‘It's time for some co-operative federalism.' Letters to the editor for June 18

Re 'Carney accelerates talks with Trump to reach economic-security deal within 30 days' (June 17): U.S. President Donald Trump used his short-lived presence at the G7 summit to once more spout untruths: that Justin Trudeau excluded Russia from the group, and to imply that were it not for the actions of Barack Obama and Mr. Trudeau, there would not have been a war in Ukraine.
He doesn't seem to care about facts.
And his advisers, where are they? They must have the same attitude towards reality.
The scariest thing is, of course, that Canada is attempting to make a 'deal' with that same person.
Sinclair Robinson Ottawa
Re 'Africa largely sidelined at G7 summit, despite multiple wars and massive aid cuts' (June 17): Sadly, the U.S. policy led by the Trump administration of dismantling USAID, coupled with calls for substantial increases to defence spending, seems to be spreading to the other G7 countries.
Canada and the rest of the Group of Seven are facing numerous problems. But if we can't solve them without sacrificing foreign aid, the consequences to Africa will be severe.
One of Donald Trump's predecessors, John F. Kennedy, once said: 'If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.'
T.S. Ramsay Guelph, Ont.
Re 'Alberta, Saskatchewan premiers push for port-to-port corridor as Carney touts energy security at G7' (Report on Business, June 17): Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe wants to see words turn into action regarding a proposal on building a port-to-port energy corridor from Prince Rupert, B.C., to Hudson Bay at Churchill, Man.
He speaks of investors and infrastructure. But he does not speak of risks such as environmental damage, nor does he offer benefits to British Columbia and Manitoba.
The woeful record of Alberta and Saskatchewan at letting thousands of orphan wells pollute unattended should make us wary of the off-loaded costs of this project.
Perhaps he should engage the Premiers of Manitoba and B.C. in discussions guaranteeing environmental protections and even some upside profit-sharing of resource revenues.
Instead, he relies on the powers of the federal government to impose a solution.
It's time for some co-operative federalism.
Michael Levin Toronto
Re 'Ottawa to put latest Canada Post offer up to a union vote' (June 13) and 'Cutting corners' (Letters, June 17): Some of the comments in the article and a subsequent letter to the editor appear to misunderstand the underlying purpose of the vote sought by Canada Post on its most recent offer to the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW).
In particular, the letter writer suggests that the request made by Canada Post is shameful and ignores the right of CUPW to represent its members.
Canada Post is doing nothing unlawful by asking for a vote. In fact, the Canada Labour Code expressly provides for a vote on an employer's offer in the current circumstances.
Canada Post appears to be of the view that the positions taken by CUPW do not reflect the desire of its members, and it is simply exercising its statutory right to ask for a vote.
Whether the view held by Canada Post is correct remains to be seen.
Lee Shouldice Former Vice-Chair Ontario Labour Relations Board, Toronto
Re 'Late start' (Letters, June 13): A letter writer believes NATO's existing forces are sufficient to defend against a Russian invasion. They are not.
NATO knows it can no longer rely on help from the United States and is rapidly improving its defence capabilities.
The letter writer disparages that as 'NATO's increasingly aggressive posture.'
Russia, not NATO, is the aggressor.
Some analysts believe Russia's continuing war against Ukraine is temporarily delaying Vladimir Putin from occupying again some of Russia's other former Soviet territories like the Baltic states.
If a future larger war in Europe were to be started by Russia, it's probable that China and North Korea (and others) may be involved.
The increasing cost of our defence preparedness is unfortunate but necessary as avoiding it could end up costing us even more.
Reiner Jaakson Oakville, Ont.
Re 'No Benefit' (Letters, June 17) and 'Germany embraces militarism for the first time since the Second World War' (June 13): In the real world, military spending is a necessary investment for safety and security. The ancient adage, si vis pacem, para bellum (meaning if you want peace, prepare for war), still applies.
In addition, military research has provided many beneficial products that have raised our living standards including penicillin, canned and freeze-dried foods, the internet, GPS, microwave ovens and Jeep vehicles.
Jiti Khanna Vancouver
Re 'Housing remedy' (Letters, June 17): The letter writer is right to point out that there are many advantages to increasing the density of existing residential areas.
But upzoning needs to include design requirements to ensure that infills or replacements fit with the neighbourhood (particularly if it has a historic nature).
There are examples in Edmonton's Garneau neighbourhood of very sensitively designed new multiunit buildings, but also numerous 'grain elevators' which are sore thumbs and overbearing on their neighbours.
There is also no guarantee that infill or replacement housing will in fact be affordable – that has certainly not been the case in Garneau.
And there needs to be a requirement for reasonably sized two, three and four bedroom rental units to be able to accommodate the families that make the area such a vibrant village.
More thought is required.
David Phillip Jones Edmonton
Re 'Canadian gynecologists group issues new compassionate care guidelines for miscarriage patients' (June 16): My story is similar to Ms. Payton's.
My first pregnancy ended in the washroom of an emergency waiting room. The hospital was ill-equipped to respond to the complex needs of a parent who just lost a child before birth.
Over years of trying, I 'got good' at responding to my needs. With each miscarriage, I had my doctor, naturopath, therapist and best friend on speed dial.
My story has a happy ending. In the midst of seven miscarriages, we have two children. I still remember hearing the ultrasound tech saying to me for the first time: 'Yes, there's a live baby in there.'
What a gift. But the journey was one of unnecessary secrets and trauma that was hard for the medical system to comprehend.
Alison Pidskalny Calgary
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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Trump says Iran's key nuclear sites ‘completely and fully obliterated' by strikes

