Today’s letters: Canada Post is the backbone of charitable contributions

Sharon McKeen, Medicine Hat, Alta.

Re: Denley, Greed and deceit robbed Renfrew of better hospital care, June 11.

Can someone please explain to me how “finding alternative ways to supplement executive compensation … while circumventing regulatory disclosure obligations” is NOT an example of breaching one’s fiduciary duty, as auditor Altaf Stationwala states? If legal memos are being used as an excuse, then perhaps the lawyers should be investigated too.

Paul Anderson, Manotick

Re: Menard, Lansdowne 2.0 would cost more but offer much less, June 9.

I am very disappointed by Mayor Mark Sutcliffe’s action to sideline Coun. Shawn Menard’s recent motion for a referendum on Lansdowne 2.0. Sutcliffe has indicated that a referendum was not necessary for the LRT nor for the new library but, folks, that is because Ottawa’s citizens overwhelmingly favoured both of those projects (even though we are now rueing the day we allowed the LRT to be built).

Not many cities would leave historic architecture to deteriorate and gather dust. Ottawa could, I suppose, charge tourists to look at its dilapidated buildings, but is that fiscally responsible, feasible or even justified?

The nation’s capital desperately needs an institution similar to the National Trust in the United Kingdom, which is mandated to preserve historic buildings. There is the NCC, but its mandate isn’t broad enough, and there have been notable blunders, such as historic houses in Rockcliffe and 24 Sussex Drive.

The key word in Britain’s National Trust is the word “trust.” This is the foundation of preserving the story of history through architecture. If there is no trust and effort to preserve a city’s history, then is there really a so-called history to the city, or simply an ugly sprawl with a hodgepodge of run-down and neglected buildings?

Canada needs to be better than this.

Melanie Gall, Nepean

Someone wrote, “Feed Me” in big red letters on the wall of the National Holocaust Monument. The police are investigating the vandalism as a hate and bias crime. I disagree.

There is no hate in the sentiment “feed me.”There is no bias in abhorring the weaponizing of food. To conflate anti-Israeli sentiment with antisemitism is a desperate political ploy. We understand the difference between a government initiative and a religious doctrine.

A barrier, controlled by Israel, separates Israel and Gaza. On one side, parents are taking their children to ice cream parlours. A few kilometres away, parents are watching their children die of starvation. Not because there isn’t any food, but because they aren’t allowed to have it.

Israel’s stated objectives are to bring the hostages home and to destroy Hamas. Hamas’s objective is to destroy Israel. After 20 months of war, there are still 56 hostages in captivity, Israel still exists and Hamas has plenty of fodder for a new generation of fighters.

I had the unfortunate experience of taking the O-Train recently. Having boarded at Rideau station and entering the curve towards uOttawa, I noted that the bogie chassis were shaking so violently I thought the train was going to derail. Children were crying because the noise was hurting their ears. The LRT trains have not been fixed. The city will be fortunate if there isn’t a major derailment.

The truth of the matter is that Amilcar has gutted both train and bus reliability to save costs, not improve the transit system for commuters.

Jim Donnely, Ottawa

Re: White, My mother, a schizophrenic, is slipping through the cracks, June 9.

Now is the perfect time to add mental health to the public health-care list.

As but one survivor of a mental health-challenged parent, I am not unique in this request. My own mother lived with serious mental and emotional problems. She never got adequate care. She was often shunned by people in our extended family.