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I disagree with Bob Ward, who claims in his letter to the editor Education should be the priority (July 16) that our education system is in shambles.

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He contends students who do not meet the standards still pass. If you graduate from high school or an undergraduate degree with 50 per cent, your ability to progress in an educational setting is dismal because it’s the marks that count.

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Ward claims “children currently do not have an education good enough for them to function” but provides no supporting evidence. Thus, I am giving him a failing grade.

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Walt Lonc, London

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In response to letter to the editor Safeguard our nurses (July 17) by Genevieve Grech.

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I concur that the loss of any nursing staff from attrition, sickness, verbal and physical assaults by patients, etc., is concerning. All offences and attacks against nurses — as well as doctors, security guards, technicians, PSWs — are documented. If further action is required, including charges to be laid, police would be ­contacted.

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In my opinion, there may be a breach of confidentiality if other facilities or clinics are given pre-emptive information. Grech’s suggestion that an alleged perpetrator never be allowed future medical treatment is not only contrary to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Section 7, but is also discriminatory according to the Canadian Human Rights Commission. Noli ignorare, scito, caute age  (be informed, be aware, be safe) are the facts of everyday existence more than ever.

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B. McArthur, Dorchester

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I’m responding to article The calorie economy is ending (July 16)

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The demand for food in many countries, including Canada, is expected to drop. I fail to see why that’s a problem when we’re destroying some of the best food-producing land in the entire country for more reckless urban sprawl, and, with climate change, food production could drop in many parts of the world.

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Doug Payne, London

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U.S. lawmakers have been critical of Canada for what they say is a failure to control wildfires that have caused poor air quality in the United States.

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They are not entirely wrong. The government of Premier Doug Ford has reduced funding for firefighting in the very year predicted to be the hottest on record, along with dismantling the province’s climate change strategy and overseeing a fivefold increase in gas-fired electricity generation.

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But the elephant in the room is the denial of human-caused climate change that is the hallmark of U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, along with other right-wing governments in North America and worldwide. The scientific consensus for at least the last 50 years has been that fossil fuel emissions, if not curbed, will contribute to extreme weather patterns that could eventually make Earth barely habitable. Big Oil has suppressed these warnings, in favour of profit, and these warnings have been widely ignored. We could say we get the climate we deserve, were the outcome not so tragic.