Letters, Aug. 21

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/08/2023 (1124 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Not all parents know best

Re: Tories pledge parents’ rights at schools (Aug. 18)

As a parent of a 38 trans man and someone who was a co-facilitator of the support group PFFoTI (Parents Family and Friends of Transgender Individuals) for 17 years at The Rainbow Resource Centre, I can certainly tell you that all parents DO NOT know what is in the best interest of their children should they come out anywhere different on the sexual orientation spectrum than male or female.

As we know, a lot of religions and people negate the existence of a spectrum. There is nothing in between the M and the F. Those of us who have educated ourselves know that this blatantly untrue and many of these parents who will continue to stifle their children’s sexuality should be prepared to have a child that will likely suffer the ravages of depression, be put on mood altering meds, may start cutting themselves to relieve the pain, may drop out of school and the worst that any parent can imagine, commit suicide.

Would they rather have a dead child than one whose sexuality does not conform to what was theirs or, their God’s norm? In 17 years, I was a co-facilitator, we lost way too many young adults to suicide in the Winnipeg community.

“One is too many” —the negative quote used by our federal government during the Second World War regarding the acceptance of Jewish people into Canada, escaping the war — is more than certainly a positive application to the suicide of anyone who is not accepted because of their sexual orientation. These young people are Canada’s future.

Naomi Finkelstein

Winnipeg

Don’t be blinded by promises

Re: Tories’ promises less important than their record running province (Aug. 17)

I’d like to thank Tom Brodbeck for reminding us of those points the Stefanson government is trying to erase from our collective memories with campaign promises funded by our own tax dollars. I don’t understand how people get so blinded by shiny objects that they lose all perspective.

For example, I go to customer review pages and the vitriol people put on display when they don’t feel they have received what they paid for can be unsettling. After the story has been shared and the description of events laid out most people sign off by stating they will never go back there and warn others to stay away. No coupon or deal will ever get them through that door again.

So why are we so quick to forget when the campaign promises roll out about the service we did, or didn’t, receive from this government? And sure, the difference between the parties at the end of the day can feel like McDonald’s vs. Freshii vs. Burger King vs. Subway, but I haven’t gone back to any of those locations I had a negative experience with.

For example, when I first turned 18 and the provincial election rolled around, I learned a hard lesson. Always check the ingredients before you buy something you might end up choking on somewhere down the line. I didn’t read the ingredients and voted for the incumbent leader’s party. After finding out about the vote splitting scheme and the reneging on the promise not to sell off provincial assets, I was left with such a bad taste in my mouth I vowed never to go back to that place. And I haven’t since. I’d spoil my appetite before ordering anything from them.

But seriously… how many stars would you give Stefanson and her government on Yelp? If it’s less than three you probably shouldn’t give them an X on your ballot either. And if you can’t stomach trying any of the other parties on offer that’s okay too. Maybe come Oct. 3 you just stay in.

Brian Spencler

Winnipeg

Leave Brian alone

Re: Disappearing act (Aug. 17); No need to torment the Trudeaus (Think tank, Aug. 17)

Recently, Charles Adler wrote an article in reference to the media’s shabby treatment of the Trudeaus in their recent marital separation.

Yet, not heeding Adler’s advice, the Free Press chooses to harass former Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister, with the front-page headline, Disappearing act.

Unlike the vast majority of us, Brian Pallister chose to serve both federally and provincially and took the risks and criticisms that comes with serving the electorate. After years of service, he quietly returned to private life.

So, Free Press, try following Charles Adler’s advice and leave the guy alone!

Wally Barton

Winnipeg

Manitoba suited to EVs

Re: Access to EV charging improving but not quickly enough (Aug. 18)

The article in the Free Press on Aug. 18 referring to the progress being made in the installation of public charging stations made for interesting reading. Manitoba certainly lags behind some other provinces when it comes to installation of these charge points but it may be of interest to point out that the vast majority of charging is done by electric vehicle owners with slow chargers in their driveways.

Manitoba is well suited to this. People who live in single family dwellings with driveways in Manitoba often have access to an exterior outlet at their homes where they have traditionally plugged in their block heaters in the winter. A single dedicated 15 amp circuit such as this can instead power the level 1 charger that usually comes with your EV. I’ve done this for six years. I don’t miss the oil change appointments at all.

Ryan Carr

Winnipeg

Cursive not just decorative

Re: In defence of cursive (Letters, Aug. 17)

Cursive scholastic benefits should not need to be defended, and Josie Landry is quite correct to offer her first-hand experience of 26 years in education.

Cursive is not a decorative old fashioned practice of delicate and beautiful hand written notes.

On the walls of caves, our ancestors drew with elegant precision graphically beautiful renditions of animals and perhaps this demonstrates that this ability to draft with curvilinear lines was a skill taught to them by others who had learned to use cursive lines.

Since then, homo sapiens have been evolving educationally, over thousands of years. Contemporarily, one of the mainstays of almost every formal curriculum from the beginning of formal educational systems, the teaching of cursive line penmanship was included as a central core developmental subject.

It was not an idle decision, and it was worldwide.

There has been significant research, from the mid 1800s until today, in an ongoing effort to verify that optimal developmental windows for all children being educated, should receive the most trusted and worthy educational skill sets in their studies, year by year.

When a society values egalitarian humanism for all their people, it strives to provide equal benefits to all of the children inside of their education curriculum by ensuring the elemental basics will take each child’s potential to their highest opportunity to excel.

Anyone today who argues, dismisses and denies that cursive line writing as a core education necessity is no longer relevant to 2023, is in error.

The only people who will suffer from that error, of course, will be our children.

Cursive line writing is a critically important developmental necessity for all people.

If you missed that in school, do your brain a favour and benefit from the skill, go learn it now. If you are a parent, do your children a favour. Make sure they learn what the Manitoba Educational system has denied them. Take classes together with them.

Humans did not magically evolve without a lot of intelligent people who took the time energy and passion to pass their knowledge forward.

Josie Landry is telling you the truth.

Bev Jacobs

Winnipeg