Letters: Show the world a healthy democracy in action

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MP wannabes: Truly earn the title of ‘Honourable Member’

Re: PM Mark Carney expected to call federal election on Sunday, March 20.

Wouldn’t it be invigorating to have a federal election in which the various parties directed their ad campaigns at the reasonably intelligent people of our country. Instead, we will be subjected to attack ads pointed toward part of the population who believe soundclips taken out of context and pasted together to create a completely inaccurate picture of the opponent.

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Oh, for a day when parties actually tell us what they are committing themselves to do if elected, instead of constantly telling us fictitious tales of what the “other guy” will do. Come on, political leaders of this fine nation: Lift your presentations out of
the gutter and show some dignity. That is what we really want in Parliament: people who care about Canada, not just about what they can do to get elected and re-elected.

When a new Parliament finally results from the coming election, I call upon the parties to work together to raise Canada out of the mess created by a known egotist in another jurisdiction. Show the rest of the world what “government by the people” really means. Show them the best aspects of democratic rule.

Show Canadians that you really deserve the descriptor “Honourable Member.”

Gordon Cross, Renfrew

A fond farewell to an iconic fruit market

Re: ByWard Fruit Market to close this spring, March 13.

I enjoyed Bruce Deachman’s profile and history of the ByWard Fruit Market. It’s sad to read that another ByWard Market icon is soon to close after possibly 100 years in business. Isaac and Miriam Farbiasz have fought the good fight, but alas can see little reason to continue.

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I wonder if Deachman also realized Isaac had a connection to another Ottawa success story: he was the founder of the CREAM Jean Clothing Company in the 1970s, in its time one of the major fashion success stories to originate in Ottawa. The clothing was sold in many upscale clothing and department stores across Canada.

There were also popular sales held monthly and well attended at the warehouse at 95 Beech St. I recall it well, as a onetime employee who even found a wife working there.

Mazel Tov to Miriam and Isaac, and enjoy the retirement and sleeping in.

Christopher Chadsey, Ottawa

Bad management sank The Bay

Re: Will The Bay survive in downtown Ottawa — or anywhere? March 12.

The Bay’s ridiculous recent excuses for liquidating, including Covid-19, changing consumer shopping habits, and Canada-U.S. tensions, are laughable. The real reason is just plain bad management. This is the same reason Sears, Eatons, K-Mart and Target went out of business.

I have shopped at The Bay at Bayshore for years. Last winter, I went in to look for a winter jacket and they did not have my size. When I asked if they would get more jackets in, the answer was “I don’t know.” This winter, I went in to buy a winter jacket again and the same situation happened. I also looked for winter gloves (out of stock). Last summer, I looked for shoes (they did not have my size). Last fall, I looked for a fall jacket (they had only small and extra large sizes). I asked if they could get in a large for me (the answer was “I don’t know”).

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Last summer, I wanted some casual shirts. The Bay had a terribly sparse selection that was grossly overpriced. Last Fall, I needed some luggage and went into the Bay again. I looked around for more than 20 minutes and could not find one sales agent to assist me so I purchased it at another store. Customer service is almost non-existent at The Bay.

And The Bay only opens at 11 a.m., while most other stores at Bayshore open at 9 a.m. This is completely unacceptable. Make it difficult on consumers to shop and they will go elsewhere.

I feel sorry for the employees. However, good riddance to The Bay and its management team.

Dave Pinard, Ottawa

Buy up The Bay; make it all-Canadian

I am sorry to hear about Hudson’s Bay Company going out of business. Here’s an idea: The Canadian government buys it to create an all-Canadian product store. The stores may be downsized, but as Canada’s manufacturing sector grows, so will the stores!

Paul Bacon, Hallandale Beach, Fla.

The Bay drove shoppers elsewhere

I am not surprised. I predicted 13 years ago that The Bay was on its way out. The merchandise was from countries making cheap things, and in the clothing department there was a lot of dated stuff.  It used to be one of my favourite places to go because it was neat, not overstocked with unsellable items.

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The tariffs have nothing to do with it. Big-box stores came along to compete, yet the prices were as high as before. When the almighty dollar is the number one concern, people go elsewhere to do their shopping.

Therese Globensky, Ottawa

Changing consumer taste shut down The Bay

There will be all manner of theories about what went wrong with The Bay. But department stores everywhere have gone under, so it is only surprising that The Bay has held out for as long as it did.

We were lucky to have visited two of the nicest department stores in the United Kingdom, Debenham’s and Jenner’s, before they went under. Part of the problem with all of them is that the sheer variety of product brands available now, of just about everything, has exploded in the last decade. No store — even specialty
stores — can carry all the inventory and variety shoppers expect, offer display space for it, and have staff who are familiar with it.

Online retailers obviously need to have the inventory and warehouse space, but
do not need to have physical display space or knowledgeable staff.

When there were fewer choices available, it made sense to shop at a reputable
department store. How many brands of shoes or kitchenware would one select from, 40 years ago? But now that we have come to expect so much more, we’ve made it economically impossible for such stores to survive.

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Truly, WE are the ones who shut down Eaton’s, Sears, Woodward’s and The
Bay.

Mark Hammer, Ottawa

Time to cut our losses on the F-35 purchase

Re: U.S. could block Canadian attempts to buy new fighter jets to replace F-35s, warn analysts, March 18.

