Instead of booing, let's greet Tkachuk with silence | Letters to the Editor

Bruce Garrioch suggests that Brady Tkachuk will be booed whenever he steps on the ice in Ottawa. May I respectfully suggest an alternative?

Both Brady and his brother Matthew will love the boos. They are players who love to get under the opponents skin, they love drawing a reaction. It means they are doing their jobs properly.

How about this instead? Silence. Complete silence when he steps on the ice for warmup, when he is introduced in the starting lineup, when he touches the puck. A Winnipeg White Out of noise. Ignore him.
Or, just as good, instead of boos, a “Go Sens Go” chant every time he touches the puck.

Make him a non-entity. Booing him plays into his ego. Let’s squish it, instead.

Tom Curran, Consecon, Ont.

Ottawa is exploring ways to support aging-in-place in naturally occurring retirement communities. These formalized programs have the potential to do real good, and the people involved — from residents and volunteers to researchers and community organizations — clearly mean well.

When a formalized program is being considered for a multi-age condominium, one step can help it succeed: engage the wider community and consult the owners before decisions are made and before the program begins. Transparency, consultation and meaningful participation make for good neighbour relations.

It is my understanding that condominium common areas are shared property and that owners contribute to the costs of maintaining them. Programs that bring outside organizations, service providers and sometimes university research into those spaces raise practical questions about insurance, liability, privacy and the use of shared property.

Their presence and activities can also affect the wider residential community, including people who do not participate. Opting out does not necessarily mean being unaffected by a program operating where you live.

Residents organizing their own activities is one thing; a multi-year arrangement involving ongoing use of shared property by outside organizations and for research is another. Interest from residents who want a program is valuable, but it is not the same as engaging the wider community before a long-term arrangement involving shared common areas is established.

As municipal election candidates seek our votes this month, I hope they will answer a simple question: What safeguards should the city expect before supporting long-term aging-in-place programs and research studies operating on privately owned condominium property?

At a minimum, the community should be informed, owners should hear directly from those proposing the program, and everyone affected should have an opportunity to ask questions and express their views. Good intentions are a strong start, and programs developed through that kind of engagement are more likely to earn lasting trust.

Ann McGowan, Ottawa

While I understand the point of the fare-free weekend promotion for the LRT (“OC Transpo boasts of ridership boost during free-fare weekend, Ottawa Citizen, October 6, 2026”), I suggest a more effective way to increase ridership is to ensure that there is sufficient parking and weather-protected bike corrals at each suburban shopping centre-based station.

It’s more important to maximize LRT ridership by accommodating people than trying to force them to take a bus to the station.

Norman Vinson, Ottawa

Seventy-three years. That is how long Martha Lillard relied on an iron lung to support her breathing before her passing earlier this year. Imagine a lifetime of immobility that can be prevented with one vaccine.

Although, for many people, polio is a disease of the past, there are still communities in Pakistan and Afghanistan that are severely affected by it. Polio anywhere is a global health hazard. Its existence, whether near or far from our borders, poses a threat to unimmunized populations everywhere.

Canada has been a strong leader in supporting the Global Polio Eradication Initiative by funding global vaccination campaigns, which have led to a reduction in wild poliovirus cases by more than 99 per cent since 1988.

Ahead of World Polio Day on Oct. 24, I urge Mark Carney and the Canadian government to stand up for the remaining one per cent by continuing to fund global health and polio eradication initiatives. With one vaccine, we can change the trajectory of a life and make polio a disease for the history books.

Goundo Diarra, Gatineau

This appears to be a case of cutting your nose off to spite your face. Where has common sense and forethought gone today? Canada has not learned anything from the immigration fiasco in the U.S. and is following lock-step down the same disastrous path.

The vast majority of immigrants with work permits are honest, contributing members of the Canadian workforce doing jobs/service most native-born Canadians do/will not think of doing.