The U.S. military struck three sites in Iran early Sunday, directly joining Israel 's war aimed at decapitating the country's nuclear program in a risky gambit to weaken a longtime foe amid Tehran's threat of reprisals that could spark a wider regional conflict. Addressing the nation from the White House, President Donald Trump said Iran's key nuclear sites were 'completely and fully obliterated.' He also warned Tehran against carrying out retaliatory attacks against the U.S., saying Iran has a choice between 'peace or tragedy.' Iran's nuclear agency confirmed that attacks hit its Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz atomic sites, but insisted that its work will not be stopped. The decision to directly involve the U.S. in the war comes after more than a week of strikes by Israel on Iran that aimed to systematically eradicate the country's air defenses and offensive missile capabilities, while damaging its nuclear enrichment facilities. But U.S. and Israeli officials have said that American stealth bombers and the 30,000-pound (13,500-kilogram) bunker buster bomb they alone can carry offered the best chance of destroying heavily fortified sites connected to the Iranian nuclear program buried deep underground. 'We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan,' Trump said in a post on social media. 'All planes are now outside of Iran air space. A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow. All planes are safely on their way home.' Trump added in a later post: 'This is an HISTORIC MOMENT FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ISRAEL, AND THE WORLD. IRAN MUST NOW AGREE TO END THIS WAR. THANK YOU!' Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Trump's decision to attack in a video message directed at the American president. 'Your bold decision to target Iran's nuclear facilities, with the awesome and righteous might of the United States, will change history,' he said. Netanyahu said the U.S. 'has done what no other country on earth could do.' The White House and Pentagon did not immediately elaborate on the operation. But Fox News host Sean Hannity said shortly after 9 p.m. Eastern that he had spoken with Trump and that six bunker buster bombs were used on the Fordo facility. Hannity said 30 Tomahawk missiles fired by U.S. submarines 400 miles away struck the Iranian nuclear sites of Natanz and Isfahan. The strikes are a perilous decision, as Iran has pledged to retaliate if the U.S. joined the Israeli assault, and for Trump personally. He won the White House on the promise of keeping America out of costly foreign conflicts and scoffed at the value of American interventionism. Trump told reporters Friday that he was not interested in sending ground forces into Iran, saying it's 'the last thing you want to do.' He had previously indicated that he would make a final choice over the course of two weeks. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned the United States on Wednesday that strikes targeting the Islamic Republic will 'result in irreparable damage for them.' And Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei declared 'any American intervention would be a recipe for an all-out war in the region.' Trump has vowed that he would not allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon, and he had initially hoped that the threat of force would bring the country's leaders to give up its nuclear program peacefully. The Israeli military said Saturday it was preparing for the possibility of a lengthy war, while Iran's foreign minister warned before the U.S. attack that American military involvement 'would be very, very dangerous for everyone.' The prospect of a wider war loomed. Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen said they would resume attacks on U.S. vessels in the Red Sea if the Trump administration joined Israel's military campaign. The Houthis paused such attacks in May under a deal with the U.S. The U.S. ambassador to Israel announced that the U.S. had begun 'assisted departure flights,' the first from Israel since the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the war in Gaza. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that Trump planned to make his decision on the strikes within two weeks. Instead, he struck just two days later. Trump appears to have made the calculation -- at the prodding of Israeli officials and many Republican lawmakers -- that Israel's operation had softened the ground and presented a perhaps unparalleled opportunity to set back Iran's nuclear program, perhaps permanently. The Israelis say their offensive has already crippled Iran's air defenses, allowing them to already significantly degrade multiple Iranian nuclear sites. But to destroy the Fordo nuclear fuel enrichment plant, Israel appealed to Trump for the bunker-busting American bomb known as the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator, which uses its weight and sheer kinetic force to reach deeply buried targets and then explode. The bomb is currently delivered only by the B-2 stealth bomber, which is only found in the American arsenal. If deployed in the attack, it would be the first combat use of the weapon. The bomb carries a conventional warhead, and is believed to be able to penetrate about 200 feet (61 meters) below the surface before exploding, and the bombs can be dropped one after another, effectively drilling deeper and deeper with each successive blast. The International Atomic Energy Agency has confirmed that Iran is producing highly enriched uranium at Fordo, raising the possibility that nuclear material could be released into the area if the GBU-57 A/B were used to hit the facility. Previous Israeli strikes at another Iranian nuclear site, Natanz, on a centrifuge site have caused contamination only at the site itself, not the surrounding area, the IAEA has said. Trump's decision for direct U.S. military intervention comes after his administration made an unsuccessful two-month push -- including with high-level, direct negotiations with the Iranians -- aimed at persuading Tehran to curb its nuclear program. For months, Trump said he was dedicated to a diplomatic push to persuade Iran to give up its nuclear ambitions. And he twice -- in April and again in late May -- persuaded Netanyahu to hold off on military action against Iran and give diplomacy more time. The U.S. in recent days has been shifting military aircraft and warships into and around the Middle East to protect Israel and U.S. bases from Iranian attacks. All the while, Trump has gone from publicly expressing hope that the moment could be a 'second chance' for Iran to make a deal to delivering explicit threats on Khamenei and making calls for Tehran's unconditional surrender. 'We know exactly where the so-called `Supreme Leader' is hiding,' Trump said in a social media posting. 'He is an easy target, but is safe there - We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now.' The military showdown with Iran comes seven years after Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Obama-administration brokered agreement in 2018, calling it the 'worst deal ever.' The 2015 deal, signed by Iran, U.S. and other world powers, created a long-term, comprehensive nuclear agreement that limited Tehran's enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. Trump decried the Obama-era deal for giving Iran too much in return for too little, because the agreement did not cover Iran's non-nuclear malign behavior. Trump has bristled at criticism from some of his MAGA faithful, including conservative pundit Tucker Carlson, who have suggested that further U.S. involvement would be a betrayal to supporters who were drawn to his promise to end U.S. involvement in expensive and endless wars. Madhani reported from Washington. Rising reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writers Mehmet Guzel in Istanbul; Josef Federman in Jerusalem; Samy Magdy in Cairo; Matthew Lee and Josh Boak in Washington, D.C.; and Farnoush Amiri and Jon Gambrell in Dubai contributed to this report.

