Letters: ‘Will Canada take me back?’
Re: “French language laws ‘unfair,’ Musk says” (The Gazette, April 1)
I was born and raised in Montreal (and once delivered The Gazette in Westmount with my brother.)
Though I have spent more than four decades living in the United States, my sense of home has never left Canada.
Elon Musk may view Canada’s language laws as “hypocritical,” but from afar, they reflect something increasingly rare: a deliberate effort to preserve identity, culture and balance in a diverse society.
In a moment when even basic democratic norms feel strained in the United States, Canada’s insistence on protecting its linguistic heritage appears less like hypocrisy and more like conviction.
I am an immigrant. My husband, Alan Blinken, who served as ambassador to Belgium, laments the current political situation, painfully watching the daily erosion of our democracy — and witnessing the hard work of his nephew, former secretary of state Antony Blinken, crumble around us.
I am feeling a distinct urge to return home.
I question the moral compass of the United States. Accepting the current administration’s actions and falsehoods is impossible. The treatment of immigrants, the erosion of civic trust and the fracturing of long-standing alliances feel deeply unsettling.
Canada, by contrast, represents something I now miss profoundly: a quieter civic culture, a respect for pluralism and a steadier commitment to shared values.
After all these years, I find myself asking a simple question: Will Canada take me back — not just as a citizen, but as someone seeking to come home?
Penelope Mackie Blinken, Sun Valley, Idaho
Election pledge: Nix carbon tax
Re: “Rising gas prices fuel questions” (Letters, March 14)
If the new CAQ leader wishes to improve the party’s prospects in the provincial election, they should immediately suspend Quebec’s carbon tax and give everyone a break on gas prices.
Let’s not forget that the price affects everyone who purchases goods or services. As merchants’ costs rise, so does what they charge to consumers of all political stripes. Furthermore, the worst might come next fall, when heating-oil season begins again.
If the incoming premier does not seize upon this as a pre-election strategy, I predict that the opposition parties will make this part of their campaigns.
Ian Copnick, Côte-St-Luc
Enough with the body shaming
Re: “Finished with fame” (Long Story, March 28)
For a gifted performer like Nelly Furtado to be reduced to inane gossip about her body shape is shameful and offensive.
Furtado, a beautiful-in-all-ways individual, does not deserve the excessive focus on her physical appearance, nor does anyone, famous or not.
Besides being insulting, it shows the shallowness of those whose loyalty to their favourite artists is only skin deep.
The article concludes with her lyric: “I’m like a bird, I’ll only fly away.” Flying away from fame is what Furtado has chosen to do for now. May she enjoy whatever the next phase of her life brings.
Goldie Olszynko, Mile End
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