Letters, April 22

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/04/2020 (1994 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Education cutbacks a bad move

Re: Critics fear long-term effects of Pallister order for staffing cuts at post-secondary facilities (April 20)

It is unfortunate indeed that Premier Brian Pallister thinks cuts to Manitoba universities are an appropriate response to the current economic and health crises related to the COVID-19 pandemic. What is urgently needed to mount an effective long-term response to crises of this sort, both present and in the future, is research on microbiology, infectious diseases, community health science, economics, business and agriculture, to take some examples. Where exactly is that supposed to happen if not in universities?

Experience in other jurisdictions has consistently shown that those governments that invest in, rather than scaling back on, education and research during such crises are those that have the best economic recoveries once the emergency abates.

Bruce Bolster

Clandeboye

 

The Pallister government’s draconian and destructive plan to starve the province’s universities of funds in response to the COVID-19 pandemic must not be allowed to proceed. It will result in the destruction of Manitoba’s universities and leave the post-pandemic province an educational, scientific and cultural wasteland.

Pallister’s scorched-earth fiscal policy is neither a sensible response to the pandemic itself nor one that will leave Manitoba with the ability to recover once the plague passes or an effective vaccine renders it powerless.

The pandemic has revealed the Pallister government as a cartoonishly Conservative regime that regards this terrible disaster as nothing but a welcome opportunity to initiate and pursue a relentless and dangerous frugality without regard to the health, security and safety of the people who voted them into power.

It’s to be hoped the scourge that has swept through the province will later prove fatal to any chance this clutch of pestiferous penny-pinchers has of being re-elected.

Ross McLennan

Winnipeg

 

Premier Brian Pallister’s attack on post-secondary education has nothing to do with the COVID-19 pandemic. It is patently ideological and should be opposed aggressively in the legislature and by Manitobans.

The Pallister government has made no secret of its disdain for public higher education and it has sought repeatedly over the years to turn the province’s universities into incubators for private-sector business. The latest evidence of this was the recent reassignment of post-secondary education from the Ministry of Education to the Ministry of Economic Development and Training.

Now, the premier seeks, as he is doing in other areas, to achieve controversial, long-sought objectives by exploiting a public-health crisis. This is fooling exactly no one, and it should be called out publicly and opposed for what it is: an attack on essential services in the province.

It is worth noting that any financial crisis is one of Pallister’s manufacture, partly real as a result of the government’s policies over the last several years and partly fictional as a part of his misleading and disingenuous rhetoric. Although I am sympathetic to his reticence for the province to assume more debt, in this case his refusal to open the public purse for the public good is not only irresponsible, it is a betrayal of the people of this province.

Chief among the reasons Manitoba’s public universities are essential during this crisis are the following:

First, universities remain a significant contributor to the Manitoba economy in numerous and diverse ways.

Second, universities have the infrastructure and the ability to support one of the province’s most vulnerable demographics in this crisis, the students who are Manitoba’s future and who will drive Manitoba’s economic recovery for the next several decades (which will benefit us all).

Third, universities are in a unique position to provide continued education and training that will jump-start Manitoba’s economic recovery when the crisis abates.

In short, Manitobans should not fall for Brian Pallister’s continued attempts to use the COVID-19 pandemic as a smokescreen for eviscerating public services.

James Maiello

Winnipeg

 

Keep access open

Re: Time to park cars outside (April 20)

I am a pedestrian at Assiniboine Park who completely disagrees with Carl DeGurse and his belief vehicles should be banned from city parks.

Where exactly are they going to park? On Corydon Avenue? Or would they fill up nearby streets? Not exactly social distancing with that plan. How do we get there? By bus? Not a great idea either these days. How about the disabled and the elderly?

The people I’ve seen at Assiniboine Park are taking good care to keep at a distance from others. I have no worries walking there and enjoying the beauty of the outdoors. But I need to park there, and so do others. Leave it be.

Pamela Tennant

Winnipeg

 

Better futures

Re: Defence spending drains resources (Letters, April 16)

Ernie Wiens proposes a radical shift in how Canada might allocate limited resources in the context of the current pandemic. He argues that “Canada is well-positioned to forge a new path that would serve as an example” by diverting billions in military expenditures toward agencies, projects and people in desperate need. This, he says, would be a better and more responsible path than the one we are on now.

In the past I would have read Wiens’s suggestion with hopeless resignation and skepticism. But with the creative, generous and innovative responses to the current pandemic that I have read about and seen in the last weeks, I believe we could and should forge a path forward that reduces military spending in favour of much-needed social investment.

Just as the skies have cleared significantly from curtailed travel, maybe our vision for a better, more peaceful, just and sustainable future will also become clearer.

Evelyn Rempel Petkau

Carman

 

Clean up your act

Spring has sprung,

The grass has “riz,”

We all know where the litter is:

Everywhere!

Bags, bottles, cups, juice boxes, papers, food wrappers, chip bags — you name it, and you will find it. Now we are seeing used face masks and gloves lying around.

What a disgusting dumping ground of garbage this city has become. Where is the pride in our city and community?

Clean up your act, Winnipeggers. Don’t make “Clean Sweep” a one-day event!

Betty Grant

Winnipeg

 

Staying out of the news

The royals (ex-royals?) Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have announced that they will no longer offer themselves to four British tabloids.

They seem to be concerned with the coverage they have received with possible, and real, inaccuracies in some reporting over time. As now ex-members of “The Firm,” I am sure they will eventually be ignored by the media without having to make a big effort.

I have had no trouble avoiding media coverage so far, and expect that to continue without having to tell papers not to report on me. I would, however, like you to continue publishing my letters. 

Dennis Fitzgerald

Melbourne, Australia