Greece, Toronto and Subsidiarity

Letter to the Toronto Star. Unpublished.

Richard Gwyn points out the flaw in bigness ("Taking on the bullies," July 7, 2015).  Much of the pain now endured by the people of Greece can be traced to the enormous bureaucracy of the European Union, Gwyn maintains. 

Elsewhere in the same issue of the Toronto Star we see the headline "Amalgamation a flop, Fraser study suggests."  The report questions the purported financial advantage of amalgamating Metropolitan Toronto into a mega-city. Purported cost savings were not realized. In fact, overall costs increased. This mistake was the work of the government of Mike Harris who believed bigger is better. 

In Toronto, there is talk of de-amalgamation. Europeans should also be thinking in terms of de-centralization, of invoking subsidiarity, that is the placing of control of various matters with the smallest government level best able to handle it.

Name-Calling is not Argumentation

Bravo Richard Gwyn (Sir John A. wasn't a racist, Toronto Star, Feb 7). The term "racism" must be limited to the true ideologue whom Gwyn defines. He speaks out against an overly-developed sense of righteousness and political correctness. 

A comment or disagreement too often results in one being labelled  a racist, homophobe, bigot, prejudiced etc. Such compartmentalized thinking stifles free expression. It ignores the possibility that the other person may have a valid point, however disagreeable. Name-calling is not argumentation.

Democracy demands the right to disagree even to the point of offence and insult. Only the Criminal Code can set the standard when expression becomes harmful.