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In regards to the letter about poor lighting for our roads and sidewalks. I would like to see more people wearing ‘hi-viz’ clothing. It would be nice to have manufacturers incorporate the highly visible colours in both the stitching and accents on outdoor clothing. Especially in children’s outfits. And for those walking their dogs? There are plenty accessories on the market to make your pet stand out at night. If you can’t find anything, throw on a hi-viz safety vest for both you and your dog — pretty sure you can find them at a dollar store. Every little bit helps.

I have to agree with the recent letters about pedestrian safety. I realize it is devastating when a car collides with a pedestrian. I am a driver and a pedestrian and I see every day how reckless drivers are especially at intersections. Pedestrians need to take some responsibility when crossing streets. Coming out of Fortinos on Mall Road or any other stores, most pedestrians just cross to their cars without even looking up. They just take it for granted that drivers will see them and stop. I have even noticed pedestrians pushing the button at the crossover on Upper Sherman and continue to walk without seeing if a car is inches from them and can’t stop. I cross the intersection at Upper Wentworth and Rymal Road almost daily. It is one of the most difficult intersections on the Mountain. All pedestrians should make eye contact with a driver before proceeding to cross any road. There are so many traffic lights on the streets now that people should be walking the short distance to the lights instead of trying to run across the road in between traffic.

We are all just waiting for the massacre to start again in Ukraine. Why are we like that?

The author of “Do not confuse your Google search with my medical degree” (April 10) could have made a better case for his defence of Evidenced Based Medicine and the role that the pharmaceutical industry plays in funding research had he stated at the beginning of his op-ed that he is not a consultant to or on the payroll of any pharmaceutical company. Obviously he has a medical pedigree in oncology but his opinion certainly seems to suggest a bias in favour of the pharmaceutical industry.

I have to assume, as he suggests, that oncology research is expensive but it presumably pays big dividends. What about those areas of medical research that don’t pay big dividends but are equally important? Medical research institutes in Canada are supported by enormous amounts of public funding, not to mention the cost of the educating researchers.

If research is only the responsibility of private corporations why would we have reason to believe that there is any incentive to investigate outcomes that don’t favour their bottom line?

It’s sad to hear our Prime Minister say “it just doesn’t make sense” that our real estate prices are so high. As long as he doesn’t understand that housing is being turned into investment commodities and that his housing policies are informed by an outdated economic theory about supply and demand, he will continue with unhelpful strategies of ‘build more.’ Does he not realize that the unfettered command to ‘build more’ just plays into the hands of developers and others out to make money on housing? Housing should be a human right with much stricter controls, rather than a vehicle for unfettered profit. It is worrying, indeed, that the profit mentality has completely taken over the leaders in our society.

Our Premier is pretending that the pandemic is over while the numbers continue to climb. According to experts Doug Ford rarely takes advice from, we are now in the 6th wave!

I want answers as to why he thinks life is back to normal and why masks are not mandated in public settings when all the experts have said it was much too early to drop this. And what about Dr. Kieran Moore? His boss is paying him well to obey. Shame on both of you!

Just when you thought the antics of our City Council could not get more bizarre, a new summit has been reached. Having approved an unconscionably expensive judicial inquiry into “frictiongate” on the grounds that it would be completely transparent, Council is now considering restricting access by the inquiry to some Hamilton documents. You can’t make this stuff up!

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