All of the “win-win” talk surrounding the announcements of these plans boils down to Montreal getting the capital for the projects from our retirement plans rather than having to raise it in the marketplace. It seems inevitable that the government will end up having to use its powers of taxation to ensure the break-even financial operation of these projects. Will the rating agencies therefore then decide that the investments represent a de facto addition to our public debt? I hope not.

Ian Irvine, The Caisse de Dépôt and the Champlain Bridge.

Having committed ourselves to military involvement in Iraq, we Canadians should be asking ourselves exactly what goals we hope to achieve. Personally, after recently spending three weeks in the region, I am not convinced that “preserving the territorial integrity” of the present Iraqi state should be one of them.

Richard Foltz, an independent Iraqi Kurdistan.

To maximize the productivity of their international teams, global firms need to understand important cultural differences between Western and Eastern mindsets. Brainstorming, a technique often used to generate novel ideas such as new product innovations, might not be equally effective across cultural settings. Employers need to recognize that.

Gad Saad, culture impacts creativity.