Letters and comments, Feb. 2

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 02/02/2018 (3044 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Muddled metaphors

Re: Tories have a busy 2018 ahead of them (Jan. 29)

Whatever happened to “all hands on deck”? Did Premier Brian Pallister finally realize we aren’t on a boat? Yet, strangely, it still feels as if we are sinking into a muddled mess of half-cooked ideas and incomplete thoughts.

Somehow, I think our leadership still believes we are under attack by some alien force set on the annihilation of our children’s future by using mind control to grow our deficit to intergalactic proportion, and they are our only hope.

Or, that we are at war with a socialist agenda designed to cause commerce in this province to grind to a halt.

You may think you’re here to save the townsfolk, but it’s hard to ride off into the sunset if you’re heading every which direction but west, premier Pallister.

And if you are finding it a little difficult to figure out my point with all of these mixed metaphors and half-baked examples, Premier Pallister… well, now you know how we feel whenever we listen to you, or one of your ministers, talk about rolling out one of your policies, or an idea or a direction you have for our province.

Brian Spencler

Winnipeg

If the ’toon fits

Re: Unfair to Leitch (Letters, Jan. 30)

Kim Trethart suggested that the political cartoon was unfair because Kellie Leitch was being called a racist for her “attempt to open a further discussion.”

Firstly, the political cartoon is an opinion, and just as much free speech.

Secondly, when one opens discussion, one does so by asking, perhaps, “Was there any good that came out of that process?” rather that declaring that because she was “friends” with one Indigenous person that she believed good came from the process of removing those children from their families, subjecting them to mental and physical abuse up to and including rape, hiding these facts and denying them for so many years and so on.

Her own words make it obvious to many that she holds racist views and is unwilling to even consider that she might be wrong. There are still, sadly, a number of people in Canada who hold these views, still believe in eugenics being forced upon people and still think that the so-called “whites” are superior in their actions.

As a so-called “white” woman, I am not so inclined. I see beauty and knowledge in many different cultures, but we are all equal and we are all the same race: human. Unfortunately, not all humans have learned how to be considerate of one another and to be humane.

Linda Ross-Mansfield

Winnipeg

Family deserves sanctuary

Re: Father, daughter desperate to avoid deportation (Jan. 15)

Several times, Winnipeg churches have sheltered people who were about to be unfairly deported. Once, Calvary Temple gave sanctuary to a couple, one of whom came from a dangerous situation in a Central American country and the other from an eastern European country that no longer existed as such, due to border changes. They were to be sent back, separately, to where each originated. After several months, justice prevailed and they were allowed to stay in Canada. There have since been similar cases.

Are there still churches, mosques or synagogues that would provide such services? If finances were an issue, I am sure there are many of us who would be glad to contribute.

At issue is the case of this Pakistani father and his seven-year-old daughter, who has severe but treatable medical problems; they have been refused refugee status.

The member of the Immigration and Refugee Board, who has not met them, shows himself to be both ignorant and callous. He tells us that Pakistan has ratified the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, expecting this to protect the child from the brutality of those who probably don’t know, and certainly don’t care, about any such convention. He makes light of the situation, as if the worst that can happen is that immature people will be rude to her, which is bad enough for a child; but that is not the issue.

We all know something about Pakistan’s human-rights record, and the hatred between many Shia and Sunni Muslims. The people in the family’s home community hate them because the mother is Sunni and the father Shia, and that makes them pariahs, their marriage invalid and the child illegitimate. Such deviation from what they consider the norm is not to be tolerated. They have openly threatened to kill the child, and that threat should be taken seriously. To send them back could well be a death sentence.

I hope that an appeal of this flawed decision will be successful, and I hope that many people with more influence than I can wield will take up their cause. I also hope that, if it comes to the worst, there will still be places that are willing to provide them with sanctuary .

Martha Owen

Pinawa

CRA out of touch

The recent revelation of senior Canada Revenue Agency managers receiving performance bonuses, in some cases of $30,000, for “achieving their targets” demonstrates the absurdity of a broken, and broke, government system. Call me crazy, but I always thought that “achieving your target” in a job meant that you got to keep your job. At least for a while longer.

What really bugs me is a government that promotes these types of programs often does so with the phoney excuse that the process is designed to attract higher-quality personnel. Maybe what these super-management types might try is the real world and see how far they get with this out-of-touch approach.

They’re not professional hockey players, sales managers or in corporate sales or any other such business endeavour. No, they collect money from individuals and businesses that have no other choice but to cough up. They manage a workforce that generally accepts their lot in life. The last thing these managers have to do is actually hustle. And the public is forced by the good graces of our politicians to pay these people bonuses for showing up for work. Enough already.

Victor Lysenko

Winnipeg

Good leadership aims for unity

I admire the hard work and stamina of the U.S. leaders in these difficult times. But the opinions of the media and politicians’ statements are contradictory and confusing. That is not unusual or important.

However, they ignore an important issue: the U.S. public is divided. This division is being fanned and widened by politics.

Protectionism has become an imagined solution for problems for many citizens. But there is a history of failed protectionism in the U.S. Differences of opinion can be both healthy and beneficial, but it is hard to imagine the present differences can be reconciled by politics.

There are many families who have lost their income as a result of displacement by industrial efficiencies and/or offshore partnerships and competition. There are also many far-right individuals who seem to ignore the reality of the present world.

Both these groups imagine (or not) that their neighbours and government will somehow reverse the present differences in their favour. That is not going to happen all by itself.

What is needed is good leadership with a mindset to achieve a consensus. It will be a very difficult task.

Many people in the U.S. continue to believe in truth, right and wrong, the United States Constitution and the dedication of previous leaders. Let us believe that their beliefs, along with a big dose of common sense, will prevail.

Bohdan Gulay

Winnipeg