Letters to the editor

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Traffic trouble

Whose brilliant idea was it to make the left-turn lane at the corner of Memorial Drive and North Park Street?

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Letters to the editor Back to video

There is no need for a left-turn lane. I live on Tranquility Street and drive on Memorial every day. There are always delivery vehicles in front of the townhouses and picking up and dropping off in front of the apartment building. So, you almost have to go into the turning lane to get across the intersection.

Why not make it straight and/or turning? Honestly, I cannot believe that someone thought of creating a left-turn lane.

Sylvia Dicesare
Brantford

Antiquated registration system

The very long wait times at testing centres are not just a result of patient volume. They are also a result of an antiquated registration system. Each person must be registered by hand. It is long past time for an online form that can be filled in when an individual registers online. Only people unable to do so would have to be registered in the slow and laborious way now in use. It isn’t the swab that takes the time, it is the paperwork!

Dianne Iverson
Mount Pleasant

One for the collection

Re: Technocratic tyranny (Letter, Sept. 22)

As a humble frog in a blizzard of warm water, I salute the letter writer for his fun with cliches. However, I have been banned from sending his letters to our daughter in Vancouver. I will be keeping them in my collection.

Edie Lewis
Brantford

Can’t afford another shutdown

Yes, coronavirus cases are on the rise, but the province and city cannot afford to shut down businesses for a second time.

It is very easy for a politician like Doug Ford to issue stern warnings about not wanting to close up the economy, but the truth is that he cannot — the province will never recover for years to come. Health experts, politicians and many in the media seem to thrive on painting a dire picture of Ontario and the country as a whole. I imagine it is good for ratings and it makes it look like they care. However, these birds are getting paid full salaries while many service industry workers and small business owners suffer the consequences of being unemployed and facing possible bankruptcy.

Remember a large portion of these cases involve people of a young age and the risk of their demise is extremely low. Never let a good crisis go to waste, I guess.

Stephen Flanagan,
Ottawa

Islamic History Month

We hear much of serious racist incidents for our neighbour the United States of America. Here in Canada we, too, must address this serious social issue.

The racism is not limited to the Black community. It is revealing that in October 2007 Parliament declared October as Islamic History Month. This was positive government action to increase good understanding and positive relations with our minority Muslim citizens. Normally, the Muslim community leaders would organize varied activities to increase intercultural, interracial and inter-religious understanding with the public at large. With the current restrictions, on account of the pandemic, we will have to be creative in the Islamic history program.

I was privileged to be at the foundation of the special month for Islam and I intend to send good greetings to another foundation member who is an Imam in a mosque here in Ottawa. It should be noted that a similar month for the Blacks in February is organized by the Black community. It is positive months like these that we may publicly assist to counteract racism in multicultural Canada.

Roman Mukerjee,
Ottawa