Winnipeg Free Press

an hour ago

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Transcript of Trump's speech on US strikes on Iran

WASHINGTON (AP) — A transcript of President Donald Trump's speech on U.S. airstrikes on Iran on Saturday as transcribed by The Associated Press: Thank you very much. A short time ago, the U.S. military carried out massive, precision strikes on the three key nuclear facilities in the Iranian regime. Fordo, Natanz and Esfahan. Everybody heard those names for years as they built this horribly destructive enterprise. Our objective was the destruction of Iran's nuclear enrichment capacity and a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world's number one state sponsor of terror. Tonight, I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success. Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated. Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace. If they do not. Future attacks would be far greater and a lot easier. For 40 years, Iran has been saying. Death to America, death to Israel. They have been killing our people, blowing off their arms, blowing off their legs, with roadside bombs. That was their specialty. We lost over 1,000 people and hundreds of thousands throughout the Middle East, and around the world have died as a direct result of their hate in particular. So many were killed by their general, Qassim Soleimani. I decided a long time ago that I would not let this happen. It will not continue. I want to thank and congratulate Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu. We worked as a team like perhaps no team has ever worked before, and we've gone a long way to erasing this horrible threat to Israel. I want to thank the Israeli military for the wonderful job they've done. And most importantly, I want to congratulate the great American patriots who flew those magnificent machines tonight, and all of the United States military on an operation the likes of which the world has not seen in many, many decades. Hopefully, we will no longer need their services in this capacity. I hope that's so. I also want to congratulate the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan 'Razin' Caine, spectacular general, and all of the brilliant military minds involved in this attack. With all of that being said, this cannot continue. There will be either peace, or there will be tragedy for Iran, far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days. Remember, there are many targets left. Tonight's was the most difficult of them all, by far, and perhaps the most lethal. But if peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets with precision, speed and skill. Most of them can be taken out in a matter of minutes. There's no military in the world that could have done what we did tonight. Not even close. There has never been a military that could do what took place just a little while ago. Tomorrow, General Caine, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth will have a press conference at 8 a.m. at the Pentagon. And I want to just thank everybody. And, in particular, God. I want to just say, we love you, God, and we love our great military. Protect them. God bless the Middle East. God bless Israel and God bless America. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Winnipeg Free Press

2 hours ago

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US strikes 3 Iranian sites, joining Israeli air campaign against nuclear program

