Have your say

Be forceful in ER

Re: Too few call 911 after suffering stroke: study (July 16). I'd like to add one more point to the information provided. When you do arrive at the hospital, ensure that your advocate (family member) is forceful about having the CT scan and the clot-busting drugs immediately.

I didn't know this in January when my father was taken to St. Boniface hospital by ambulance. We waited six hours in emergency, and fortunately his symptoms disappeared (mini-stroke) and we took him home.

Next time I will be more forceful with the gatekeepers at emergency.

ANNI MARKMANN

Ste. Anne

Too many chiefs

A July 10 Free Press article, Removing 'chief' from job title sign of respect, indicates that the Manitoba's Conservation department removed the word "chief" from department job titles to respect First Nations. The July 14 paper contained references to a Scottish clan chief, a spy chief and Shamattawa's fire chief.

As I understand it, each First Nations language has its own word for "head man" (or woman), and chief is an English word with Latin roots.

Since we are now reserving the English word "chief" for First Nations, does that mean the chiefs have now all been officially assimilated? Should we also be changing the titles of the chief justice, chief of staff, chief petty officer, etc. (in both official languages, of course)?

If a public relations ploy of this nature is all the overstaffed Conservation department can come up with, maybe it is time for budget cuts so they can spend their allotments on real problems -- chief among them getting rid of the bureaucrats pushing (and approving) this type of nonsense.

AL MacDONALD

Winnipeg

Passes terminated

In your July 7 story on new parking regulations in the Exchange District (Paying more to park in the core), you failed to mention an important change that will affect those of us who are Exchange District residents. Our residential parking passes are to be terminated.

These passes, for which we pay an annual fee, allow us to park personal vehicles we have registered with the city on the streets near our home free of charge. When my son and his family come to visit us from Saskatoon, for example, we can park our vehicle on the street and let them have our condo parking spot.

When my mother comes to see us in her wheelchair, we can let my elderly parents have our indoor spot and we park on the street.

Once the passes are terminated, this no longer will be possible. Our guests will be forced to pay parking meters or parking-lot fees. This is unfair.

Our taxes in the Exchange are already higher than those of most suburban neighbourhoods, yet in those neighbourhoods when people have guests they can park on the street for free. If the city is serious about having more people move into the Exchange District, it needs to rethink its plan to cancel residential parking passes.

MARYLOU DRIEDGER

Winnipeg

Alternatives needed

Daniel Friesen (Setting green targets, Letters, July 12) criticizes the province's new green plan for not making enough effort to reduce the amount of petroleum and natural gas government and citizens use. Yet he offers no alternatives unless he believes wind and solar can make up the difference.

If so, he should think again, because motorists and transport companies have few intentions to switch to electric and hybrid vehicles whose sales have stalled across the continent due to high price tags, limited recharging infrastructure and inconsistent reliability.

Meanwhile, natural gas, which emits only half the pollutants as coal, is being made available in increasing amounts so that its price has been declining. So it's not too likely that consumers will start demanding some other, and probably more expensive, power source.

Since this province produces more than 95 per cent of its electricity from hydro and since Manitoba Hydro's new dam projects aim to increase its output by 43 per cent or 2,300 megawatts during the next 15 years, there's no need to start building new wind or solar farms requiring large subsidies just to mollify the environmentalists.

Otherwise, Manitoba could find itself in the same situation currently plaguing much of Europe: soaring energy costs for consumers and businesses contributing to high unemployment, relocation of domestic companies offshore and disincentives for new investment.

EDWARD KATZ

Winnipeg

Struck by contrast

Re: Guided tour of Riel's hideout (July 13). I am struck by the contrast between Canada's treatment of Riel's homestead and North Dakota's treatment of his U.S "hideout." I hope Manitoba's Métis -- and indeed all of us -- can rally to the cause.

I am also struck by other recent stories about the range of cuts to funding, such as the rally of scientists on Parliament Hill to mourn the "death of evidence" on July 10. Indeed, the victims of Jim Flaherty's omnibus budget bill are littered across the summer barbecue circuit as widely as the bill's ambitious 420 pages. I could go on and on, and so could we all.

That ambition may be its undoing. The government's intention is to trim expenditures in every department. It may have been too successful. There will be something for everyone to resent, a recipe for disappointing every concerned constituency.

FLETCHER STEWART

Winnipeg

A primary lesson

Gina Browne, a professor of nursing at McMaster University, makes a good argument that the health-care system should be re-organized to better provide more cost-effective care for those with chronic conditions, especially those with multiple complex conditions living in difficult social circumstances (Premiers might ask a nurse about health reform, July 14).

But Browne has forgotten one of the primary lessons of nursing: to focus on primary prevention. The most powerful social determinants of illness are poverty and economic inequality. Would it not be important from a health perspective to invest more in poverty reduction and decreasing economic inequality?

SID FRANKEL

Winnipeg

Missing a chance

I was pleased to read the editorial by true visionaries Leon Moryl and Keith Budd (What might have been at pumping station (July 13). But how sad that this extraordinary opportunity for heritage development fails to receive the right kind of support from the city.

In Europe and America, such iconic, unique and educational facilities are not only protected but receive generous funding from governments to ensure public exposure. How can the city let this magnificent collection of historic machinery lie deteriorating when developers like Moryl and Budd have a winning proposal?

Brew pub, restaurant, indoor market, working museum -- there are many possibilities. Has anyone on council ridden San Francisco cable cars and visited the amazing power house and museum? What about railway steam preservation in Europe, especially the UK? Or al fresco lunches after a fascinating winery tour in California or the Okanagan? These things are part of a community's heritage. Sensible governments help preserve them and support visionary initiatives.

JOHN DEAN

Winnipeg

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 18, 2012 A11