Letters, Aug. 8

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 08/08/2024 (753 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Look closer to home

It is baffling to me that our provincial government is looking to Houston — additionally, travelling there — for answers towards people in our city who are experiencing homelessness. Canada’s own Medicine Hat has also all but eradicated their homeless problem.

Would it not make more sense to look for answers closer to home? Surely there are more similarities between Winnipeg and Medicine Hat, than Winnipeg and Houston, Texas.

Debbie Ammeter Sipley

Cartier

 

Population plays part

Re: NDP not getting to root cause of rising ER wait times (Aug. 6)

If we are looking for a root cause, the elephant in the room is fact that the Manitoba’s population has grown by approximately 300,000 or 26 per cent over the past 20 years (from 1.17 million in 2003 to 1.47 million in 2023). The federal government fuelled the growth through accelerated immigration… not a bad thing in itself, but it happened relatively quickly, with a mixture of young and old added to the fold over the two decades.

The new Canadians have brought along their own personal medical requirements, and it is obvious that this has put additional pressures on our already-challenged medical system, which was inexplicably downsized by the Pallister government. We should have been building capacity in all service areas, not cutting it back, and now Manitobans seeking medical care are paying the price.

The situation will become worse as our population grows and ages. The big question is why have our governments ignored the blatant need for additional medical supports when immigration numbers and population demographic stats were clearly pointing it out?

Jack Goodman

Winnipeg

 

Women’s wars

Re: Leadership qualities (Letters, Aug. 6); Gender gap at top of North American politics perplexing, pain-inducing (July 31)

I applaud Mac Horsburgh (and Dan Lett) for their spirited support of women in leadership roles but I question Horsburgh’s contention that all the wars throughout the centuries have been initiated by men.

Has he forgotten Golda Meir, Indira Gandhi, and Margaret Thatcher, all of whom were in power when their countries were involved in wars?

Perhaps both Mac Horsburgh and Dan Lett should read Why Leaders Fight by Michael C. Horowitz, Allan C. Stam and Cali M.Ellis. It is a study of wars between 1875 and 2004, and the startling fact is that 36 per cent of those wars came about when women were in charge of at least one of the combative countries.

Gender has little or nothing to do with one’s abilities, or one’s proclivities. Not all men are aggressive, any more than all women are passive. Not all women are compassionate and not all men are authoritarian. Not all women are mere followers, and not all men are born leaders. The only real difference between males and females is indicated by which bathroom they use at a restaurant!

Rene Jamieson

Winnipeg

 

What future awaits the young?

Re: Disparity of city’s rec and culture funding dispiriting (Aug. 3)

Thank you to Rebecca Chambers for the well written and well thought-out article. One has the sense that it came from both the heart and mind.

The city has a long record of fiscal mismanagement and corruption. For example, the redirection of Water and Waste taxes for other purposes than what was intended. The developers seem to have the city administration in their back pocket as we see urban sprawl go unchecked. The new recreation complex is sure to cost much more than estimated, but don’t forget that our mayor’s votes came mostly from the suburbs.

Who will pay for the huge Kenaston folly? There are so few children now and what kind of a future is in store for them?

Gérald Dufault

Winnipeg

 

Time to slow down

Re: More bike lanes make for a better city (Aug. 4)

As an avid cyclist I am in total support of Brent Bellamy, who writes in his recent column that much more should be done to make Winnipeg’s streets safer.

While putting forward the position that we need more protected bike lanes in Winnipeg, he also references the benefits of having reduced speed limits in the city. I recently came back from a brief trip to Hamilton and a couple of months ago I was in Calgary.

I biked in both cities. There are numerous residential areas in both cities where speed limits are either 30 or 40 km/hour on a permanent basis. There has been well documented research that reduced speed limits result in fewer accidents for drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians.

We need to get on with making Winnipeg a safer city as soon as possible.

Irwin Corobow

Winnipeg

 

Nuclear power not a solution

Re: Waste can’t stay where it is (Letters, Aug. 7)

Mike Clarke is correct in his assertion that no one wants spent nuclear fuel in their backyard. I will go even further and say the problem is all aspects of nuclear energy.

New reactors across the world are currently being built and not enough people are considering the complexity of dismantling plants and storing nuclear waste. Nuclear power produces wastes that pose unacceptable health hazards and economic costs for generations to come. Establishing these sites in First Nation communities with the promise of jobs and economic revitalization is taking advantage of people and clouding the bigger issues at hand.

When we’re talking about nuclear waste storage, then all aspects of nuclear power need to be considered. How many times do we have to be reminded about Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima, for example? Earthquake, human error and system malfunction all played a hand one way or another in these catastrophic events.

Then there’s the issue of nuclear terrorism. Even a conventional bomb (or airplane crash) on a nuclear power plant could wreak tremendous havoc, contaminating a significant area with radioactivity. The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in the Ukraine is a chilling example of this threat.

Every new technology is made from raw materials and minerals. Wind turbines, solar panels and electric cars all require metals, some extremely rare, which must be mined somewhere, creating new pollution. For example, a fully electric car uses five times more copper than a conventional gasoline car and there will be more than 20 million electric vehicle charging points by 2030, consuming over 250 per cent more copper than in 2019.

Nuclear energy is not going to save us. Quit being so gullible. There’s no easy fix. There needs to be a major shift in our tiny brains in order for society to do what needs to be done.

Agriculture is a significant contributor to global warming and we need to switch from animal production to plant-based production.

We need to change our gluttonous consumerism. We need to be responsible beings on this planet and curb our population growth. We are wasting resources and destroying habitats that belong to future generations and other species that share this planet with us.

Lois Taylor

Winnipeg

 

Nuclear storage plan has merit

Re: Is Manitoba willing to accept nuclear waste risks? (Think Tank, Aug. 2)

Anne Lindsey has a long record of opposing the underground storage of nuclear waste, and I have no doubt this comes from a place of genuine concern. However, like all “anti” activists, Anne has the luxury of not having to say “yes” to any alternatives.

Deep geological storage of nuclear waste is the gold standard being proposed worldwide. Saying no to this proposal means accepting the status quo, which currently means storing nuclear waste in pools at reactor sites. This commits the next thousand generations to maintaining these storage pools.

If Anne has a better plan, I would sure like to hear it.

Gordon Boyer

Winnipeg