ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½

In a recent interview, Mayor Olivia Chow criticized local resistance to a proposed homeless shelter for seniors. She ended with an emotional, “These are your grandparents!”

These are seniors who have no permanent homes. They lack the anchor of safety and security many of us take for granted. Many live transient, chaotic lives. Consequently, they are traumatized, probably malnourished, physically ill and possibly suffering from addiction and mental health issues.

And what is the city’s response? ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½less shelters. Thus perpetuating a cycle of homelessness and despair.

More temporary shelters are not the answer. These seniors need and deserve a permanent residence and a place to call home.

Trish Plant, ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½

Why is Ontario giving millions to a $67B company for a risky project?

Why is Doug Ford’s government handing public money to TC Energy — a company with a net worth of nearly $50 billion — to fund pre-development for a pumped storage project on protected land in Meaford, Ont.?

This project threatens the pristine waters of Georgian Bay and the Niagara Escarpment, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Meanwhile, the IESO has questioned its value to Ontario ratepayers and identified more cost-effective alternatives.

This massive corporate subsidy could instead build homes or improve critical infrastructure in Grey-Bruce County. Instead, we’re propping up a project with dubious public benefit, significant environmental risks, and an incomplete environmental assessment.

Ontario taxpayers deserve better oversight, not giveaways to corporations known for environmental disasters.

Therese Defoy, Meaford, Ont.

Is lowering the voting age to 16 really a wise move?

A young shooter is found not guilty of a killing outside a ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ school, leaving a trail of questions, July 17

There’s been a sharp renewal in the movement to reducing the voting age requirement to 16. I read Rosie DiManno’s powerful column about a decision by Canada’s Supreme Court regarding a key part of the Youth Criminal Justice Act, and something she said struck me.

DiManno wrote about, “the fundamental principle that youths don’t think like adults, don’t make mature decisions and generally shouldn’t be held to the same standard in criminal proceedings, nor punished to the same degree.”

There’s plenty of clinical and research evidence backing this concept. However, it seems to be absent from the reasoning of those who advocate strongly to have the voting age lowered to 16.

Can society have it both ways?

Bernard Katz, ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½

CEO’s performance bonus begs the question: For what?

Here’s how much the new Metrolinx CEO will get paid — plus his potential performance bonuses, July 23

I am left scratching my head about why a CEO making $650,000 a year also qualifies for an additional 20 per cent bonus? What is the bonus for?

As a carpenter, I get hired to install a door or build a cabinet and I do the best I can because that is what I am being paid for and what is expected.

I don’t expect a bonus for simply doing my job. I might be more amenable to the idea of bonuses if there was a clause in overpaid CEO’s contracts stating that if they underperform they will have 20 per cent deducted from their salary.

Joseph Vorstermans, ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½

Trump’s executive order targeting unhoused is assault on civil liberties

Donald Trump’s new executive order targeting unhoused people is a grotesque assault on civil liberties and an unmistakable echo of history’s darkest chapters. By greenlighting mass institutionalization and criminalizing poverty, addiction and mental illness Trump is dusting off the fascist playbook.

Civil commitment without consent? Crackdowns on outdoor sleeping and “urban loitering?�

This is not compassion; it’s calculated cruelty.

ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½less people are not criminals. They are neighbours, veterans, seniors, disabled citizens failed by our system. If we do not speak now, this government-sanctioned purge of the poor will expand into something even more sinister.

Christopher Larkin, Latrobe, Penn.

Opening completed parts of Eglinton LRT makes more sense than waiting

Finally, the Eglinton Crosstown looks set to open. You’ll be disappointed when it does, June 10

Yes, the huge increases in cost and never-ending delays of the Eglinton LRT fiasco are excruciating. But what is even more intolerable is the decision to defer the opening of the system until all of the line is ready for business.

The greatest congestion and delays on surface routes are concentrated at the core, as one approaches Eglinton-West (from the west) and Yonge (from both east and west).  Just imagine all the happy TTC riders if they could have been comfortably and effectively riding the central east/west section (for example between Keele-Eglinton and Laird) a year or two early. The east/west line could then have been incrementally expanded to Jane-Eglinton and Don Mills when those section were ready, and so on.

It makes no sense to delay partial openings in the central areas while waiting years for the entire line to be opened.

This premise of gradually building and operating a new subway system in the most congested portions and then expanding it outward provides early and substantial benefits, with little if any additional cost.

It should be applied to all new subway or LRT development, including the Ontario Line.

Dennis Choptiany, Markham

The cost of illegally cutting down a tree needs to be harsh

Neighbours accuse ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ builder of gaming system to uproot beloved tree for parking pad, July 26

Some additional ideas to help protect the city’s tree canopy: Increase the fine for illegally removing a protected tree to $1,000,000; ownership of any property where a tree has been illegally removed should automatically revert to the City of ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ to build housing; and reduce the threshold for tree protection from a 0.3 metre trunk diameter to 0.2 metre, and 1.2 metres above the existing grade.

Canada’s forests are burning. ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ is experiencing relentless heat waves and needs more housing. The penalty for cutting down a tree should never be considered “the cost of doing business.â€�

I dare City Hall to adopt these measures.

Harold B. Smith, ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½