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Iran's nuclear agency on Sunday confirmed attacks took place on its Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz atomic sites, but is insisting its work will not be stopped. The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran issued the statement after President Donald Trump announced the American attack on the facilities. 'The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran assures the great Iranian nation that despite the evil conspiracies of its enemies, with the efforts of thousands of its revolutionary and motivated scientists and experts, it will not allow the development of this national industry, which is the result of the blood of nuclear martyrs, to be stopped,' it said in its statement. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP's earlier story follows below. TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — The U.S. military struck three sites in Iran early Sunday, directly joining Israel 's war aimed at decapitating the country's nuclear program in a risky gambit to weaken a longtime foe amid Tehran's threat of reprisals that could spark a wider regional conflict. President Donald Trump was the first to disclose the strikes. There was no immediate acknowledgment from the Iranian government. Iran's state-run IRNA news agency reported that attacks targeted the country's Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz nuclear sites. The agency did not elaborate. The decision to directly involve the U.S. in the war comes after more than a week of strikes by Israel on Iran that aimed to systematically eradicate the country's air defenses and offensive missile capabilities, while damaging its nuclear enrichment facilities. But U.S. and Israeli officials have said that American stealth bombers and the 30,000-pound (13,500-kilogram) bunker buster bomb they alone can carry offered the best chance of destroying heavily fortified sites connected to the Iranian nuclear program buried deep underground. 'We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan,' Trump said in a post on social media. 'All planes are now outside of Iran air space. A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow. All planes are safely on their way home.' Trump added in a later post that he would address the nation at 10 p.m. Eastern time, writing 'This is an HISTORIC MOMENT FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ISRAEL, AND THE WORLD. IRAN MUST NOW AGREE TO END THIS WAR. THANK YOU!' Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Trump's decision to attack in a video message directed at the American president. 'Your bold decision to target Iran's nuclear facilities, with the awesome and righteous might of the United States, will change history,' he said. Netanyahu said the U.S. 'has done what no other country on earth could do.' The White House and Pentagon did not immediately elaborate on the operation. But Fox News host Sean Hannity said shortly after 9 p.m. Eastern that he had spoken with Trump and that six bunker buster bombs were used on the Fordo facility. Hannity said 30 Tomahawk missiles fired by U.S. submarines 400 miles away struck the Iranian nuclear sites of Natanz and Isfahan. The strikes are a perilous decision, as Iran has pledged to retaliate if the U.S. joined the Israeli assault, and for Trump personally. He won the White House on the promise of keeping America out of costly foreign conflicts and scoffed at the value of American interventionism. Trump told reporters Friday that he was not interested in sending ground forces into Iran, saying it's 'the last thing you want to do.' He had previously indicated that he would make a final choice over the course of two weeks. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned the United States on Wednesday that strikes targeting the Islamic Republic will 'result in irreparable damage for them.' And Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei declared 'any American intervention would be a recipe for an all-out war in the region.' Trump has vowed that he would not allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon, and he had initially hoped that the threat of force would bring the country's leaders to give up its nuclear program peacefully. The Israeli military said Saturday it was preparing for the possibility of a lengthy war, while Iran's foreign minister warned before the U.S. attack that American military involvement 'would be very, very dangerous for everyone.' The prospect of a wider war loomed. Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen said they would resume attacks on U.S. vessels in the Red Sea if the Trump administration joined Israel's military campaign. The Houthis paused such attacks in May under a deal with the U.S. The U.S. ambassador to Israel announced that the U.S. had begun 'assisted departure flights,' the first from Israel since the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the war in Gaza. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that Trump planned to make his decision on the strikes within two weeks. Instead, he struck just two days later. Trump appears to have made the calculation — at the prodding of Israeli officials and many Republican lawmakers — that Israel's operation had softened the ground and presented a perhaps unparalleled opportunity to set back Iran's nuclear program, perhaps permanently. The Israelis say their offensive has already crippled Iran's air defenses, allowing them to already significantly degrade multiple Iranian nuclear sites. But to destroy the Fordo nuclear fuel enrichment plant, Israel appealed to Trump for the bunker-busting American bomb known as the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator, which uses its weight and sheer kinetic force to reach deeply buried targets and then explode. The bomb is currently delivered only by the B-2 stealth bomber, which is only found in the American arsenal. If deployed in the attack, it would be the first combat use of the weapon. The bomb carries a conventional warhead, and is believed to be able to penetrate about 200 feet (61 meters) below the surface before exploding, and the bombs can be dropped one after another, effectively drilling deeper and deeper with each successive blast. The International Atomic Energy Agency has confirmed that Iran is producing highly enriched uranium at Fordo, raising the possibility that nuclear material could be released into the area if the GBU-57 A/B were used to hit the facility. Previous Israeli strikes at another Iranian nuclear site, Natanz, on a centrifuge site have caused contamination only at the site itself, not the surrounding area, the IAEA has said. Trump's decision for direct U.S. military intervention comes after his administration made an unsuccessful two-month push — including with high-level, direct negotiations with the Iranians — aimed at persuading Tehran to curb its nuclear program. For months, Trump said he was dedicated to a diplomatic push to persuade Iran to give up its nuclear ambitions. And he twice — in April and again in late May — persuaded Netanyahu to hold off on military action against Iran and give diplomacy more time. The U.S. in recent days has been shifting military aircraft and warships into and around the Middle East to protect Israel and U.S. bases from Iranian attacks. All the while, Trump has gone from publicly expressing hope that the moment could be a 'second chance' for Iran to make a deal to delivering explicit threats on Khamenei and making calls for Tehran's unconditional surrender. 'We know exactly where the so-called 'Supreme Leader' is hiding,' Trump said in a social media posting. 'He is an easy target, but is safe there – We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now.' The military showdown with Iran comes seven years after Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Obama-administration brokered agreement in 2018, calling it the 'worst deal ever.' Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. The 2015 deal, signed by Iran, U.S. and other world powers, created a long-term, comprehensive nuclear agreement that limited Tehran's enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. Trump decried the Obama-era deal for giving Iran too much in return for too little, because the agreement did not cover Iran's non-nuclear malign behavior. Trump has bristled at criticism from some of his MAGA faithful, including conservative pundit Tucker Carlson, who have suggested that further U.S. involvement would be a betrayal to supporters who were drawn to his promise to end U.S. involvement in expensive and endless wars. ___ Madhani reported from Washington. Rising reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writers Nasser Karimi in Iran; Mehmet Guzel in Istanbul; Josef Federman in Jerusalem; Samy Magdy in Cairo; Matthew Lee and Josh Boak in Washington; and Farnoush Amiri and Jon Gambrell in Dubai contributed to this report.