Letters to the Editor, Feb. 27, 2023

If you had the power to eliminate one of the deadliest infectious diseases in the world, would you? I suspect many readers would answer “yes.” In fact, the Government of Canada made the commitment to eliminate tuberculosis within Canada and globally by 2030. Yet, tuberculosis remains one of the deadliest infectious diseases worldwide, killing over 1.6 million people globally in 2021. In Canada, tuberculosis is a serious issue, especially among Indigenous populations, whose tuberculosis rate is up to 300 times greater than non-Indigenous populations. Since tuberculosis is a preventable and treatable disease, its devastating effects on population health are unnecessary and unjustifiable. Unfortunately, tuberculosis continues to spread because millions of individuals infected with tuberculosis are missed by health systems annually. To uphold Canada’s commitments to tuberculosis elimination, the Government of Canada must provide $33 million over three years to TB REACH. This innovative financing mechanism seeks to identify tuberculosis-positive individuals living in hard-to-reach areas to provide them with the care they need. Investing in TB REACH is critical to curbing tuberculosis transmission and making progress toward elimination. Tuberculosis elimination in Canada and abroad is possible. But your help is needed. Will you stand alongside tuberculosis elimination advocates to call for the Government of Canada to reinvest in TB REACH?

Victoria Cassar

Caledon

(With all the money the Trudeau Liberals throw around, you would think this is one area they would find worthwhile)

Re “Conservative MPs wrong to meet with German extremist” (Warren Kinsella, Feb. 24): Between the Conservative Party of Canada and the Communist Party of China, I think another Liberal minority government is in the bag.

Louis Desjardins

Belleville

(That is yet to be determined. A lot depends on how Poilievre handles this)

History has shown that when the occupant of the Oval Office is a weak, bumbling fool, the entire world is in peril. Russia would have never invaded Ukraine if Biden had not botched the withdrawal in Afghanistan. China would not be threatening the annexation of Taiwan if Biden was not so incompetent. Trump had many flaws, but the reality is clear, the world was a safer place when he was president. The American president must be respected and feared, not laughed at by its enemies.

Michael Leonard Florio

Brampton

(A weak president in the U.S. and a weak prime minister in Canada — North America isn’t doing so well)