Re Opening the Pandora Papers and what they reveal, Oct. 4
As your research on the Pandora Papers shows, Canada has been and continues to be a tax haven for laundered money on both the provincial and federal level with its lax laws. Provinces don’t require residency or even basic identification to register a company, and the end result is millions of illicit money is placed in real estate.
It is not surprising that, on the federal level, billions are placed into offshore accounts.
Much of these activities can take place because of the legal loopholes that allow criminals, millionaires, and corporations to stash billions in offshore accounts around the world.
Since the publishing of the Panama Papers in 2016, not a single charge has been laid.
It would be totally naive for anyone to think that those identified by the Pandora Papers will face consequences.
Canada and the rest of the world needs to close loopholes that allow billions to be stashed in offshore accounts, leaving hard-working Canadians and citizens of other countries shouldering the bulk of the tax burden.
These loopholes allow the rich to continue becoming richer while the rest pay the price.
A flurry of letters attest to the public reaction of disgust over the insane opposition to vaccines and certificates:
Is there no end to anti-vaccination characters complaining about tyranny and coercion of people to get vaccinated?
One argument turns on being forced to get vaccinated or losing their job; if I lose my job, who is going to put food on my family table?
The question they should be asking is: if I don’t get vaccinated and contract the virus and spend weeks or months in hospital or even die, who is going to put food on my family table?
The part that anti-vaccination folk are missing is that, with freedom, come certain obligations. The society you are part of is asking you to step up and join your fellow citizens in an effort to quash the pandemic that has cost thousands of lives in Canada and millions worldwide.
Don’t complain that restrictions, such as the requirement to show a vaccination certificate, make you a second class citizen if you are not vaccinated!
If your definition of freedom is “I do what I please and to hell with everyone else,” then you are a second class citizen all of your own making.
Francis Zita, Scarborough
Venues that follow vax rules deserve support
Re Ontario must enforce its Covid rules, Oct. 2
Eighty-three per cent of the population has stepped up and been doublevaxxed. It’s time for the majority of us to enjoy our freedom.
And it’s time for the 17 per cent to endure the restrictions that their ignorance has caused.
Stop pandering to the minority! We’ve been a divided community since the vaccine became available.
A vaccine certificate didn’t suddenly become the cause for division in our society.
It’s too bad our premier doesn’t recognize this; so many deaths and hospitalizations could have been prevented.
I am proud to support venues that follow the rules, and will certainly avoid those that flout them. I am certain I am not alone.
Linda Saxe, Toronto
Following COVID-19 rules good for business
No one wants to see businesses like gyms and restaurants suffer any more unnecessarily, but the requirement for proof of vaccination for entry is a necessity, and any owner who openly declares that the rules do not apply at their establishment needs to pay the price
And this disregard to the rules demands a big price be paid.
The unvaccinated are many, but still a minority, so, if the owner feels motivated to cater to the minority of his clients, the majority of them who are the vaccinated will likely stay home.
How is that good for business, never mind the obligation we all have as part of society to protect each other with every tool available against the scourge of COVID-19?
Margaret Perrault, North Bay, Ont.
Kids routinely vaxxed, so why raise objections?
Go to school? Get your shots!, Sept. 26
The problem with this selfish, misinformed bunch is that they are too young to remember all the previous health challenges their ancestors had to live through, and defeat.
Smallpox, diphtheria, polio, not to mention measles, rubella, mumps, all of which are controlled by … vaccines.
All school children get their measles, mumps and rubella vaccination and diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough), and tetanus vaccination.
These anti-vaccination people all had these when they were children.
Yet they insist on listening to the those who spread unscientific misinformation and blame the various governments with infringing their rights.
The only right, when it comes to pandemics, is the right to do the right thing to protect themselves, their kids, their parents and their neighbours.
Roll up your sleeves and help defeat this disease!
George McCaig, Kitchener
Ontario needs system for reviewing exemptions
Re NDP leader calls out PC vaccine exemptions, Oct. 5
The recent furor over medical exemptions given to two government MPPs reminded me that, according to the news, medical exemptions in PEI must be approved by that province’s chief medical officer. Granted, there is a huge difference in scale between PEI and Ontario, but it illustrates the need to have those exemptions vetted by someone other than one’s own family doctor.
This is a matter of public health, and should be reviewed accordingly, with questionable exemptions reported to the Ministry of Health as well as to the College of Physicians and Surgeons.
The knowledge that such decisions of family doctors would be reviewed would ensure exemptions would only be granted for specific and relevant medical conditions.
Doug Lewis, Clarington
