Letters to the editor

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Put more police on the roads

It appears from recent reporting that politicians and police are finally taking interest in the dangerous and erratic driving practices of so many people. They are trying to relate the problem to the COVID shutdown. Drivers have been speeding, running red lights and disregarding the law  long before COVID.

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There used to be a bigger police presence on the roads. There used to be abundant speed traps. Drivers had to be cautious because you never knew when you would encounter police surveillance.

Bring this back. Reallocate funding for more police presence on the roadways. Bring on red light cameras. Aggressive driving has to end. We need safe roads now.

The answer is simple: more police presence.

Bill Calvesbert
Brantford

Overhaul old boys network

Re: Taxpayers zapped by electricity fee structure (Column, June 18)

To the obvious points stated in this column let’s add that we sell (actually give away would be more appropriate ) our excess hydro to the U.S. for pennies while we pay high rates. How many millions do we pay in wages , bonuses and perks to the executives of Hydro One and all of its affiliates, while our hydro infrastructure gets neglected?

We need a complete overhaul and dismantling of this old boys network.

Steve Whines,
Brantford

Ryerson not all bad

Recently, I saw a news clip of a mob toppling the impressive bronze statue of Egerton Ryerson at his namesake university in Toronto. It had been previously vandalized. More recently, there was a brief news item that its bronze severed head is now impaled on a stake in Caledonia.

The new report was almost sanguine, and there was no reference to overt lawlessness. There was a tone of neutrality approaching approval. There was no reported mention of any disapproval or discouragement of any such perpetrators on the part of Ryerson University itself, implying a tacit commendation.

If educational institutions are considered assets to Ontario society, then to that degree at least, Ryerson deserves a good beneficent memory and a permanent monument cast in bronze, I’d say. He always has been known as the father of our public educational system.

Ross Bateman,
Langton

Change the rules

The defection of Green MP Jenica Atwin to the Liberal party has reignited debate on the propriety of such moves. Reaction? It is either outrage (a betrayal of voters) or considered a tempest in a teapot.

There is a simple solution. It is to amend the Elections Act and any other legislation as necessary to require voters to indicate if their choice of candidate is for the candidate personally, the party or the party leader. Voters could select only one of the first two options, but could indicate both party and leader. Choosing anything in addition to the candidate personally and their ballot is spoiled.

If a majority of the candidate’s electors voted for him or her on a personal basis, then he or she is free to cross the floor without betraying or abandoning their electorate. In the absence of a majority being personal support or if the vote was for the party and/or leader, the MP must resign their seat and run in a byelection as a candidate for their newly preferred party.

End of debate.

Mike Alain,
Ottawa