Letters, April 5

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 05/04/2023 (953 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Live up to rhetoric

The wording in Drop in foreign-aid spending not a cut: Freeland (April 1) is a crafty and deceptive way of justifying a major (16 per cent) reduction to Canada’s official development assistance.

To characterize $2.4 billion in direct financial aid to Ukraine as part of Canada’s “foreign aid” budget doesn’t fool anyone, and is bad news for poor people in sub-Saharan Africa, for example.

Ukraine needs and deserves our support, and so do millions of hungry people (Billions needed to avert unrest, starvation: UN food chief, April 1). Taking money from Africa to support Ukraine is a sham.

Restore ODA funding, Prime Minister Trudeau; live up to our international pledges and your rhetoric.

Robert Granke

Winnipeg

Getting clean

Re: Dirty work: groups mobilize to pick up needles, litter on streets (April 3)

I ask our Minister of Mental Health and Community Wellness Janice Morley-Lecomte: do you think if you approved a supervised consumption site or two, fewer needles would be found on the streets of Winnipeg, or in the playgrounds or parks?

For your information, a supervised consumption site is a safe place for those using drugs to dispose of needles safely, a place to learn about recovery options, and a place to receive Naloxone/Narcan should one’s drugs cause a bad reaction or overdose situation, likely owing to poisoned, toxic drugs!

Christine Dobbs

Winnipeg

Police hold back tide

Royce Koop documents a list of some of the more savage, unprovoked attacks happening in our community (Violent crime affects our sense of community, March 31).

Yet, earlier in the week, the head of the police board was berated for posting a “thin blue line” badge on his social media tribute to the fallen Edmonton officers.

There are those who would also defund the police.

As civilized society seems to be slowly crumbling, I posit that the police really are holding back the tide of those who would do us harm.

P.C. Hodge

Winnipeg

Focus on better technologies

Re: “Cheque, mate,” Letters (March 10)

Our company’s analysis of many buildings across Canada consistently shows geothermal heat pumps to be very economical investments when all ownership costs are examined, and they contribute to energy and greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions.

Robert Parsons appears to leave out several factors that would explain his different conclusion. Natural gas only seems cheaper initially because the utility has amortized its infrastructure over many decades. Provide the same opportunity to geothermal, alongside economies of scale from widespread adoption, and that cost difference largely disappears.

The rising carbon tax (which Parsons opposes) will also more than double the current market price of natural gas and increase overall heating bills by 47 per cent in just the next seven years. Geothermal buildings will not be impacted because they use low-carbon electricity.

Within the next couple of decades, building owners with natural gas heat will have to pay to convert their property to low-carbon energy if we are to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. Indeed, this calls into question the ultimate relevance of Parsons’ cost-comparison exercise.

Fossil fuels shouldn’t be an option anymore. Let’s focus on making better use of the sound technologies available, like geothermal heat pumps.

Jim Nostedt, P. Eng

President, SEEFAR Building Analytics

Winnipeg

Critical thinking for kids

Re: “Critical course,” Letters (April 1)

Whereas I wholeheartedly agree with letter writer June Kirby that the University of Manitoba should be commended for instituting a course in critical thinking, to suggest critical thinking is not taught at the high school level is completely false.

Although high schools do not have a separate course in critical thinking to improve media literacy, high school teachers, particularly those who are fortunate enough to collaborate with teacher-librarians who are highly skilled in this area, incorporate critical thinking into everyday coursework.

While we’re at it, let’s correct the notion that the teaching of critical thinking, media literacy and research skills should or do start in high school or university. If one were to look at a report card from any school in Manitoba, they would see that critical thinking must be reported on from grades 1 to 8.

Although I agree some teachers need to become more skilled in teaching critical thinking and media literacy skills, to suggest it is not a topic of concern in schools must be challenged.

Kirby, however, is correct in stating that everyone needs to know how to identify misinformation and how to source information. This takes years of practice and it all starts in elementary school, led by full-time, qualified teacher-librarians.

Does your child’s school have one?

Jo-Anne Gibson

Hadashville

Develop clean power

Re: For want of a pipeline (April 3)

The IPCC and the IEA have been clear: no more fossil-fuel infrastructure if we want to avoid climate-change-driven destruction.

The report in this article promotes liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a clean fuel. It is not. LNG is a fossil fuel and comes from fracking. Fracking is done by injecting toxic chemicals in the ground and the process pollutes millions of litres of water.

LNG emits less carbon than coal when burned, but when you include the methane that escapes in its extraction, refining and shipping, it emits equal to or even more greenhouse gas than coal.

The report claims LNG would be used as an alternative to coal. We don’t know that; it might just get added as another energy source. In fact, spending on LNG may take funds from more sustainable sources of energy.

Spending on LNG projects takes us off the path of a green future. Let’s continue to develop non-emitting sources of power.

Lori Bohn

Winnipeg

Food for thought

Recently my wife and I were shopping at a large chain grocery store. We paused to reflect on the prices of a particular product, standing there hoping the prices would magically drop a bit, alas, they didn’t.

Standing a COVID-safe distance to our right were another apparently senior couple doing pretty much the same, not making any sudden or quick moves to reach out for something.

I commented that thankfully our federal government was taking these grocery chains to task, even to the extent of investigating alleged price-fixing on bread products. All four of us seniors chuckled at my attempt at some humour. At going on over six years already and still “pending,” the gentleman commented he had not been a pensioner when the alleged investigation was commenced, and maybe he should have stayed employed. We invited them to go to a local fast-food restaurant and share a small cup of coffee.

Your op-ed piece by Zoë St. Aubin (Monopolies driving up food prices, March 30) brought back those fond memories.

Bob Haegeman

St-Pierre-Jolys

Fore!-gone conclusion

Re: Consultant delivers dozens of ideas for areas inside 11 city-owned golf properties (March 31)

Well, it’s about time! Every time I pass a golf course on my bike, I tell myself, “What a waste of greenspace.” By that I mean only those who can afford to go golfing every day can use these properties.

And if you’re a guy like me who’s no good at this sport, then you will never go there.

If this goes through city council, sign me up! I will use this green space frequently. I’m sure cross-country skiers would like this as well.

Gerald Trudeau

Winnipeg