Have your say

Both sides now

The filter Peter Kaufmann has on his glasses and ears seems to be effective in blocking out about 95 per cent of the facts. It would be more accurate to say that Stephen Harper is unafraid to make bad decisions without input from Canadian citizens.

Citing Harper as the best prime minister since Lester B. Pearson is not supported by the polls. Kaufmann seems to judge leadership by a narrow selection of economic issues. Since he is a businessman, is it possible that his adoration for Harper is influenced by the steady decrease in corporate tax rates under this government? That loss of federal revenue is now being recouped by scheduled cuts to important programs such as Old Age Security, employment insurance, scientific research, environmental protection, foreign aid, etc.

While running for mayor, Kaufmann proposed shutting down food banks. This jibes with proposing to cut health benefits to the most needy in our society in Harper style.

ALFRED WARKENTIN

Winnipeg

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I was pleased to see the Free Press publish such a fantastic letter by Peter Kaufmann. I could not have expressed his thoughts any better. It's no wonder I supported him when he ran for mayor.

Our country is certainly fortunate to have such a gem as our prime minister. I have said before that history will ultimately show that Harper is the greatest.

WAYNE BENSON

Winnipeg

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Peter Kaufmann's comments read more like he is grovelling for a Senate seat.

Of course Stephen Harper isn't afraid to make tough decisions. His mouth is big enough that when he puts his foot in it, he can still manage to flip-flop out the other side.

FRAN CAVA

Winnipeg

First involvement

I am writing to correct the notion in your June 25 editorial, Flaherty retreats, that Finance Minister Jim Flaherty or this government raised mortgage amortization periods to 40 years.

No government did that. That situation evolved from industry standards. The first action we took to regulate amortization was bringing them back down to 35 in July 2008.

The federal government was never involved in extending amortization periods to 40 years.

In 2006, risks relating to mortgage markets were not top of mind. That changed in 2008, and the government announced it would cease insuring 40-year mortgages, would require a five per cent down payment and a consistent minimum credit score, and would introduce new loan-documentation standards for insured mortgages.

That was the first government involvement in decisions regarding underwriting standards.

CHISHOLM POTHIER

Department of Finance

Ottawa

No free rides

Re: City considers transit cops (July 4). Seeing as money seems to be the stumbling block for moving forward on this issue, may I offer a suggestion as to how to raise the necessary funds to cover these costs? End the policy of allowing non-paying passengers to ride the bus.

Ask any bus driver, especially those who work at night, how many people simply don't pay anything. Yet these individuals are simply allowed to ride the bus without any consequences, because they know no one is going to do anything to them.

In the meantime, here's hoping nobody ends up getting hurt because of the city's lack of action in this matter. It's time Winnipeg began providing the type of security on its buses that other cities around North America have implemented for years.

MELODEY LARKIN

Winnipeg

Aiming for equality

Re: Europeans could learn from Canada (July 4). Little comparability exists between the public-finance transfer arrangements in Canada and the European Union. We aim at equal per-capita entitlements (among other things, through equalization payments), so that Canadians can enjoy comparable levels of quality public services regardless of their provincial domicile.

Euroland's weaker countries do not have that entitlement; much assistance is ad hoc, provided on a case-by-case or sector-by-sector basis and mostly lacking the built-in incentive structure we have in our country.

JESSE VORST

Winnipeg

Russian comment offside

In his July 5 letter, Bordering on absurdsky, Don Warkentin is incorrect in identifying Alexei Ponikorovsky as a Russian. The former New Jersey Devil is a product of Kyiv, Ukraine, according to the July 2 article Jets score Ponikarovsky.

Over the past month, Ukraine and Poland hosted the 2012 Euro Cup soccer matches. The final game was held in Kyiv, which is the capital of Ukraine, not Russia. It is about time to understand world geography and to accept athletes with names that are somewhat longer. There is enough space on a jersey for everyone.

PETER J. MANASTYRSKY

Winnipeg

Bonus flight points

Melissa Tait is correct when she calls the STARS team and helicopter an "airborne emergency room" (Air ambulance team gives patients a flying start, June 20). While she notes that the medical team can handle complex procedures and that the pilots get to the scene quickly, there's at least one other plus to consider.

Last Labour Day, I didn't feel quite right, and so it was off to emergency at the Pinawa hospital. I'd had a heart attack, was stabilized and was away to the cardiac experts at the St. Boniface Hospital -- by air ambulance -- in less than an hour. Certainly impressive, that.

Had this been mid-week, getting me to advanced care would have been a routine road-ambulance transfer. However, on a long weekend, the one doctor on call here would have escorted me to Winnipeg. No doctor here means no emergency coverage here, and where would I have been had the doctor been in a road ambulance attending the last transfer?

No escort was needed in the "airborne emergency room," so using the air ambulance kept the Pinawa emergency facility available -- an important point if one happens to need medical help, as I did earlier that day.

TERRY HOWE

Pinawa

Of antlers, oaks and horns

Someone should tell letter writer Leo Pettipas (Confused with unicorns, July 5) that all oaks are trees but not all trees are oaks, just as all antlers are horns, but not all horns are antlers.

According to the Oxford Canadian Dictionary of Current English, horns are made out of a hard substance and project from an animal. Antlers are branched, as opposed to unbranched, like those on rhinos and cows.

Therefore, the names Deerhorn and Moosehorn are not spurious, as Pettipas claims. They are just not as specific as he thinks they should be.

VAL WADEPHUL

Winnipeg

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 9, 2012 A11