Today’s Letters: COVID Blame Game, Mooney’s Tobogganing, and Tree Protection at Christmas

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Letters from citizens OTTAWA – City of Ottawa crews removed road signs and put up hay bales to guard against other obstacles on the hill of Mooney’s Bay where an 11-year-old girl died in a sleigh accident the day before. Tuesday December 28, 2021 Photo by Errol McGihon / Postmedia Article content

There is a lot of COVID blame for everyone

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While I understand the public’s frustration with the provincial government’s COVID response, remember it was Premiers Dalton McGuinty and Kathleen Wynne whose sole focus for 15 years was education and energy. They cut places in medical programs while increasing education quotas, creating a surplus of teachers at the expense of medical staff. Perhaps we should demand that unemployed teachers volunteer at understaffed medical facilities. Plus, despite billions spent on wind farms and solar panels, electricity prices are higher than ever.

I never understood why specialized medical centers like the Heart Institute, the Cancer Center and the Rehabilitation Center here in Ottawa are attached to huge hospital monoliths. These specialized medical facilities should be self-contained, with their own emergency rooms, operating theaters, diagnostic rooms, test centers, intensive care beds, etc. to keep patients going, no matter what is going on outside their doors. It is unreasonable to cancel life-saving and life-changing surgeries. Everyone deserves timely medical care, everyone.

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Successive federal governments are not getting away with it either. The lack of funding for national pandemic research and development, as well as for Canadian-made vaccines, tests and supplies, is appalling. For decades, the federal government has focused on the world, making Canadians feel the consequences of this myopia.

There is a lot of criticism to be made and, unfortunately, there is no short-term solution. If it was, we would have found out by now. Sadly, many of us have gone offline, we don’t trust anyone, no matter what level of government they employ. And no, we are not all in the same boat because the divide between the federal government and the provinces has never been so obvious. The new slogan should be “You are alone, good luck”.

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Judy Warren, Ottawa

Mooney’s Bay Hill child dies

Your recent story with the parents of the young child who lost his life in the tragic accident at Mooney’s Bay made me cry. History matters, details matter. The sweet innocence of childhood and the moments that shape us define our reality. As a parent, we are always in the midst of these fleeting moments.

The words of the grieving mother were filled with love and adoration for her young daughter. The lack of meaning and closure of these sudden events affects the community as a whole. On the contrary, as a reader, I was warmed by the words of the distraught mother. She said she felt like she was lucky enough to have “won” her daughter. As a parent, we understand. As a community, we all collectively mourn and would do anything to help this family if we could, while soberly realizing that words cannot capture the magnitude of the loss.

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Joe McMurray, Ottawa

Rethinking Christmas trees

Re: “Extending our urban canopy”, January 7

In his article, Daniel Buckles raises some good points, but also triggers additional thought: If the federal government is worried about planting two billion trees, why are we cutting down hundreds of thousands at Christmas?

The standard response is, “Oh, but they’re grown for this purpose. That may be true, but that doesn’t change the fact that vibrant, living, carbon-sequestering trees are destroyed every year. What is it about otherwise nice people who make them cut the throat of a sapling and then bring it home, cover it with balls and celebrate while it slowly shrivels and dies of thirst under? their eyes ?

Certainly, it is a symbol, but does being a symbol imply the slow death of a living being? Is an artificial symbol less symbolic than a dying symbol?

We need more and more trees to fight against global warming. Maybe a little thought and compassion would help.

Quintin Wight, Ottawa

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