Have your say

A waste of water

Re: Still hope for city (Letters, April 25). A point that has not been mentioned in this water-park debate is the connection between water and human rights. In my mind, it is not about whether the proposed development is consistent with the look or character of The Forks and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, but rather that a water wasting attraction is an affront to the intent of the CMHR.

Recognizing the slow progress on global water issues and recalling its previous declaration of water as a human right, the UN General Assembly declared 2013 the international year of water co-operation.

It would be an absurd contradiction to celebrate the opening of a human rights museum with construction of a water park underway next door.

GARY GERVAIS

Winnipeg

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I don't have an opinion, either way, on the proposal for a water park at The Forks and the amount of money the city is willing to contribute.

However, it would be nice if the city didn't forget about amenities in the suburbs; it would be nice to have a net at my local tennis court (at Silver and Collegiate).

LUANNE SCOTT

Winnipeg

Endemic behaviour

Re: Another fine snow job from 'open' government (April 23). Mia Rabson nails it with her commentary on the state of openness in the Harper government. Unfortunately, most Canadians will miss the point.

From the directive to muzzle the people's own (not Harper's own) corporations and departments (Environment Canada, National Research Council) to ministers who arrogantly believe they are entitled to special treatment (John Baird with his business cards, Bev Oda with outrageous hotels bills), this behaviour is endemic.

Wake up, Canada. Oda only repaid her expense after getting caught, and for the second time. How much is never caught, and how much special treatment do these entitled brats get that's never revealed?

This Conservative majority has set back open democracy by decades, and I'm sad to say I have voted Conservative for decades.

DARRELL THODY

Winnipeg

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It's too bad columnist Mia Rabson missed the obvious. This runaround isn't about the Conservative government; it's about a big bloated bureaucracy that doesn't like to be questioned.

For one reason or another, apathetic Canadians find it acceptable (and somewhat normal) that you cannot get a straight answer from a government agency unless your spend $5 on a freedom of information request.

Kind of pathetic, isn't it?

MICHEL TRAHAN

Verdun, Que.

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Nobody should be surprised about our federal MPs telling Canadians to tighten our belts while they enjoy the best of everything at taxpayers' expense.

One doesn't have to be a genius to realize that paying $17 for a glass of juice, for instance, is absolutely wrong. I suppose that when you are in a position of absolute power, things like that must seem trivial.

ANDY CHIASSON

Selkirk

Deserving to die

Re: Put the theory to a test (April 20). Calls for termination of the Winnipeg School Division's comprehensive assessment program (CAP) are justified because from the outset it had all the earmarks of being little more than a make-work project.

Chances are good it was adopted because it was supposedly progressive and innovative except that education innovations are rarely tested properly to see if they result in improved student achievement.

The CAP claims to identify student weaknesses, but weren't these already catalogued by teachers on the year-end report cards? So isn't the division showing an ill-concealed lack of faith in its staff's evaluation abilities, or has it found that the department responsible for administering these tests has become redundant and it doesn't know what to do with the personnel?

Another possibility is that the test results are not even close to being acceptable and are exposing weaknesses in methodology that the division doesn't care to publicize.

The solution is simple. Since the tests evidently have proved time-consuming and ineffectual, they should be scrapped and their administrators sent back to the schools where they will provide better value for students and taxpayers by alleviating overloaded unstreamed classrooms.

EDWARD KATZ

Winnipeg

False conjecture

Re: Repatriating Khadr 'absurd,' (Letters, April 24). The author ascribes a number of traits and behaviours to Omar Khadr which are either patently false or based on conjecture resulting from linking him to an identified ethnic group.

Some examples: "(the American government) should issue Khadr and like minded individuals... free tickets back to Pakistan." How does the author know that Khadr's mind is like the others?

The author calls Khadr an "Islamist recidivist." The definition of recidivist is a repeat offender. All we know, however, is that Khadr was accused of one crime. In other words, the author assumes that Khadr will re-offend in the future. This makes him a recidivist?

Here are some of the facts as most reasonable people understand them: Khadr was 15 when he allegedly threw a grenade that killed an American soldier who attacked the group of people with which Khadr was living. This would make him a juvenile offender or child soldier.

He was never convicted of that alleged crime in a court that was recognized by the international community, including Canada. He was held in detention in contravention of international law. As a 15-year-old, he was tortured and harshly interrogated over an extended period. After all that, he did plead guilty in a plea bargain that would allow him to regain some of his life back.

Any single one of these conditions would have precluded a conviction under Canadian law. The bottom line is that Khadr is entitled, as a Canadian citizen, to enter this country. Period.

RUDY AMBTMAN

Winnipeg

Untimely work habits

Proceeding east on Portage Avenue on April 25, we came upon a major traffic blockage at St. James Street, extending past Polo Park. Our immediate assumption was a bad traffic accident down the road.

Traffic was being funnelled into one lane. As we slowly made our way, eventually to Valour Road, we discovered a City of Winnipeg crew painting a crosswalk line across Portage Avenue with two lanes of traffic blocked off in each direction and traffic backed up in both directions. Did I mention this was at noon?

DALE PATTERSON

Winnipeg

Pleased with transit

The other day I had the opportunity to take the new rapid transit for the first time. I was in awe. What a splendid job, Mayor Sam Katz. Hats off to you for creating such an efficient and fast service.

My travel time to and from is now 20 minutes. It is a great service not only for the students but for the entire city. I look forward to seeing how this service expands to the rest of the city and am positive it will have a huge impact.

ANJU SEN

Winnipeg

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition April 26, 2012 A15