DEAR MISS LONELYHEARTS: I received an angry, old-fashioned breakup letter from my boyfriend today with “What I should have sent you” printed on the envelope. It was a nasty followup to a kinder text message he sent me the day before with some of his regrets about the two of us and about himself.

This one listed all my faults — social, political, personal and sexual. I guess he had taken time to really dig around in his strange little mind. He’s definitely not short on cutting remarks.

I don’t know which of the two makes me madder. Should I respond to either?

— Shaking My Head, downtown Winnipeg

When it comes to bail reform, Canada doesn’t need more slogans. What it needs is evidence.

Yet we continue to get the opposite.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre continued his “jail not bail” campaign this week, proposing to automatically deny bail to anyone convicted of three serious violent offences, if charged again.

Not only is that unconstitutional and would almost certainly be stricken down by the courts, would it even be effective? Would it make our streets safer? No one knows because we don’t have the data and research to answer that question.

DEAR MISS LONELYHEARTS: I recently forgot my girlfriend’s birthday and went to the bar with my friends instead. She phoned me at 10 p.m. and told me I was dumped. So, I got a little drunker and went over at midnight to her parents’ house where she lives and started singing Happy Birthday to her out on the front lawn!

Her dad came out and told me, “Get lost and never come back!” and that he was calling the cops next. My two buddies and I took off fast.

Now my girlfriend won’t even pick up the phone. It was just a little mistake. I really do love her! It was a bit late, but I put a stuffed animal and a card on her lawn last night saying I loved her. What can I do next?

— Blew It For Good? South St. Vital

DEAR MISS LONELYHEARTS: My son has just announced to us he fell in love with a special guy this summer, and it’s serious. My wife called me at work — the minute after he left our house from telling her.

We had strongly suspected our son was not straight, but we hadn’t really thought about how we’d feel if he found a guy he was serious about. Apparently that time has arrived. Now what? We don’t have any experience with gay people in our family and we really don’t want to blow it by being unintentionally rude.

— Gay Son’s Parents, St. James

Dear Son’s Parents: Your best reaction is a simple statement like this to your son: “We love you and we’ll definitely support you and the person you discover is right for you, loves you and treats you well.”

DEAR MISS LONELYHEARTS: I knew my girlfriend was a private nudist in her tiny house, but I thought she’d drop that whole crazy thing when she moved in with me to my big place with a pool.

Apparently, she thought I’d come over to her way of thinking and imagined we’d both walk around naked and have hooks by the front door with kimonos to grab in a hurry. But, no — that’s not happening.

Instead, she’s nude all the time and peeks her face around the door to see who’s on the doorstep. If it’s one of her nudist friends, she just opens the door wide and lets them in.

I got a laugh out of it when she first moved in but at this point, there have been more than a few delivery people come to the door, or one of my friends, and then I hear, “Hold on! Gotta get dressed!” yelled out the door. She’s basically telling them she’s naked — I don’t find that cute or funny.

DEAR MISS LONELYHEARTS: A guy my age from Alberta contacted me though Facebook during a scary situation in my fire-threatened town in northern Manitoba, and asked very sympathetically about what I was going through at the time. We got really close during the worst of the fires, but now the extreme danger has passed in my area, he has just faded away from me, like I’m old news.

There’s no more sweet talk on the phone, no more comforting me and telling me he’d come to see me as soon as he can. I’m not the only woman in my area in this situation, either. A couple of my girlfriends basically got used for personal news reports and descriptions of the uncertain, terrifying experience.

These guys faded right out after the fires receded in our area. My guy was single (or so he says), but one of my girlfriend’s guys was married with a wife and four kids!

I think now my “hero” was getting off on my daily reports of the looming calamity. He was posting his Superman-style “I could save you” messages on Facebook to me, plus he made late-night phone calls.

DEAR MISS LONELYHEARTS: My very new boyfriend of less than a month, who’s in his mid-30s, just heard from his ex-girlfriend that she thinks she’s pregnant with his child. He asked her for solid proof — like a note from her doctor with the results — but that’s not happening. I know she’s just playing with his emotions to get him back.

He’s always wanted children, so she’s working that angle as a last resort. But I know this woman is really in love with her career and she didn’t want any kids until she couldn’t try get him to stay with her any other way.

Her big blunder is she said he would just have to learn to enjoy his nephews and nieces and do more with them, as she wasn’t interested in being a mom. That’s when he finally broke things off with her.

He’s a successful man, but really wants his own kids to raise.

DEAR MISS LONELYHEARTS: My husband literally screamed at our young daughter repeatedly recently, and I felt my blood pressure skyrocket into stroke territory! She was playing in her room rather loudly, and his home office is next door. So, he went in there and literally screamed bloody murder at her, like a monster! He totally lost it on our little one, and terrified her. She sobbed and sobbed.

He used to be such a calm guy, but his workplace has been taking advantage of him lately, and his sleazy brother keeps trying to borrow money from him. But still, there is no excuse for this kind of abuse.

I was so upset that I grabbed my husband by the arm and physically yanked him out of the room as our daughter was crying uncontrollably. I told him if he ever did that again, I’d leave him on the spot and take her with me.

He just condescendingly told me to calm down. Now we’re sleeping in separate bedrooms. I’ve lost so much love and respect for him and I certainly do not want my child growing up subjected to this kind of behaviour. What should I do now?

Canadian farmers are understandably disappointed the federal government’s response to China’s punishing import tariffs on canola, pork, peas and seafood hasn’t so far included direct compensation.

After all, the duties are widely seen as retaliation for Canadian tariffs effectively locking Chinese electric cars out of the local market — a policy decision that had nothing to do with agriculture. This is the second time in recent memory China has targeted Canadian farmers to score points on unrelated issues. It’s unlikely to be the last.

While the full impact remains unclear, when Canada’s second-largest canola customer imposes tariffs of 75.8 per cent on seed and 100 per cent on oil and meal, it’s a safe bet demand will be curbed and prices will be lower than they would have been otherwise. Industry estimates place the eventual costs in the range of $2 billion.

However, commodity prices this year are depressed across the board — for a host of reasons. Much of the new-crop canola has yet to be harvested and very little has been sold.