If we think health care and the service industry are expensive now, what do you think it will cost when we have to pay these workers (if you can get them) two or three times the minimum wage? Canadians are going to pay dearly in terms of cost and availability of these critical services.

J.A. Summerfield, Winchester

The Ottawa Citizen recently published a letter from a person in Ottawa who was driving home after a walk at Mer Bleue and was annoyed by a cyclist on the road. I ask that you do not publish letters like this that are meant to incite hatred, disrespect and road rage against cyclists in Ottawa.

As a cyclist, I feel at risk from drivers and from infrastructure already in the city without this sort of thing being published in the local paper. I worry every time my children travel by bicycle to get to school and part-time jobs. I know that, if I or my children get hit by a vehicle, the driver will not be held responsible. It will be the cyclist who pays the price. I know it does not matter if I am in a bike lane or in the middle of the lane, or simply swerving to avoid potholes and glass on the side of the road. I know it doesn’t matter if I am wearing spandex, a high-vis coat or a button-up shirt.

There is simply no need for the Ottawa Citizen to remind cyclists that they are in danger in Ottawa. We know already because of those drivers who yell at us on the road.

Mary Clarke, Ottawa

I am a retired teacher who still volunteers once a week in a classroom because I really enjoy it.

The problem that I have seen for many years is the lack of respect that students give teachers. A small group of students can ruin the atmosphere in a classroom because they constantly act out.

I have taught many wonderful children over the years, but all it takes is a few “bad apples” to ruin the class. When a teacher constantly has to speak to students about behaviour, it takes away from teaching. I have had students who, for many reasons, choose to disrupt the class. Children need to be reminded to make good choices. It has become more difficult to enlist the support of parents whose children have behavioural issues.

Also, there are many challenges in a classroom. There are students with learning disabilities who need assistance. Educational assistants are such an asset to these children because they can work with them individually or in small groups.

I would highly recommend that parents, and those who criticize teachers, assist in a classroom sometime so that they can see first-hand the challenges that many teachers face today.

Mary Kane, Nepean

Three years have passed since the atrocities, both sexual and dehumanizing, occurred in Israel on the Israeli people. A story that should have been on the front page of the Ottawa Citizen.

The third-year anniversary. I found it on Page 6 in the NP section of your paper. Shame on you!
Canadians wonder why antisemitism is growing in our nation and more print is used up on Palestinian marches and sit-ins.

Oct. 7, 2023, when Israel was attacked, “they poked the bear.” What, exactly, did they think would happen? They killed about 1,200 Israelis and foreigners, and took about 250 hostages. Did they not think there would be retaliation?

I am not Jewish, but stand steadfast with Israelis. They have had to fight for every square inch of their homeland. This is not the first time.

This antisemitism has to end in our country. The government can’t hide its head in the sand much longer. Stop the hate! Get rid of the agitators. The Palestinian people come here for a better, peaceful life, which I can understand, but don’t bring your hate with you.

Teresa Dedman, Nepean

In a recent Canadian Press report on AI and Alberta’s referendum debate, University of Alberta professor Blair Attard-Frost warned that many people “could be getting incomplete, inaccurate, false or misleading information” about separatism. There is a further problem: Chatbots tend to agree with their users.

I came to AI late despite a computer science degree and years in IT consulting. When I started, I was struck by how agreeable these tools were. Even when I said things that were plainly wrong, they tended to go along with me.

Researchers call this “sycophancy.” People rate agreeable answers highly, so the systems learn to flatter. I switched chatbots to get more candid answers and found I could set that preference once rather than repeating it every session. But I knew to ask. Most users don’t know the tendency exists.

An AI that confirms whatever we already believe is a poor guide to a referendum, or to anything else. Ottawa’s new AI strategy promises transparency and AI literacy. It should require chatbots to disclose this tendency, default to accuracy over agreement, and be independently tested for it.

Honest answers shouldn’t depend on knowing the right setting.

Tamara Wiens, Orléans

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