Having been in sales for 38 years, I have learned that when trust is broken, it is time to cut your losses and move on. Based on everything that is happening south of the 49th parallel, why would Canada move ahead with an $80-billion hardware and service purchase contract for the F-35 U.S. strike fighters?

Boeing can give all the sincere assurances to its customers for continued service, parts and software upgrades, but with one stroke of a sharpie, all those assurances would not be worth the paper they are written on. “Issues of National Security” — even imagined ones — would TRUMP everything, it seems.

Need one say more? Bring on the French Mirage, or the Gripen from Sweden.

Michael Church, Ottawa

Maybe sell off the fighter jets we’re already buying?

Prime Minister Mark Carney has just let it be known that Canada wishes to re-examine its agreement to purchase F-35 fighter jets. The problem is that some are already paid for.

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The $16 billion contract with Lockheed-Martin of the United States for Canada to purchase 88 F-35s was finalized in 2023. Could that contract be renegotiated? Not very likely, thanks to the current political climate. The biggest problem is that Canada has already funded the development of the first 16 of them.

It appears that Canada would now prefer to order the Gripen, developed by the Swedish aerospace firm Saab. But having two different fighter fleets is a problem. It requires different maintenance, different facilities and differently trained pilots. So, what might you do?

How about trying to sell those first 16 F-35s? When Australia replaced its F-18 Super Hornets with a fleet of F-35s back in 2018, it sold 25 of its Super Hornets to Canada, which needed to replace its aging regular CF-18s. Would Australia now be interested in purchasing some of our F-35s? How about the United Kingdom, South Korea and Japan, who have each lost an F-35 in crashes?

These F-35s don’t come cheaply. So trying to sell them would be tough. But, who knows? Stay tuned.

Richard Inwood, Nepean

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Our love affair with U.S. has finally gone sour

If President Donald Trump’s tariffs reduce our exports to the U.S., it is not enough to just buy Canadian. If we want to sell Canadian products to other countries, we have to consider how to buy theirs — to establish reciprocal trade relationships.

We could work with Ukraine to develop drone manufacture in Canada to get world-leading technology here and to independently help Ukraine in drone supply. Also, by working with decent countries such as Sweden, we could ink a deal on the SAAB Gripen that could be largely built in Canada while also strengthening ties with the European Union.

The U.S. is not a trusted partner and there is little evidence that this will change soon. This is like a love affair gone wrong. At some point we have to move on and seek new relationships that are good for us.

Michael Wiggin, Ottawa

Can we still join Canada’s military?

I am a 60-year-old retired elementary school teacher living in Stittsville. Never, in my adult life, did I believe I would be having a conversation with my husband about how we would protect ourselves in the event the American military invaded Canada.

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What would our options be? Are we too old to join the military? Would we be like the Ukranian grandmothers learning from Google how to make a Molotov cocktail? Former prime minister Justin Trudeau said it best: “Make that make sense!”

I can’t make sense of it. It is outrageous, crazy, ludicrous and many other adjectives. This is not normal and these are not normal times. I can only pray smarter heads and democracy prevail. Elbows Up!

Anne-Marie Little, Stittsville

Shopping Canadian hasn’t been a sacrifice

We now shop carefully and avoid anything coming from south of our border. So far, this has meant giving up lettuce, buying cashews instead of California almonds, and Sultana Raisins from Turkey instead of Thompson raisins from the United States. No big sacrifices for us.

Fenja Brodo, Ottawa

Let’s bring in more American tourists

What a great time for our chambers of commerce and Canadian tourism officials to
promote a “Welcome to Canada” campaign to our American neighbours to show their support and solidarity for our great sovereign country. I’ll bet that the number of American tourists flocking to our borders this year can be increased substantially.

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Ron Byrne, Ottawa

Let’s bring in U.S. professionals too

The present tariff conflict presents Canada with a unique opportunity to entice productive U.S. professionals and entrepreneurs who are disaffected by Donald Trump’s policies to relocate to Canada. We should target in-demand workers by offering special economic visas — perhaps using Covid-era programs as a starting point — having minimum verifiable income.

This isn’t about charity or welfare. It’s about boosting Canada’s economy with skilled, self-sufficient contributors.

Hugues Tremblay, Ottawa

Undefended border? On one side, at least

Way back in 1945, just after the Second World War ended, I met at the University of Toronto a returned Canadian veteran who said, “Yes, we have the longest undefended border in the world. And we know which side it’s undefended on.”

Today, he could add, “I told you so.”

Murray Citron, Ottawa

Americans are slipping into dictatorship

The lack of any major American grassroot protest movements, of the sort we saw during the Vietnam war, is disheartening. Americans are sleepwalking into a dictatorship.

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Steven Fremeth, Nepean

The prime minister can live at Rideau Hall

Re: So, where, exactly, is home for our newest prime minister? March 18.

Why not install the prime minister at Rideau Hall and have the Governor General move to Rideau Cottage? It would be more logical given the prime minister’s important role for our country.

France Crochetière, Ottawa

King Charles shows we don’t need a governor general

Given King Charles’ rather innocuous statement of support regarding Donald Trump’s quest of annexing Canada, the question arises as to why Canada really needs a governor general who represents the King.

With no governor general, our prime minister could occupy Rideau Hall, not Rideau Cottage. There would be huge savings to Canadian taxpayers, while also saving  countless dollars on the governor general’s payroll and other expenses.

Order of Canada inductees could be handled by the Prime Minister’s Office.

Michael J. Mulhall, Ottawa

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