Letters, Sept. 9

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/09/2023 (1000 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Explain, please

In Wednesday’s front-page picture of Premier Heather Stefanson and her PC candidates launching their re-election campaign, Jon Reyes is holding a sign that reads “Fighting for Manitoba parents.”

What does the sign mean?

Because if it means the PCs intend to follow New Brunswick and Saskatchewan’s lead by denying gender-queer schoolchildren with homophobic/transphobic parents the right to be called by the names and pronouns that reflect who they truly are, then that’s one more reason to vote this bunch out of office.

David M. Bergen

Winnipeg

 

Taxes for services

It astounds me in this day and age that such a narrow and myopic report as that penned by Winston Yee, manager of community bylaw enforcement services for the city of Winnipeg, can even be written, no less considered.

Mr. Yee writes: “A (property seizure) does not mean the city will be able to recover the total cost spent cleaning and remediating the site, given that total remediation costs can sometimes exceed the value of the property.”

Does Mr. Yee not realize the city is not in the business of making money on the services it provides to the citizens of Winnipeg? Winnipeggers pay taxes so that the city deals with civic issues. These include (but are not limited to) fire protective services, policing, snow removal, mosquito control and waste and recycling services.

Basically, providing services for its citizenry to live safely and proudly in their homes and communities.

When it snows too much, they still clear the roads.

When there are too many fires, the fire department still puts out the fires.

When there’s a rash of break-ins or assaults, the police still show up to investigate. When there’s too many mosquitoes, they fog areas of the city. Regardless of the budget implications, the services need to get done.

When there’s a rash and proliferation of derelict and abandoned buildings in the city, they need to be cleaned up. Regardless of budget implications. We’re not making money fighting fires, cleaning streets and responding to police incidents.

We pay our taxes so these are taken care of. The vacant and derelict building situation is no different.

Mr. Yee’s report could’ve been condensed as follows: “Find the money! Deal with the problem!”

Darren Stevenson

Winnipeg

 

Pay now, eat later

A quick and easy fix to stop the dine-and-dash problem at Winnipeg restaurants is to swipe the customer’s credit card, or debit, at the time of ordering.

There you go… done like dinner.

Willy Martens

Winnipeg

 

Climate’s on the ballot

I appreciate Julia-Simone Rutger’s excellent coverage in Climate calamity hits political shores, Sept 1.

I am inspired that the provincial Liberals, NDP, and Green parties to date have responded to Manitoban’s concerns about climate change and wildlife decline by committing to protect 30 per cent of Manitoba’s lands and waters by 2030.

Equally important would be to hear the Manitoba PC party make this commitment to protect nature to curb climate change and halt wildlife declines. So far, the PC party is the only holdout and they have publicly spoken against 30×30, which speaks volumes in terms of its lack of care for the environment which all life depends on for its survival, including humans.

According to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), natural climate solutions have the potential to provide a third of the climate crisis mitigation needed by 2030, but only if we act now. This means protecting nature and fast.

Canada, along with over 190 countries, has committed to protecting 30 per cent of Earth’s lands and waters by 2030. The federal government can’t do this by itself. It needs provinces and territories to establish 30×30 targets as they have the Crown authority over natural resources.

I usher a thank-you with loud applause to the NDP, Liberal, and Green parties for understanding the need to greatly accelerate the protection of our natural spaces and for their commitments to do so.

Conversely, I implore the PC party of Manitoba to commit to doing what’s needed for nature and climate by including the target of protecting 30 per cent of Manitoba’s lands and waters by 2030. People, polar bears and all our diverse wildlife cannot wait any longer.

Leanne Koss

Winnipeg

 

Not me

I, for one, will not welcome having a composting bin in my kitchen.

My husband and I composted for 60 years and I am no longer doing that now that I am 89 years old.

I think that we did more than our share of decreasing the amount of garbage and it is someone else’s turn now.

Lorraine Palamar

Winnipeg

 

More life, less on the phone

I read the Winnipeg Free Press ‘The Wrap’ yesterday and was greeted by an unexpected headline: Call the shots: francophone schools ban cellphones from the class. Overdue, not sufficiently comprehensive to my mind, but oh so welcome. My heart leapt.

I’m reminded of a pilot project in a large Maritime high school launched in 2010, during which the use of mobile devices in the school for school staff and students alike was banned. Thirteen years ago and the issues that prompted the project (negative impact on students’ learning and general well-being) have, of course, magnified.

But the understanding that guided the project was that the ban was insufficient in and of itself; that efforts needed to be taken to move students away from negotiating their world through a small rectangular 2-dimensional space, while inviting them into a vibrant and purposeful real world.

In the place of excessive time on devices, students chose from three categories of alternative activities: those that helped settle their bodies — that brought them back into the multi-sensory world (e.g. a sport, yoga, meditation); opportunities to learn a new challenging skill (e.g. a new language, a new musical instrument, knitting); and opportunities to contribute to the greater good of their community (e.g. preparing lunches for the neighbourhood daycare).

I don’t remember all the details of the choices. What I do remember is a description of students sitting on the hallway floors at lunchtime engaged in animated conversation as they knitted hats and scarfs for the victims of Haiti’s 2010 earthquake.

I understand from yesterday’s ‘The Wrap,’ that students greeted the news of the classroom ban on cellphones with “groans and gasps.”

Of course. Adults would do likewise.

But I trust that, if wise alternatives are offered, our youth will learn to reclaim their place in the physical world.

Frances Ravinsky

Winnipeg

 

No excuse for headbutt

Re: Penalty shows CFL not serious about CTE (Think Tank, Sept. 7)

I am in total agreement with Charles Adler’s comments about the vicious headbutt on Zach Collaros, but I’d take it one step further.

The headbutting incident occurred after the play was finished, plus if you watched closely you would have also seen Pete Robertson hitting Collaros’s head again with his leg as he stormed past acting all cocky and proud of himself.

I’d call that straight out-and-out assault and battery.

Robertson should be fully suspended and legally charged accordingly.

Such horrific unsportsmanlike conduct should never be tolerated!

Catherine White

Winnipeg