Going online widens reach of churches Time to reintroduce fluoride to water

On Christmas Eve I watched my congregation's service via the internet. Our production online was viewed by more than triple our in-person participation.

While I would always vote for in-person worship, I recognize that online widens the reach and includes more people.

The pandemic has been cruel and harsh but it has also helped urge a necessary shift in how traditional institutions communicate their message. Christmas reminds people that all people matter and there is much work to do in the world to care for God's world.

Rev. John Pentland, Calgary

Re: City council owes it to Calgary's children to return fluoride to our water, Opinion, Dec. 26

Catherine Ford's fluoride article has done Calgarians a service. City councillors should know that if children suffer because they willingly ignore medical advice or abdicate responsibility, their prospects at the ballot box will suffer.

As Calgarians endure a three-pronged crisis of economic recession, COVID-19 infection and declining mental health, they can scarcely afford the burden of dental decay.

Think of socially deprived children and the elderly in long-term care facilities in preventable pain.

City councillors have the jurisdiction and the means to prevent some of that pain by reinstating fluoridation, at the fire-sale price of $1 for every $43 Calgarians would save.

If city councillors fail to prevent harm, heed medical advice and honour the democratic mandate for fluoridation in two plebiscites, Calgarians should give them the boot in 2021.

Noah Cooke, Calgary