Letters, July 4

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/07/2022 (1380 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Urban deer increasing threat

My concern is with Winnipeg’s lack of legislation concerning the rising whitetail deer population, an increasing threat to taxpaying citizens who reside within the city limits. The daily treks of deer herds through our yards leave piles of excrement, and we and our pets face the threat of being kicked, stomped or gored.

The documented increase of disease that is being carried into our private spaces makes this a health issue that city officials have avoided for long enough. This is a city issue and should be handled by the city, instead of following their tradition of passing the “buck” off to the province.

The regular collisions with motorists should have signalled a need for a city strategy, but now it’s the deer-borne black-legged ticks that we are finding our back yards. Lyme disease is serious. What are our city officials doing about it?

A few years ago, I called the city to pick up a dead doe in our Charleswood yard and was told they could not do that because of liability. They suggested I drag it out to the road!

This is a safety issue the city does not want to address, and it is only going to get worse this summer.

John Agopsowicz

Winnipeg

Rebuild flooded homes on berms

Re: ‘Constant crisis’: Peguis floods again, repaired homes hit (June 28)

When homes on First Nations are ruined by flood waters, the inhabitants usually have to rebuild or relocate their homes.

In future, however, this rebuilding should occur on top of man-made berms, constructed perhaps two meters above the existing grade. The backfill berm material can be scraped from the surrounding lands by bulldozer and/or trucked in from other excavation projects. The flattened and compacted berm would accommodate a house, garage, space for vehicles, a rising driveway, and so on.

Since the berm will be fabricated higher than potentially threatening flood waters can overrun, the result could offer a more permanent flood protection for affected inhabitants, including far fewer evacuations.

Michael R. Moskal

Winnipeg

Follow Indigenous leadership

Re: Indigenous conservation Canada’s way of the future, Guilbeault says (June 25)

With the dual global climate and species-loss crises, I commend the many Indigenous nations within Canada who are working to ensure areas are protected for nature.

As the article suggests, Canada needs Indigenous leadership to fulfill its international promise to protect 30 per cent of its land mass by 2030. This is an ambitious target, and it’s certainly needed to ensure nature’s life support systems can sustain people and wildlife into the future.

Protecting and wisely managing prairies, forests and wetlands keeps carbon in the ground and away from the atmosphere. If left intact, natural areas also maintain their role in continuously absorbing carbon from the air.

Other jurisdictions in Canada have set targets and created plans for safeguarding nature. As the executive director of the Manitoba chapter of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, I suggest it’s time Manitoba catches up by moving forward on long-standing protected area candidates. It’s also critical our provincial government gives full support to the conservation initiatives led by Indigenous Nations. Future generations of people and wildlife depend on their actions now.

Ron Thiessen

Winnipeg

Adoption of renewables slow

Re: It’s time to follow the green money (June 29)

Columnist Peter Denton is too optimistic when he claims the smart investment money is being shifted from fossil fuels to renewables. We heard this argument at least a decade ago and yet, between 2010 and 2020, the share by wind and solar sources of the world’s energy demand rose from only 10.6 per cent to 12.6 per cent despite billions in subsidies and private capital.

Also worth noting is the fact that when Russia recently cut its natural gas supplies to Germany, the latter, regardless of its reputation as one of the world’s leading proponents of green initiatives, promptly ramped up its consumption of coal, not renewables, to make up the energy shortfall.

Even more recently, the U.S. government last week began holding its first onshore oil and gas drilling lease auction since Joe Biden took office. This came after a federal court blocked his administration’s attempt to suspend such sales over climate concerns.

And in case anyone missed it, last month’s Ontario provincial election saw the parties with the most ambitious climate plans earning by far the fewest seats as voters rejected the inevitable higher taxes and new restrictions such proposals would bring.

Renewable energy will likely have its day, but until high-capacity storage batteries become common enough to power entire cities, its unreliability will keep it from being widespread, regardless of how much money is spent to support it.

Edward Katz

Winnipeg

Murray experience valuable

Re: So, why do you want this job, Mr. Murray (Opinion, June 23)

Letter writer Howard Wiebe refers to Glen Murray as a “pie in the sky” mayoral candidate. May I just say that I would rather have an experienced mayor with “pie in the sky” ideas than a mayor with ideas of lining his own pockets with taxpayers’ money or a new mayor who will take two years to understand the job?

Leslie Fingler

Winnipeg

Stop judging on abortion

Re: Abortion ruling (Letters, June 29)

Kim Trethart’s letter, in which he states he is pro-choice until the end of the first trimester when once should have made a choice, perfectly demonstrates why no one other than a pregnant woman and her doctor should be able to make any decisions on abortion.

According to numerous medical sources, the vast majority of abortions take place in the first trimester. Abortions that occur later in pregnancy are nearly always related to severe medical complications, such as the life of the mother being threatened, or the fetus presenting genetic abnormalities. In some cases, the fetus may have already died and the abortion procedure is actually to remove it.

I know women who have had abortions for various reasons, at various stages, some because it wasn’t the right time for a baby and some because a much-wanted child was going to be born with severe medical impairments that would mean a life of suffering. They don’t deserve anyone’s judgment, especially from anyone who doesn’t know their circumstances.

Kate McDougall

Winnipeg

City overlooks young adults

Re: Dubois has doubts about Jets (June 24)

Does it come as any surprise that Winnipeg Jets forward Pierre-Luc Dubois has plans to wait out his current contract and explore free agency in 2024?

Aside from bringing the Jets back in 2011, what has Winnipeg done in the last 40 years to make itself an exciting option for young people? The city has spent billions on roads and police, and neglected those services and infrastructure that can make cities more livable and which attract young people, such as parks, active transportation and public transit.

If roads and police are the course we choose as a city, please spare me the heartache and moaning when young hockey stars decide against staying in Winnipeg

Mike Edwards

Winnipeg