Letters, July 30

A safer crisis response

Mayor Scott Gillingham is right that not every mental-health, addiction or wellness call requires police, fire or paramedics. Community crisis teams can play an important role.

My concern is the claim that more than 10,000 calls can be diverted. The report only says those calls may be suitable. There is a major difference between reviewing a completed occurrence and asking a 911 operator to decide, before anyone attends, that there is no weapon, violence, medical emergency or criminal activity.

A safer approach would be to start with a controlled pilot. Where risk is uncertain, police or paramedics could attend first, establish safety and then hand the person over to a community team for stabilization, transportation, referrals and follow-up. As reliable local data is gathered, clearly defined low-risk calls could gradually move to direct diversion.

This could become a valuable service, but it needs clear authority, proper training, accountability and realistic funding. The goal should be the right response, not simply making 10,000 emergency calls disappear.

Marc Robichaud, Winnipeg

Trust the experts

Re: Hydro staff threatened, CEO says (July 28); It may be frustrating, but it’s necessary (Editorial, July 29)

The reaction to Manitoba Hydro CEO Allan Danroth is predictable. Mr. Danroth has stated a clear-eyed assessment of the green power options. A cursory review of the wind, battery power and solar options bears out Mr. Danroth’s assessment of the facts.

Now, to suggest that these experts have tunnel vision would be the same as vaccine deniers questioning the efficacy of vaccines because doctors have tunnel vision. We rely on experts in a field of endeavour because that has been their life’s work yet, in this case, because of the current narrative around climate change we think that others, who are not experts in this field, have the answers.

Manitoba Hydro has the cleanest energy and the second-lowest rates in Canada. The dams that were built will all last for at least 100 years. Surely will can pay off the $25 billion dollar debt by then.

Gilles Nicolas, Winnipeg

Set standard before appointment

The debate over large executive severance has largely passed. The question it should have raised has not.

Manitoba holds its cardiac program, its cancer program, and its individual physicians to patient outcome standards. Its most senior health executive offices are held to no comparable measure. In February 2025, boards removed the chief executives of two authorities, citing a workforce report and a financial audit. No such removal has ever followed a documented finding about the care patients received. The instrument works. It has only ever been triggered by the ledger.

Of Manitoba’s five regional health authorities and the provincial authority that co-ordinates them, two have standing chief executives. Shared Health, the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, and Southern Health-Santé Sud have been led on an interim basis since February 2025, roughly 18 months.

A fourth office is filled on an acting basis.

An interim appointment can be one of the most sharply defined roles in an organization. A leader is brought in for a specific task, with a defined end, because the heavy lifting a struggling system requires may be work its settled leader could not survive having done. Used that way, it is a valuable instrument, with a stated purpose and a public account of what completion looks like. It can be judged. An interim appointment can also be a seat that is simply occupied. The difference is not effort; everyone in these offices is working hard. The difference is whether a mandate was published, and after 18 months the public has not seen one.

Permanent appointments will follow, and contracts will be written. There is only one moment at which an outcome standard can be attached to an office without appearing to judge the person holding it, and that is before anyone holds it. Attach it after an appointment and it reads as a verdict on an individual. Attach it after a failure and it is blame. Attach it now and it is governance.

The boards already carry the fiduciary duty and already hold the instrument. For the interim offices, what was the mandate, and has it been met? For the permanent appointments to come, what outcome standard will be written into the contract, to whom will the answer be given, and on what published schedule?

The worth of a health dollar is the patient outcome it buys. The debate fixed on the size of a cheque while the other side of that equation was left blank. It has been blank too long.

Alan H. Menkis, MD, Winnipeg

De-indexing no mystery

Re: A stealthy tax increase (Think Tank, July 29)

I always enjoy reading the Canadian Taxpayers Federation’s predictable rants on the evils of increasing taxes. While it is true that there was no debate on the de-indexing of the tax brackets, the truth is that “inflation does its dirty work” on all of us — as individuals and governments.

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is either concerned about the debt and the cost of servicing it or not. If we want better roads or safer streets we have to pay for them. Removing the automatic indexing from our current tax brackets is a reasonable, and achievable, way to get us to pay more taxes.

Unless we, and I include CTF members in this, are willing to ask for less from governments, tax increases are necessary.

Predictably, the demands on governments to do more are tomorrow’s headlines. Unfortunately, the deficit, a very real problem, needs to be addressed today because it isn’t going to fix itself.

Jerry Storie, Winnipeg

Set Mercer loose again

Re: Trump scapegoating Canada as his support sinks, prof says (July 28)

Wildfire smoke and threatened tariffs — in these times of trouble for Canada, we should be calling upon all of our resources.

For years television personality Rick Mercer connected with Americans from all walks of life on CBC’s This Hour has 22 Minutes, shining a light on Canadian life. He asked them about serious problems like our melting national igloo; or finally getting electricity; or Canadian public figures like then-Prime Minister Jean Poutine.

I’m sure Rick would be excited at the prospect of once again representing our nation. If he could just tell them about the giant fans being installed at the Canadian border to hold back the smoke, I’m sure all those angry Republicans would be impressed.

Greg Petzold, Winnipeg

Michigan Republican Aric Nesbitt says Canada should learn to manage its forests. Perhaps (Americans) should practise what they preach.

According to the U.S. National Interagency Fire Center report of July 29, 2026, so far this year 43,145 wildfires have burned more than 4.5 million acres across the U.S. At present, they have 19 complex incident management teams committed to Oregon and Washington

According to Michigan Republican John James “the responsibility to prevent foreseeable disasters from crossing into another country’s airspace has not been met.”

Perhaps they should be more responsible about not letting the toxic gases coming out of Trump’s mouth cross into another country’s airspace.

Brenda Boss, Winnipeg