YOUR correspondents are correct in pointing fingers at the US for the current recession, but they should bear in mind that a major factor, both here and there, was mad property speculation.

This was helped along by encouragement from both governments. Tax deductions for mortgage interest in particular were favourites of both Brown on the left and Bush on the extreme right.

Canada does not allow an income-tax deduction for interest on home mortgages. Canadians, as a result, do not rush into buying property as opposed to renting, and did not get in over their heads in the go-go years to the same extent as folks in many other countries.

It is no coincidence that Canada and its banks came out of the recession in far better shape than either the US or the UK.

It is also no coincidence that the Canadian dollar is climbing back close to parity with the US, nor that my local bank was recently taken over by a Canadian bank at, I am told, a knock-down price.

Brian A Jones, Clinton Street, Brooklyn, New York.