child care” they do arrange.

Beverley Smith Calgary

Read it again

Re “National medical organizations call on premiers to focus on health care reform” (June 5): I have been reading this same report on the inadequacy of our health care system over and over again for years.

I am utterly disillusioned and deeply puzzled as to why neither governments nor professional governing bodies have been able to overhaul the system. It seems that so much training, expertise and daily familiarity with the issues have not been applied; intransigence persists.

With its growth and popularity, perhaps artificial intelligence should get a go at it.

Jill Kannegiesser Toronto

Lost on it

Re “Will AI really change everything? Not likely” (June 5): There are moments in psychotherapy when the therapist engages with poet John Keats’s negative capability, which is “being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason.”

Artificial intelligence cannot do negative capability because it is programmed to grasp for fact and reason. The art of psychotherapy cannot be replaced by AI.

And let us say: amen.

Ken Hundert Registered psychotherapist, Toronto

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