New year wishes
As we approach the new year, my wish for Canada is that labour power continues to increase and consolidate for the benefit of the majority of working Canadians. This trend is long overdue after too many years when business leaders seeking ever increasing corporate profits did their best to destroy good paying jobs and create a new class of working poor. We all know that a healthy and growing middle class creates a more equitable society where we reduce the stranglehold that the one percenters have on the rest of Canadians. Living wages for all in 2024!
Charles Campisi, Oakville
Letters on The Star’s editorial page in the last week have illustrated the good deeds and community-building efforts of readers. As we reflect on times past, and the opportunities that 2024 may offer, it is time for us to bring about transformative changes that will enable our neighbours who must go to food banks, or work multiple jobs, for example, to flourish. We can build a wave of positive energy that will encourage those who are in power to work collaboratively for the common good, rather than cater to the power and privilege of the few. In 2024, I hope we can convince those who are elected to public offices to serve with integrity, and look to the interests and dreams of the wider community instead of their own.
Allan Baker, Scarborough
With the new year approaching, it is time to reflect on all that has passed this year — the good and the bad, lessons we’ve learned as we’ve grown a bit older, our happy moments, etc. The new year is a time to appreciate the start of a new chapter of our lives and move forward from the past year with good intentions. By creating new goals, having new ambitions and a fresh mindset, we can hope for an even better year in 2024!
Annam Salam, Toronto
Mountie must face consequences
Allegations of police wrongdoings are upsetting. We trust that police officers take their oath of service seriously and work assiduously to protect our safety and security. This extends, of course, to showing humanity, decency and respect to all human beings they encounter. Policing is hard work, no doubt, but breaches of our trust must be uncovered and there must be consequences. Police must be commended for outing the misbehaviour of one of their own.
Stéphane Lefebvre, Ottawa
The left must unite
Want to see Doug Ford and Pierre Poilievre lose? Then the left needs to get its act together, Dec. 29
I couldn’t agree more with columnist Martin Regg Cohn’s assertion that the NDP and Liberal parties should unite. It seems ludicrous that the vote on the right side of the political spectrum is always united while the vote on the left side is always split in two. It wouldn’t be too much to suggest that the separation of the Liberal and NDP has deprived many Canadians of the fair and proper representation they might otherwise enjoy.
Scott Kennedy, Toronto
Amen to columnist Martin Regg Cohen’s prayer! If the right can unite, so can the left. Cohen tries to make the idea palatable to Liberals and NDP by suggesting “Liberal Democrats” or “New Liberals,” but why not just call the spade a spade and call them “The Progressive Party of Canada?” If proportional representation is nowhere in sight, then the Liberal and NDP parties, provincially and federally, simply must form a block of progressives to defeat the block of regressives.
Salvatore (Sal) Amenta, Stouffville
Columnist Martin Regg Cohn’s laudable proposal would be much more likely to gain traction if the federal leaders of the progressive parties were both women. While I would happily declare myself a Liberal Democrat, this much I know to be true: the best federal governments, to date, have been Liberal governments propped up by the NDP, who serve as an auxiliary conscience. The best provincial governments, at least in recent times, have been New Democrat governments, who can be counted on to be humane and who rarely get mired in scandal, such as Saskatchewan’s Roy Romanow, Manitoba’s Edward Schreyer, British Columbia’s John Horgan and David Eby, and hopefully, Manitoba’s Wab Kinew. This view supports Marit Styles more than it does Bonnie Crombie, though the formula to defeat Ford is for them to work together.
Ron Charach, Toronto
Just writing in to thank columnist Martin Regg Cohn for his excellent column on the need for unity among progressive politicians in Canada, both federally and in Ontario. Regg Cohn has made an excellent argument in favour of uniting “the left.” I hope that all progressive voters and politicians read his column and listen to the point he makes. I’ll reiterate Cohn’s last sentence: “It kills me to watch Liberals and New Democrats killing each other, splitting hairs while splitting votes, driving the left apart while delivering power to a united right.” If the status quo does not change, a Pierre Poilievre federal era is inevitable, as well as more years with Doug Ford as Ontario’s premier.
Julie Giguere, Mississauga
Remembering Harry Rosen
I was saddened to learn of Harry Rosen’s death. I certainly was not amongst his list of wealthy or celebrity customers just a regular guy who shopped occasionally at Harry’s iconic shops over the years, and yet he knew my name and even my dress clothing preferences from a limited number of meetings.
When my younger daughter was at Toronto Metropolitan University, our family was invited to a reception where Rosen was being honoured. I was walking out of the meeting lounge just as Rosen was walking in. Sociable and affable, he suggested that I should keep him company directing me back into the crowded room.
When my daughter was getting married, my wife instructed me to help our future son-in-law choose a suit for the big day. I took him to Harry Rosen on Bloor Street for his first and only suit assisted by a suit expert. There was no man at the reception who was better tailored than our daughter’s new husband.
I know the company is under the capable direction so his legacy is assured.
Jerry Hom, Toronto
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