Today's letters: Canada Revenue Agency employees should be in their offices

Friday, Jan. 27: On sending public servants back to work; and re-naming streets. You can write to us too, at letters@ottawacitizen.com

CRA, please go back to the office

Recently I had to access my Canada Revenue Agency account online and, having locked myself out, had to speak to an agent. The first automated message I received was that the agents were working remotely and using cellphones that might not be secure. Not secure? My CRA account? Perhaps I’d have been willing during the pandemic to take this risk but now?

No. The agents in these positions should be working in the most secure locations so that my privacy and personal information is protected.

And if other federal employees want to work from home, perhaps they should offer to take a pay cut or no raise at all for the next three years as they’re saving on gas, parking, car depreciation, clothes, lunches and all the other expenses incurred by private sector workers who are told to show up in person to their jobs.

We are well aware of the rising cost of living but federal employees have a superior benefits program that most private sector workers could only dream of, so threats of a mass exodus fall on this taxpayer’s deaf ears.

Alison Dougherty, Osgoode

Don’t make naming complicated

Re: Letter, How about some simple street names? Jan. 19.

Bravo, Annette LeBlanc, for the letter about renaming the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway. If the various governments truly feel the need to change the name of a street, bridge, walkway, park, building, ship or whatever, why not a name which will offend no one?

Bank Street is good as it may have had many banks on it, Central Bridge would work for one based in the centre of a city, Winding Walkway for a path through the forest, and so on.

Pat Tierney, Cardinal

Social media gets last laugh

Am I missing something? To me, social media seems a platform similar to that of kids passing unsigned notes between desks outside the view of their teacher. Kids’ stuff!  And yet, web surfers, captains of industry, politicians, pollsters, etc. seem mesmerized by the sheer volume rather than the relevance of those unattributed notes. Social media continues to pull in billions by harvesting data from users.

Equally amazing, Social Media has, until now, managed to avoid the costs incurred and responsibilities that govern all legitimate media by freely harvesting and re-launching whatever information serves the basic need of traffic on their web. It’s like a snowball rolling down the hill and the social media masterminds are laughing all the way.

John Morris, Ottawa

Thanks for delivering my paper

I want to reach out to the person responsible for delivering my early-morning paper. It is folded and placed in a clear plastic bag. If it is snowing it can be a challenge to locate it in our very wide driveway. One recent morning, in 20-plus cm of drifted snow, the delivery person secured a bright blue tie-wrap around the paper so I could see it sticking up out of the snow. Brilliant! I want to thank that person for ensuring I didn’t lose my paper in the snow. I hope my appreciation can be relayed.

Laurie Brown, Luskville

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   Today's letters: Hail to Brooke Henderson

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   Today's letters: On Mahsa Amini and the Iranian Embassy in Ottawa