Canada urgently needs a full public airing of why we are virtually unique among industrialized nations in continuing to neglect the security of our federal reserves by holding no gold. As G&M reports today India has just purchased nearly 7 billion dollars worth of bullion to bolster its currency as world wide fears continue to grow about the sick greenback. Amid talks of abandoning the hobbled US dollar as the worlds reserve currency, countries around the world are quietly accumulating gold bullion while Canada does nothing. Developed and developing countries alike see the obvious storm ahead and hold large gold bullion reserves. Canada on the other hand, holds virtually no gold and meekly (or stupidly) continues to tow a severely frayed line supporting the US federal reserve while everyone else prepares for the inevitable. The US doesn't even believe its own story about the US dollar being the best world currency, itself holding the worlds largest horde of bullion at Fort Knox, while encouraging other countries to sell their gold. The scam is on and wise countries are defending themselves. We are laying down.

Hello CBC,
I would like to bring to your attention the on-going strike by the Drivers' licensing and road test conducting services in the province of Ontario.
The strike has been on now for more than 2 months and no one in the media or the Ministry of Transportation seems to be interested or concerned.
Is this the new policy by the Ministry to reduce traffic on Ontatio roads and to keep the people, who wish to drive, off the roads?
Unfortunately, it is affecting many common people in the province along with those who are actually on strike.
Myself a mother of two, wanting to be independent and drive myself, got the formal required training from Young Drivers of Canada and when it comes to give a Road test to get my G2, the strike is not letting it happen.
It is becoming increasingly difficult for people like me to walk the kids to the kindergarten in rain and bad weather and to be dependent on someone for the regular day to day trips to the Grocery store, after school programmes, Doctor's appointments etc.
And there are scores of others who want to get their license for starting a living like commercial drivers etc.
And the foremost are the people who are actually on strike and loosing income along with the driving schools being affected by the strike.
I do not think that the number of people affected is so less that the Ministry can conveniently ignore the strike and turn a blind eye and do nothing about it!!
Migrating to Canada from a developing country, I wish I could expect a better and speedy solution to such problems and not just silence on part of everyone regarding a strike that is taking its toll on many in the province.

Sincerely,
Shelly

I'm wondering why "Dr" Saul Pressman's appearance on CBC's "Marketplace" in about 1993 was not mentioned in your piece this week? He was selling false hope to HIV+ patients at that time, with the same machine. It broke my heart to see this story on "the National" last night.

Thanks

For weeks now I've been seeing government TV commercials re elder abuse. I see them almost every night, sometimes three or four times a night. Today I open a newspaper and there was a full page ad on elder abuse. Now i know elder abuse is a problem and always has been but is it so serious a problem that it warrants such expensive attention? -- or are the Conservatives paying back a friendly advertising agency for doing such yeoman work for them in the last election of two, the way the Liberals used to pay back Toronto's MacLaren Advertising.

I received in yesterday's mail a flyer from Rick Norlock, the Conservative MP for Northhumberland Quinte West. In it he praised his party for all the wonderful things it is doing for Canadians. Now Mr. Norlock is not my MP but there's nothing wrong with him sending me partisan literature if he wants to. There is something wrong, however, when he uses his franking privileges to do so and has the flyer printed in government offices. That makes it a partisan message paid for entirely by the taxpayer. This is the third such mailing i've received in the last few months. The two previous flyers were sent to me by back bench MPs in Saskatchewan. I've discussed this with my MP, Liberal Dan McTague, who told me he'd received similar complaints from others in the riding. He said the Conservatives stay just inside the rule by including a so called survey at the of their message. The survey is a joke; all it does is ask the reader to check which party leader is doing the best for Canada. McTague agreed that the practice is certainly a violation of the intent of the franking privilege. Perhaps it's not a deeply serious political thing in itself but taken together with other Conservative partisan practices I believe it is something serious.

Sincerely

Jerry lawton