Re "An act of hate against one member of our Canadian family is an attack against all" (Opinion, Sept. 29): How beautifully put, the need to come together to stand against hate.

It is much easier not to feel hatred if it happens "to them" and not "to us." We can be shocked and dismayed by a hateful event, but quickly move on if it is not our community being attacked.

We are strongest when we all see the destruction that hate causes in our society. We can differ in our beliefs but still believe in the need to keep hatred out of every community, for the good of everyone.

We look to leaders to set the tone and we must hold them to leading. But we all should engage in building a country where these acts are not normalized.

Reach out, be stronger together. Understand how hate damages the very core of our country.

Cheryl Altman Collingwood, Ont.

Re "Ottawa launches Defence Investment Agency to streamline procurement" (Oct. 3): I am troubled by new entities to guide procurement oversight, including for new major projects.

These appear to be additional decision-making structures running in parallel to existing processes and bureaucracy. If speed really is of the essence, it would be more expeditious to empower individuals to make executive decisions without the encumbrance that comes with deferring to committees.

There is an aphorism that "a camel is a horse designed by a committee." I fear Mark Carney may be structuring decision-making with excessive deference to risk, at a time when decisiveness should be more important.

Re "Ottawa abusing access to information law to avoid releasing documents, watchdog says" (Sept. 29): Prior to retirement, I worked in several policy and administrative areas of the federal government's access and privacy regime. I found the centralization of power in the Prime Minister's Office to be a major contributor to the deterioration of freedom of information principles and practices.

It often results in "political servants," such as ministerial chiefs of staff and communications officers, substituting their discretion regarding disclosure for that of public servants. This leads to fewer released documents and significant delays.

Records disclosed are often more heavily redacted through use of questionable exemptions. Documents may also be designated as cabinet confidences.

Since its proclamation on July 1, 1983, the Access to Information Act has been studied numerous times. Many reports promoting amendments to strengthen the act have been produced.

What is required is a courageous government that not only promises to strengthen the legislation, but actually acts on its promise.

Ross Hodgins London, Ont.

Re "Before taking sides in a labour dispute, consider the complexity of compensation in non-traditional jobs" (Online, Oct. 3): The government argues that Canada Post is "effectively insolvent," requiring considerable subsidies to stay afloat.

Why? Because alternate services have much lower labour costs. Other companies can use the gig economy to exploit workers with below-minimum wages and no benefits, security nor pensions.

What is the real waste here: The government subsidizing postal workers, or gig workers subsidizing Amazon? Corporations will continue to exploit workers unless effective labour laws say they can't.

Then who knows? With a level labour market, maybe Canada Post can be viable again.

Andrew Leith Macrae Toronto

To seriously address the problems and future challenges at Canada Post, there is one action that should be taken: Allow labour representation on its board.

The union has repeatedly stated it has solutions, so let it be a part of the governance (I find it is certainly part of the problem). Perhaps then they would come to a joint understanding that a new order for the corporation is required to move ahead.

Canada is one of the few countries in the world not to have legislated labour representation thresholds on private boards. Austria, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden: These countries have legal frameworks granting workers board seats, typically scaling with company size.

At this point, simply inviting instead of alienating labour would lead to a far better result for the union, management and the country.

Adrian Heaps Toronto

Re "A gender gap is emerging in AI adoption, and women risk being left behind" (Opinion, Sept. 29): There is a gender gap, but it's not women being left behind. Rather, men seem to be lagging in crucial skepticism about artificial intelligence.

By not rushing to adopt the next shiny new technology, women lead in concerns about the ethics and humanity of AI. It is here to stay, but should require more critical analysis.

In their desire to "win," men risk diving blindly into the unknown - and taking the rest of us with them.

Kalyani Menon Toronto

Re "Leslie Beck: High intake of artificial, low calorie sweeteners linked to brain aging: study" (Sept. 29): This study, like other observational studies, reported associations of some variables: age, intake of low-calorie sweeteners, diet at beginning of the study, etc.

"These findings were most pronounced among participants with diabetes." This is not surprising, as that group would be consuming low-calories sweeteners to keep their blood-glucose levels within their target range.

High and low blood-sugar levels in various studies have been associated with a variety of neurological damage and cognitive impairments in persons with type 1 and 2 diabetes. Since I haven't read the original report, I hope they measured participants' three-month average blood-glucose levels to consider this important variable.

Linkage and association are not causation, as rightly pointed out in the concluding remarks.

I grew up with a father for whom punctuality was simply polite. I also spent the first seven years of my working life in the Canadian Army, where to be on time for an "orders group" meant already being late.

In my 30-year business career, I made it a habit to be several minutes early for every meeting. I found this time invaluable, as I could always pick up useful intel by chatting with others.

In my experience, punctuality has always been a good investment.

Martin Birt Uxbridge, Ont.

I am always early, no matter where I'm going. My youngest daughter is always late.

If my eldest daughter wants us for dinner at 6 p.m., she tells me it's at 6:30; she tells her sister to be there at 5:30.