Why were Quebec bags deemed the best choice in Ford’s LCBO paper bag search?

Doug Ford orders LCBO to try again after it orders paper bags from Quebec, Oct. 23
Instead of implementing a “buy Ontario” mandate, Premier Doug Ford should be helping Ontario firms compete in Canadian and global markets. Why was a Quebec product deemed the best choice? In what aspect were Ontario products deemed inferior? These are the questions that need to be answered. The LCBO isn’t all that good at running the business. Your interference may be contributing to their poor performance.
Brian Williams, Belleville
Premier Doug Ford just keeps doing the same things that make a total mess of our province. Ontarians already have all sizes of reusable bags that are strong enough to carry any amount of liquor so there is no need to cut down additional trees. When buying alcohol from the LCBO, take a material bag with you and don’t use Ford made LCBO paper bags that are only good once. Save our trees.
Chris Andrews, Vaughan
This deputy police chief was allegedly caught going 50 km/h over the speed limit but wasn’t ticketed, Oct. 24
Kudos to the Star for publishing its investigation of the Durham Police’s inaction so far against its deputy chief for speeding 50 kms above the speed limit. The police fraternity protecting one of its own is understandable, although not acceptable. What is more troubling is the lackadaisical approach of the Durham Police Board took to bring this issue to an appropriate conclusion even though the report from the Peel Police on this has been available for some time. Perhaps the provincial government should make it mandatory that all such reports must be made public. We all suffer when the laws are not enforced across the board.
Shahid Naeem, Ajax ON
These Ontarians are watching how MAID is being accessed and used. Here’s what they found, Oct. 25
As a recent victim of a hit and run on my bicycle that required high risk surgery at a Toronto trauma centre, I had occasion to explore the matters of MAID. I wanted to be  assured that no undue life saving effort would be made in the event the surgery left me completely paralyzed and unable to speak or write. I was appalled to learn that unless I could speak and authorize MAID after the surgery, it would be withheld.
While I am pleased to report that I am still alive post surgery and doing reasonably well, thanks to the amazing medical team at St. Michael’s Hospital, I believe this situation must change. People of sound mind who authorize MAID in advance should not have it withheld because a life altering situation suddenly leaves them unable to authorize it. We allow such authorizations in the Power of Attorney but not in MAID. I fail to see the logic and I suggest this situation will be of significant yet tragic import to a large number of Canadians over the next few years.
Barry Morrison, Etobicoke 
Food banks across Canada face ‘tipping point’ in demand with more than two million visits in one month, Oct. 28
Grocery stores are overflowing with food. It being harvest time, there are loads of fresh produce. Yet these are unaffordable to a lot of families. Meanwhile the food bank lineups get longer. The contrast is so blatant. How can this happen in our society? There are headlines almost daily in our newspapers revealing this emergency situation, yet governments refuse to deal with the cause: monopoly control. Peoples’ needs should be put before corporate greed.
Frances Sedgwick, Toronto
Do cycling corridors really slow traffic? We fact-checked the bike lane blame game, Oct. 27
A key piece of anecdotal evidence about travel time and the new bike lanes on Bloor Street West was the reporters’ description of the difference between travelling westbound and eastbound during morning rush hour. Not surprisingly, they experienced a doubled travel time eastbound, heading downtown, as compared with westbound, against the flow of morning traffic. This problem has existed for years.
In 2019, prior to the pandemic and well before the installation of the bike lanes, I had to drive into the city from my home in central Etobicoke on a daily basis for six months in my capacity as caregiver/driver for someone undergoing treatment at Princess Margaret Hospital. There was always a bottleneck eastbound on Bloor during rush hour, backing up traffic from the South Kingsway light,  across the Humber River Bridge, sometimes all the way to Old Mill Road. That bottleneck is the major cause of traffic slowdown today, just as it was in 2019. The problem is the irregular combination of a busy intersection at South Kingsway and Bloor, and another busy intersection one block east, at the foot of Jane Street. It seems that city engineers can’t quite figure out how to manage these intersections because traffic smooths out and flows again east of Jane, even with the new bike lanes in place.
Two of my acquaintances have died cycling in Toronto, one of whom was very close to me. Surely a little inconvenience to motorists, with the stress on “little,” is a small price to pay to keep our citizens who choose to travel by bicycle safe. To borrow from a well-known literary source, if we don’t build it (cycling infrastructure), they (cyclists) won’t come.
David Remski, Etobicoke
Why are we obsessed with whether or not bike lanes slow down car traffic? Why are we not talking instead about safety for people riding bikes? I am a year-round cyclist. If Premier Doug Ford is successful in removing any of the bike lanes that I use, I will be forced to ride in the car traffic lanes. I will be riding in the middle of the lane for my own safety. Won’t that slow down car traffic a lot more than if I were in a dedicated bike lane? 
Ontario transport minister Prabmeet Sarkaria recently wrote in the Star, “I join hundreds of thousands of drivers on the roads of the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area every day. I leave my house in Brampton, say goodbye to my wife and daughters and take a leap of faith that I’ll be able to get to the office on time.” 
When I ride my bike, I join cyclists on the roads of Toronto, and I take a leap of faith that I’ll be able to get to my destination alive. 
Donna Patterson, Toronto
I’m not particularly well-disposed to cyclists — too many of whom have a macho disregard for rules — but I don’t want to return to the nightmare that driving on Bloor Street was before bike lanes were installed and cyclists could appear everywhere and anywhere. It’s largely construction that slows traffic, not cyclists, so I’m quite happy to have them allocated to their own space.  And what does Premier Doug Ford imagine will happen to parking — already in tight supply — if bike lanes are set up on narrow residential streets?
 Anita Dermer, Toronto