Letters, Oct. 12

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/10/2024 (587 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Long lead time

Re: Retail theft, drugs and finding solutions, Editorial, Oct. 10.

Whoever penned this editorial was spot on and the first person who has stated what, to a police officer, seems obvious.

I was one of the officers who attempted to establish community policing in Winnipeg.

This effort failed because the WPS tried to find the members to staff the initiative from within, when in reality, community policing has to be an addition to the existing system until it shows a positive reduction in calls for service.

Here’s the kicker; studies have shown that it takes ten years to start seeing these results.

What we have here with the escalating drug problem is identical and, as the editorial writer realized, yes, we have to tackle the root causes of this problem but until results are seen in a reduction of crime we have to “police our way through it.”

My point is that, like community policing, the resources needed to accomplish this cannot be taken from within an overburdened WPS, but must be added to it.

Stan Tataryn

Winnipeg

Safety first

Re: MB’s ‘most wanted’ site same failed system, Oct. 10.

While Niigaan Sinclair usually writes some thought-provoking articles, the logic behind this one escapes me.

A program involving the Winnipeg Police Service and the RCMP to apprehend violent offenders is proving to be very successful in getting them off the streets.

Sinclair argues that in posting the photos of the “most wanted” and warning the public to not attempt to apprehend the suspects is somehow racist.

If the offender being sought has a proven track record of violent offences, then race should not be an issue. Violence is violence, no matter the offender’s race or gender.

The general public, particularly in Winnipeg, has been calling for safer streets for the past decade with little or no results.

Knowing that there is a program that is successfully removing violent offenders from the streets is welcome news.

The streets of Winnipeg belong to peace-loving, law-abiding citizens in pursuit of a good life for themselves and their families.

Those who opt for a life of violence and crime should not get to share those streets. Kudos to the WPS, RCMP and the general public for making our city safer.

Wally Barton

Winnipeg

Recognizing their role

Manitoba senior communities face many challenges, including a lack of recognition, difficulty raising funds during high inflation and a growing demand for services as Manitobans age.

The province has 229,050 people aged 65 or older, representing 17.1 per cent of the total population. Of that group, 29,255 are aged 85 or older.

According to a Commonwealth Fund study of older adults in 2021, Canada’s fast-growing population is deeply affected by isolation. The study found that of 11 countries surveyed, social isolation is highest among Canadian seniors.

Seniors were excluded from many activities they engaged in when they were younger. They needed to combat the adverse effects of social isolation. Their solution was to form social groups where they could support one another.

Senior groups have been spectacularly successful. They serve as a beacon of hope for isolated seniors, and those who join the groups engage in programs and services that help them maintain fitness and improve mental and physical health.

Seniors are living in their homes longer and are less likely to burden our health-care systems. They provide efficient and cost-effective services to their communities, towns, cities and the province.

Seniors have paid property taxes to their towns and cities for decades and have pre-paid the costs of the spaces their groups occupy today. Their financial contributions have been significant, and it’s time we recognize and appreciate their role in supporting and sustaining our communities.

The city suddenly demanded rent increases of ten times or more to occupy city-owned properties. Non-profit charities cannot survive this assault.

A return to senior isolation appears inevitable. The social and economic costs, including increased health-care expenses, loss of productivity and decreased length and quality of life, are prohibitive. Our politicians must find solutions to the problems they have created. Our seniors deserve better.

John Feldsted

Winnipeg

Free for all?

Free contraception is a great benefit, but the benefit should only be available for people with lower incomes.

I do not believe that someone earning an income of $100,000 a year should receive the free benefit.

I, as an elderly senior, am on a fixed income, and have no private coverage to pay for my medications until a designated limit is reached before the goverment will cover the cost.

The medications I am prescribed keep me functioning in the community, paying GST and PST on goods I purchase, and out of expensive care in a hospital bed. Sexual activity is a choice — old age and its attendant illnesses are not.

Dorothy Horn

Winnipeg

Better ways

Re: Compost and depots, Letters to the Editor, Oct 10.

Thanks to Marjorie Hughes for responding to my letter. Of course, since we formed 25 years ago, the Green Party of Manitoba has been a loud and unwavering advocate of composting. We wholeheartedly support increasing the practice of household composting and, to that end, recommend incentivizing backyard composting, a much more practical and more environmentally conscientious form of composting than the use of neighbourhood drop-off depots.

As I wrote in my original letter to the editor, offering subsidized compost bins, as the city did between 2002 and 2013, would have numerous benefits. On the other hand, comparing the storing and transporting of decaying food scraps with the minimal effort and convenience of using recycling bins is a stretch. We’ll see in the days ahead how practical the compost depots turn out, while we all wait another five or six years for the much overdue curbside compost pickup program.

Dennis Bayomi

President and Co-Deputy Leader

Green Party of Manitoba

Less sludge

Re: A pox on all their political houses, Think Tank, Oct. 10.

I cannot agree more with the statement about “toxic sludge” coming out of the nation’s capital.

It is disgusting and appalling to witness the name-calling.

What a hostile place politicians have allowed the House of Commons to become. Behaviour displayed in Parliament would not be tolerated by responsible parents of preschoolers.

Why should Canadians have to watch our country slide down this slippery, vile slope? Trust is undeniably eroded. The rude, disrespectful, personal attacks must stop!

Joy Lussier

Winnipeg

About time

Justice Minister Wiebe is saying…“your time is up…”!

It took him this long to decide that its time to put a stop to the sale of massive bladed weapons that can kill and mutilate people.

It boggles the mind how the wheels of justice move at a snail’s pace in this province.

They only seem to react after a terrible situation has gone on for weeks, months, even years.

I only hope the new law will actually work to put an end, or at least a huge dent in this horrific situation, and that time is really up for the perpetrators.

David Taite

Winnipeg