Liberal outlook plus other letters, July 10: For Justin Trudeau, he would do well to remember there is no I in team – The Globe and Mail

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrives for the NATO 75th Anniversary celebratory event at the Mellon Auditorium in Washington, D.C., on July 9.BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/Getty Images

Re U.S. plans to press Canada, other NATO allies at summit to meet 2% spending target (July 9): Canada will be grilled about financial commitments. Canada should go beyond GDP numbers.

Our massive land mass compared to the United States is roughly the same, but our population is not. We cant be expected to similarly maintain physical and communication infrastructure with much lower tax contributions from individuals and companies.

The remaining Group of Seven countries are smaller in size with larger populations. Metro Tokyo alone has approximately the same population as Canada.

Forget an apples and oranges comparison of countries. In the G7, we have a grape population in a watermelon land.

Alice Marshall Peterborough, Ont.

Re When Liberals talk about Poilievre, Trudeau drowns out the sound (July 9): One should take the recent ditch the Liberals, turf Trudeau polls with a grain of salt, particularly considering the recent Toronto-St. Pauls by-election results whereby only 43.5 per cent of the eligible 84,934 voters turned out.

A close race was also watered down by numerous questionable candidates fomenting a sound and fury of nothing. It was a Conservative victory to be sure, but the contest was so close that it may indeed reflect how the nation votes once we get down to it.

For the Conservatives, please do not continue to slag Canada as broken. For the Liberals, it would be a fraught time to stay the course.

For Justin Trudeau, he would do well to remember there is no I in team.

Marian Kingsmill Hamilton

Re Seeing energy policy only through the lens of climate change? That time is over (Report on Business, July 3): Thanks for reporting on the survey of Canadian perspectives on energy and climate change. What, if anything, are respondents doing to counteract affordability concerns?

Are they driving a hybrid or electric vehicle? Do they heat with high-efficiency gas or heat pump? Are their attic and basement walls insulated? Have they switched to LED lights? Do they turn off the lights, radio and television when not in use?

The payback on some of these choices may not be prompt. We can do them now or do them later, but they are going to have to be done.

Brian Yawney Toronto

Re As artificial intelligence rises, data-centre costs spiral. Quantum is the solution (Report on Business, July 3): I read about quantum computing nearly my whole IT career at a major company, but it has so far not achieved operation at scale and forever seems just around the corner.

We should keep focused on the objective: finding solutions to problems for companies and society, be they corporate efficiency goals, climate change initiatives or new medical treatments, among others.

Quantum computing offers the promise of addressing issues quickly with less resource consumption. Traditional computing is now powerful enough to run large language model artificial intelligence to do the same.

But neither is a panacea. Quantum computing, as powerful as it is, would be able to unlock encryption algorithms and compromise security. Traditional computing requires massive amounts of electricity.

Being an optimist, I believe well muddle through and find innovative methods to address our collective requirements. And it will use neither current computing nor quantum computing, but some combination thereof.

John Madill Oshawa, Ont.

Re Ontario gets it right with advertising and news businesses (July 3): Governments at all levels across Canada should prioritize Canadian news publications when placing government advertising, as it can be a vital lifeline for news publishers. Supporting our domestic news industry is critical to sustaining high-quality, fact-based journalism.

However, government advertising should be informative to the public and not veer into partisanship. I believe Ontario got it wrong with its recent $8-million Its happening here ad campaign, which appears to be more about making the government look good rather than providing useful information to Ontarians.

While promoting provincial pride has merit, ads with little substantive content, especially during challenging economic times, should raise questions about the Ford governments priorities and use of millions of taxpayer dollars for communications bordering on political promotion. Partisan promotion should be seen as a misuse of public money, regardless of which party is in power.

ric Blais Toronto

Re Alice Munro betrayed us, and her legacy (July 9): Alice Munro was my first literary hero, Lives of Girls and Women a revelation to me at a tender age. There was no greater compliment than being told ones attempts at fiction were Munrovian.

However excellent, her writing is now tainted for me, her words deceptive, her honours, accolades and adulation undeserved. For me, there is no hand-wringing angst over trying to separate art from artist, no need to defend her talent. I dont want to read work by someone who chose her predatory husband and literary fame over her own daughters safety.

Ms. Munro is no hero to me; if she is now notorious because of her unwillingness to help her daughter heal, then I believe it is deserved.

It seems that all the adults in Andrea Skinners life failed her. Less importantly, Ms. Munros hypocrisy in leading us to believe she had insight and empathy fails us all.

Shirley Phillips Toronto

If history is written by the victors, then revised by the disgruntled, social mores can be said to be afflicted by the reflexive disgust of bourgeois media. Mentioned are various cancel culture victims (Michael Jackson, Ezra Pound), but the lesson inherent in their enduring legacies should be: Art really is separate from the individual.

Perhaps one never liked Kevin Spacey, but has a soft spot for Roald Dahl. J.K. Rowling shaped ones childhood, but now friends say shes an enemy of the trans community. Yet when these books are reopened, the only stain to be identified is the one placed there by ones self.

Every artist has peccadilloes or worse in their background as do we all. Art transcends these, and the passing predilections of the shocked class.

Michael Devine Halifax

How can we read her again, ever? My answer to that rhetorical question would be: With something approaching reverence.

It is asserted that Alice Munros private life, now partially revealed, calls for a necessary reassessment of her work. Syllabuses, publishers plans, bookstore shelves so much rearranging to do. How about public book-burning?

The crystal clarity of Ms. Munros writing will always chime for me, her gorgeous textures will always evoke worlds.

John Metcalf, Editor, Biblioasis Ottawa

Sounds right out of an Alice Munro story.

Anne Hansen Victoria

Letters to the Editor should be exclusive to The Globe and Mail. Include your name, address and daytime phone number. Keep letters to 150 words or fewer. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. To submit a letter by e-mail, click here: letters@globeandmail.com

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Liberal outlook plus other letters, July 10: For Justin Trudeau, he would do well to remember there is no I in team - The Globe and Mail

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