Letters, July 27

It’s nice for some…

Re: Safe walks set for downtown venues (July 21); West Broadway residents on edge (July 23)

I found it difficult to reconcile two recent Free Press stories.

In one, the City of Winnipeg announces a new $100,000 Performing Arts Wayfinder Program, complete with dedicated courtesy walks and enhanced patrols to ensure patrons of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Manitoba Opera and Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre can safely return to their vehicles after performances.

Just days later, another article describes residents of West Broadway who no longer feel safe taking out their garbage, whose homes have been vandalized, whose doors have been kicked in, and who are living with open drug use and crime on a daily basis. One resident observed that elected officials should represent “all of its citizens, not just wealthy neighbourhoods and suburbs,” while city councillor Sherri Rollins dismissed the new arts safe-walk program as “Band-Aids” that fail to address the larger public safety crisis.

The people attending these cultural events certainly deserve to be safe. So do the musicians, actors and staff. But so does everyone else.

Why is the city publicly announcing a specialized safety program for people attending performances whose tickets average roughly $85, while the people who live, work and seek medical care downtown are told the solution is more meetings, working groups and referrals to other levels of government?

What about the nurse finishing a late shift? The restaurant employee walking to a bus stop after midnight? The office worker returning to a parking lot after work? The patient leaving a doctor’s appointment? The family shopping downtown? Why are they not equally entitled to dedicated safe walks?

Public safety should never depend on where you’re going or how much you paid to get there.

If downtown is unsafe enough to require publicly funded escorts for patrons attending the arts, then surely it is unsafe enough to warrant the same level of concern for every Winnipegger who must use those same streets every day.

The city should focus on making downtown safe for everyone — not just for those attending selected cultural events.

Matt Vinet, Winnipeg

E-vehicle action required now

Re: Man hurt by e-scooter wants rules enacted (July 23)

I am not surprised that somebody got hurt by a person riding an e-scooter. I have been saying this would be happening for two or three years now.

I am an avid walker and have had dozens of instances in which an e-scooter zooms by me at full speed with no regard for my safety. In the vast majority, it is teens or even younger children riding the scooters. I suspect the parents of these young people do not teach them properly about riding an e-scooter on a public sidewalk when passing pedestrians.

If these riders would just slow down when passing somebody, we would not have as much of a problem as what we do now.

It’s great that the province has passed legislation that imposes new requirements but if they are not in effect ASAP, something very tragic will happen. If these requirements are not enforced, nobody will follow them if there will be no consequences.

One of the consequences should be that parents of people under the age of 18 who are ticketed or charged with an e-scooter offence should be held responsible for their children’s actions.

Hopefully, my next letter to the editor is not ‘I told you’ regarding a tragedy involving a very small child or anyone else.

Ron Robert, Winnipeg

Stats tell different story

Re: Decrease in violent crime an inconvenient truth for Poilievre (July 23)

It would appear to me that Tom Brodbeck and the Free Press suffer from some of the same symptoms of ignoring the trends and facts that inflicts Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives.

In Mr. Brodbeck’s analysis of the crime severity index in Canada, he offers an incomplete and misleading analysis of the concerning trend in violent crime in Canada, those very crimes that have the most impact on victims and their families.

The violent crime index in Canada fell significantly from 2006 to 2014. This is clearly evident in the crime severity index graph that was published with Mr. Brodbeck’s opinion article.

However, he fails to mention that from 2014 to 2024, the violent crime index rose significantly, with only a slight decrease in 2025. This trend is also clearly evident in the graph.

The violent crime index in Canada is significantly higher now then it was in 2014. Why is this? Why do Mr. Brodbeck and the Free Press choose to ignore this trend? This is certainly an inconvenient truth for Mark Carney’s Liberals and the political spin doctors.

Put the petty politics aside. Canadians deserve a truthful and comprehensive analysis and a real action plan to combat violent crime.

David Jones, Brandon

City should offer social services

Re: Pointing fingers and shifting blame (Editorial, July 24)

The Act for the Relief of the Poor was enacted in England in 1597. It was amended and replaced over the next two centuries as public sentiment changed, but the basic belief remained that a local authority — such as a city — has a responsibility to care for its poor.

Who then decided that this should be a provincial responsibility? As a city dweller I see the provincial government as being somewhat detached from the mean streets of Winnipeg. There should be city welfare and a city social services department staffed by social workers who would go out every day with the goal of helping our poor improve their circumstances.

I did a computer search of the five largest cities in the United States and each had a social services department. Canada is viewed by Americans as being a socialist society, yet we can’t even ensure that all of our city residents have food and shelter.

Stan Tataryn, Winnipeg

Navigating the climate emergency

Re: Living through sizzling temperatures (July 21); Belize City, Punta Cana added to WestJet direct flights menu from Winnipeg (July 21)

On July 21, the Free Press featured a story on the sweltering heat in India and a second story announcing opportunities for Canadians to take direct flights from Winnipeg to new Caribbean destinations.

This leaves me with a question. How do we reconcile the cause of an overheating planet (carbon-emitting jet travel) with the effect (life-threatening heat in India and elsewhere)?

The purchase of carbon offsets for jet travel should be on everyone’s list of mitigation strategies — it is a no-brainer for responsible global citizens. But we need to do much, much more.

Martin Entz, Winnipeg

Baffled by misinformation

Re: Health care and economic growth (Think Tank, July 23)

The first portion of this article should have been on your front page. I was surprised by the information about ‘predatory journals’, which was a real eye-opener to me.

Why would these even have been created and who would want to pay for and support this dark hole of misinformation? What could possibly be the benefit, and to whom? The rest of the article is worthy of a read yes but, the first portion made me read it twice.

Bob Haegeman, St. Pierre–Jolys