Sir, – In a time when we are really beginning to feel the dire consequences in global politics of what Mark Carney has insisted is not a transition, but a “rupture”, what a pleasure to find, in your Letters page (January 30th), Seamus McKenna’s suggestion that the EU should consider Canada as a possible member of that often but not always admirable confederacy.
Having visited Canada on a number of occasions, I found the suggestion not just interesting, but uplifting and heartwarming.
When I returned to Ireland from these visits, singing Canada’s praises, I would be frequently told by my compatriots that, compared with the US, Canada was “boring”.
My standard reply was to refer to Canada’s admirable record in human rights. If I were now to encounter such an undeserved putdown of Canada, I would have recourse to a straightforward question: “Where would you prefer to live, in Minnesota or in Ontario?” And I won’t mention guns, because I dislike the very word.
RM Block
The EU could learn from Canada, perhaps, to up their game on human rights. Certainly this is a good time to move closer to Canada, given that they are now led by a rising political star, whose speech at Davos was one of the best we have heard in recent times (and perhaps in this troubled century).
Its clarity and directness, enlivened by quotable soundbites, and consistently rational logic, left no doubt in the listener’s mind of Carney’s educational provenance.
Such a reasoned approach to politics is, especially now, invaluable, as well as a welcome relief from the increasingly repetitive and monotonous deliveries from Trump. – Yours, etc.
BRIAN COSGROVE,
Cornelscourt,
Dublin 18
