Letters to the Editor

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Have Your Say

By: Staff Writer

20/11/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 4

Where were you?

I am very proud to call myself a City of Winnipeg firefighter. I have seen many articles in your newspaper covering the daily activities of the fire department. What I can't understand is how you can, for a month, cover a scandal about a firefighter having sex with a civilian in a garden shed and then, when one of our bravest passes away after a fight with job-related cancer, it seems to be pushed to the back of the paper? Does your paper prefer to cover sex in the workplace? Don't you think you could have done a nice heart-warming story about a man who fought fires and saved lives for more than 30 years. Jim McDonald was a real-life hero who made a difference in thousands of lives. Now that sounds like a "real" story!

CRAIG BARKMAN

Winnipeg

Slippery slope

I read Harvey Kimelman's letter (Take responsibility, Nov. 19) with disappointment. His view that accidents and injuries caused by careless driving should not be covered by insurance/health care (while not uncommon) is sadly misguided. While it makes sense writing, it is a slippery slope -- by that logic health officials could refuse coverage for heart attacks to folk with a poor diet/lifestyle, and what about folk with liver disease from an alcohol problem decades in the past, or lung cancer for former smokers? Or what about someone with a genetic condition, born to parents who were aware the condition was in the family? If we want to live in a country that refuses to treat people based on arbitrary reasons, one is welcome to move south of the border.

Insurance exists so that when our crummy choices come back and bite us, we're covered. Let's be honest, most accidents, house fires and injuries are caused by crummy choices. If we aren't going to cover those incidents, what is the point of insurance?

The fact is that many teenagers make stupid choices (I venture to guess Kimelman did not make "perfect" decisions every day of his youth either). Thankfully, most of the time they don't pay dearly for those choices, but when they do I am proud to be in a country and system that covers them. I wish those kids well and hope their recoveries are swift, and their lesson learned.

KEELY SCHELLENBERG

Winnipeg Beach

Time to lead

Tembec and the United Steelworkers union are playing a dangerous game of chicken with the lockout at the newsprint mill at Pine Falls. At stake are the livelihoods of the hundreds of people who work there and the existence of the town itself.

The silence that is coming from our provincial government is deafening. What is it doing to bring these groups back to the bargaining table before it is too late? Is the NDP government so dead-set against logging in northeastern Manitoba that it is willing to sacrifice an entire town to preserve even more wilderness? Where are our leaders?

LES HANSON

Winnipeg

Kudos for paramedics

I am ashamed to say that I have never given a second thought to the work paramedics do. However, between July and September, I had need of their services on numerous occasions. The speed, sympathy and skill of these dedicated young men and women was exemplary. I cannot praise them too highly.

I hope I never need their services again, but it is comforting to know they are there.

IRIS DALTON

Winnipeg

Stocking stuffer

Re: Selinger must implement HST (Nov. 17). Angus' analysis of the HST issue is a day late and a dollar short. The people of Manitoba have already recognized the HST for what it is -- a massive tax shift in favour of business at the expense of consumers. Angus may think that corporate welfare is in fashion right now, but if the Winnipeg Chamber wanted a $400 million stocking stuffer for Christmas, they should have asked much sooner.

CHRIS JOHNSTON

Winnipeg

Thief in the night

If the police and politicians are so insistent that it is about safety, then why are photo radar vans or cars set up in the dark evenings, in a dark colored vehicle on the shoulder of a road or adjacent to a lane of traffic, without any parking or hazard lights on or without any hazard markers around it clearly in view of approaching vehicles, which you would see from both private or corporate vehicles parked in similar spots? Seems to be a case of hypocrisy here, as they are actually creating unsafe conditions trying to get the almighty buck like a thief in the night from unsuspecting drivers! Are they that desperate for money?

ED NICHIPORICK

Oak Bluff

�ñº

A lot of people are sick and tired of receiving tickets from mobile photo radar units. I therefore issue this call to action: If you are sick and tired of receiving photo radar tickets, let the city, province, and police know through your actions. Pay attention to signs on the road, like a responsible driver should. Follow limits, perhaps even adjust to deteriorated road conditions. Don't speed, and don't run red lights.

Do that, and you'll really be saying, "Take that, city, province, and police! You can't get my money!" Then you will have showed them who the real boss is. Take back the streets, Winnipeg! Follow this plan, and their cash grab fails!

Jason M. J. Athayde

Winnipeg

So sad

How sad for Janine LeGal that the Langside, Young and Furby Streets she sees are so dismal, dangerous and grey ( Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Portage Avenue, Nov. 17). How sad for LeGal that she averts her eyes and is afraid to acknowledge the people she meets along the way. How sad for LeGal that her cynicism and her Wolseley comfort zone have disabled her capacity to see that West Broadway and the people of West Broadway are much more than cracks in the road.

By keeping your eyes down and your blinders up, not only are you missing a community that is working, building and creating great things, but you are adding to the fear. West Broadway is not neat and tidy like some neighbourhoods, but it is incredibly strong and the people that make this their home wouldn't trade it for the world.

SAUL HENTELEFF

Winnipeg

No waiting for some

So some Misericordia directors jumped the flu line (Board members jumped queue, Nov. 18). Although all animals are equal, perhaps some animals are more equal than others.

MARKUS BUCHART

Winnipeg

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 20, 2009 A15

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4 Comments

Posted by: Huey Long

November 20, 2009 at 11:39 PM

Bravo Saul Henteleff, if only others could see through your eyes.

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Posted by: Carlos

November 20, 2009 at 12:26 PM

@CHRIS JOHNSTON: I agree with you whole-heartedly.

I've spoken with numerous local business people who run both small and medium sized businesses. They all agree that Manitoba's taxes are too high but they don't sight that as their primary concern.

Their problem is that Manitoba's very large bureaucracy (and this includes municipalities, etc.) interferes in their businesses to far more detriment than taxes do. This is the real reason Manitoba is well-known as an anti-business region.

I have also heard a number of business leaders say that the Chamber serves no purpose to them beyond being a place to meet and network with other business people. I can see why.

If the various levels of government in Manitoba cut red tape and took a customer-focused view of businesses (and individuals) you'd start to see meaningful investment in Manitoba. Yes, taxes are ridiculously high but the real problem is they are used to fund bloated, self-serving bureaucracy that impedes business and gives us an awful reputation.

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Posted by: RT514

November 20, 2009 at 9:16 AM

@ Keely Schellenberg:

Letter writer Kimelman was suggesting no insurance coverage in an instance where someone was breaking the law (careless and dangerous driving, no seatbelts, speeding).

It is perhaps your comparison that is sadly misguided, considering that consuming alcohol, making poor dietary choices, smoking, and child bearing despite potential genetic risks are all lawful activities.

The slippery slope you describe is already underway, though, as there was / is a physician in Winnipeg who refused to treat smokers -- yet, I've never heard someone requiring health care directly as a result of their illegal actions being refused medical care.

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Posted by: Andy

November 20, 2009 at 8:52 AM

Ed,
Speeding is speeding, whether it is day or night. If you dont speed you dont pay. Quit your complaining. Only the morons in this city say it's a cash grab or the city is being sneeky. There's nothing sneeky about it. Don't speed don't pay!