Have your say

Never on a Sunday

Re: More time to shop on Sundays (April 18). I always have to laugh when I see informal polls about Sunday shopping that are conducted either on the street or on a radio phone-in show and that take place on a week day when many working people are normally busy at their jobs.

Of course, if you have free time to listen to radio or be out on the street during these times, you probably also have free time to do shopping on days other than Sundays.

It's the people who are busy working Monday to Friday who actually feel the Sunday restrictions. And as for the complaints about people being "forced" to work on a Sunday, what about the other people who could use the extra hours? Finally Manitoba is moving forward on this.

PETER INGRAM

Winnipeg

Sunday shopping hours extended in the fall. IKEA opens in the fall. Coincidence or collusion? Readers can choose.

DAN McKINNON

Winnipeg

The government, rather stupidly, continues to raise the tobacco taxes, hoping to increase their tobacco profit. They won't. What they will do is "donate" even more money to terrorist and other criminal groups that use this tax abuse to their advantage by selling smuggled tobacco.

One has to be in awe of the logic behind these increases over the years. On one hand, they like to claim that increases will reduce usage and therefore revenue. On the other hand, they are trying to increase costs by reducing smoking. Another $1.3 million is being spent toward this end in this budget.

VINCE HARDEN

Winnipeg

A conscious decision

Re: National Research Council cuts deep (April 18). Let's be clear. Prime Minister Stephen Harper made a conscious decision to close a world-class research and development facility -- the National Research Council on Ellice Avenue -- in order to finance his $25-billion fighter jets.

These are the same American jets that he, either by ignorance or malice, declared to be $10 billion cheaper last election. What I don't understand, however, is how he deems it economically preferable to send our tax dollars south of the border, to Lockheed Martin, when they could be spent right here in Winnipeg in a productive effort to develop the next IMRIS.

STEVE McINTOSH

Winnipeg

Selinger walks into a bar...

In his April 16 letter, No laughing mayor, Bruce Clark confesses to being the "comedian of sorts" who took aim at Mayor Sam Katz.

Clark did get one thing right. He is sort of a comedian, but he is no Andrew Carr.

However, if you took everything said about Katz and replaced it with Greg Selinger, Clark would have been more factual in his tirade.

I say vote for Katz as the next premier. He cannot do any worse than what 10-plus years of the current provincial leadership has (not) done.

SCOTT HILLHOUSE

Winnipeg

Let's guarantee income

Shauna MacKinnon's April 14 article Budget should, but won't tackle poverty makes the point that the effects of poverty are very real across the province and are taking a toll upon us all.

MacKinnon is correct in suggesting that the provincial budget ought to include safe, stable, affordable housing for all, and people on social assistance should have their housing allowance increased to 75 per cent of the median market rent.

Unfortunately, MacKinnon does not address the significant question of the day -- how to eliminate poverty. That is, we need to establish a guaranteed annual income (GAI).

In the 1970s, a project called "Mincom" was employed by the province. According to University of Manitoba professor Evelyn Forget's research, among the people of Dauphin who were in the Mincom program (1974-78), primary wage earners did not quit their jobs, Grade 12 enrolment rates increased sharply, and hospitalization for accidental injuries and mental illness decreased dramatically. The money saved on health care alone would more than justify spending on the GAI.

NICK TERNETTE

Winnipeg

Popular and experienced

Re: Manitobans like Tories best (April 16). Brian Pallister's entry in the Manitoba Progressive Conservative Party leadership race may herald a significant shift in provincial politics. Pallister is experienced, popular and thoroughly small 'c' conservative, charming, enthusiastic and hard-working.

It will take an exceptional opponent to give Pallister a run for a job that few want. The party brand is damaged, and most Manitoba Conservatives are, to be polite, disgruntled.

Many Manitoba Conservatives share the opinion that their party has grown apart from them, and in the last provincial election abandoned them entirely. The prospect of a party leader with genuine conservative roots, experience in government and a vision for the province is enticing, potentially even exciting.

JOHN FELDSTED

Winnipeg

Supporting the arts

Although I have no use for Mayor Sam Katz, I do support the idea that his office should purchase tickets to events in the city. This is a fair use of public funds in my opinion.

However, why do they only have sports tickets? Why don't they have tickets for the opera, ballet, symphony and theatre? Four Jets season tickets could almost purchase four season tickets to all our major arts organizations.

Not every person who might receive the tickets is a jock. The arts need and deserve the support as much as any of our professional sport teams.

JIM PALMQUIST

Winnipeg

Some Aussie logic

Re: To the nearer nickel (April 10). In case a lesson in grammar didn't help, a little Australian logic may. Canadians were suffering from the new NDP (nickel demise paranoia), which prompted me, when in Australia, to ask why they seemed to have accepted the new system without any public demonstrations, or letters to editors.

Here was their approximate reply: "We went to the cash register, mate, and said, "If we scrap the nickel, can you program cash registers to do the following":

-- If the total ends in .00, .01 or .02, make it .00?

-- If the total ends in .03, .04, .05, .06 or .07, make it .05?

-- If the total ends in .08, .09, or .10, make it .10?

They said, "Yes, we can do that, mate." And they did. It's interesting that Australian stores still advertise prices ending in .99, but at the end of a long grocery list, the effect of the change is minor.

ROY CLARKE

Winnipeg

Revealing information

Re: Councillors' spending revealed (April 11). It takes a while for us taxpayers to digest what politicians claim and place as "expenses" on their expense accounts. Thank you for insisting on and for printing this revealing information.

KAT THOMPSON

Winnipeg

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition April 19, 2012 A15