Letters to the Editor, July 3, 2025: ‘Trump rolling over Canada’

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Here we go again. Donald Trump snaps his fingers, and Canada backs down. When are we going to learn? Trump has no respect for Canada now, and he’s not going to develop any if we keep putting the ball in his court. Why aren’t we cutting off the electricity the U.S.A. is buying from us, or sending our oil products to Asia or the EU? Oh, I forgot, J.T. made that impossible.

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LINDA PALMER

(We’ll be paying for J.T.’s mismanagement for awhile yet)

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Fostering anger

In the aftermath of the election, federal Conservatives seemingly intend to keep half of Canada angry. They believe this is the only way to uphold principles inspired by Trump’s America: Maintain (your) disgust … which apparently still sounds like a good idea to many on their side of the political divide. Anger seems to encourage the use of cognitive shortcuts. Adding disgust to the mix is even more destructive. Disgust appears to have the unique capacity to foster the social-cognitive dehumanization of out-group members, and it is far easier to engage in violence when targets are dehumanized. History provides plenty of examples. To quote legal scholar Geoffrey R. Stone, “We are capable of great ugliness and hatred. Let us not kid ourselves.” In examining speeches given by the leader of the official opposition, his lieutenants, and spokespersons representing political groups like the Alberta Prosperity Project, we discover that when they invoke anger plus contempt and disgust, their followers are more likely to devalue members of the out-group. This rejection of inclusive ideals is a particularly dangerous and even deadly combination. Beware of righteous anger, contempt and disgust. It is a combination that risks turning us into the very thing we loathe — the most dangerous of beasts.

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WILLIAM PERRY

(Half the country is angry, however, over the election results. And don’t mistake the role of the Official Opposition for “anger” — it’s their responsibility to hold the government to account)

Where we live

Why are there so many so-called Canadians living outside our country? Don’t they like living here? Why do we have to go and rescue them when it’s their decision to live there? If they were tourists I can see we have to help get them home, but other than that it was their decision.

D. LAMMI

(This is a never-ending debate. As things go, we help)

On our own

Perhaps if the Iranian government and its Revolutionary Guards had spent less time, resources and manpower harassing, spying, interning, and executing its own citizens, they would have been able to mount any kind of defence against the virtually unimpeded attacks by Israeli and American forces. Perhaps if the Canadian government had spent less time, resources and manpower trying to achieve a globally insignificant reduction in Canada’s globally insignificant GHG emissions, Canada would have had a GDP per capita in 2023 higher than 21st in the world, according to the World Bank. And perhaps Canada, with the world’s longest coastline by far, would today have the means to deter aggression from Russia across the Arctic, and along our virtually undefended 8,891-km long border with Trump’s United States. NATO, without the U.S., does not have the means to project power across the Atlantic or Arctic — we are on our own.

MIKE PRIARO

(The U.S. has renewed their commitment to NATO, which was critical)