Letters to the Editor: September/October 2025

Change Your Tune

While raising several important points, Luc Rinaldi’s “The Death of the Middle-Class Musician” (July/August) suffers by putting a misplaced emphasis on reforming a broken system rather than existing outside of it. As an independent musician myself, I understand railing against paltry Spotify payouts, SiriusXM gutting CBC royalties, and so on. But the only two prospective solutions Rinaldi explores—universal basic income and celebrities advocating for fair pay from streamers—are broadly insufficient and politically uninspired. I’m more drawn to the idea of success that Rollie Pemberton details in the final paragraphs: pressing a small run of records, touring to sell them, and playing to a decent crowd in each city you pass through. This idea of music as a labour of love, a modest living driven by community engagement, provides the clearest path forward under the current circumstances. The erosion of the middle class in this country is not a problem unique to artists; the solutions for widening wealth inequality lie entirely beyond the music industry. While these problems persist, independent music may again be relegated to a self-sustaining, alternative culture with little incentive to dull the corners for external financial stability. Perhaps that’s not such a bad thing?

Jack MacKenzie Montreal, QC

Private Practice

Bruce Brady’s letter to the editor in the July/August issue, responding to Monica Kidd’s cover story, “Need a Knee Replacement? You Can Get It at the Mall” (May), misses the point. It is all fine and wonderful that he got good private care in the UK; the question is how he would fare if he did not have the means to pursue private options. Or, to put it more bluntly, how did everyone else do? I used to think of Canada as the gold standard of universal care; now, starved of funding and undercut by private providers, our health care system is barely breathing. The solution is not privatization but full nationalization of care, including insurance, primary medicine, and medication.

Kate Korycki Toronto, ON

Line of Secession

While I imagine the last person you’d like to hear from on the issue of separatism is an American, Christina Frangou’s “Alberta Is Talking about Separating—AGAIN” prompted me to consider similar secession discourse surrounding the state of Texas. Many Texans are fed up with the American government and think they can be independent. There are a number of questions to consider: as an independent nation, Texans would have their freedom of travel to and through the rest of the US curtailed or limited. Then there would be international pressures from other nations, including annexation and exploitation. And how will that new free state pay for itself? Problems abound when you decide to do it alone. But I am certain you will surmount secession in true Canadian style.

Tom Koehler Two Harbors, MN