Letters, August 26

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/08/2022 (1370 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Bicycles should be licensed

Re: Laws for cyclists needed (Letters, Aug. 25)

The recent stream of letters suggesting changes to walking/cycling paths all ignore the obvious — who is going to pay for the changes?

There have been many changes to our infrastructure in the past few years in order to make cycling safer, with no financial input from the people whom the changes benefit. It is time to reintroduce a tiered licensing system for cyclists.

I propose $50 a year for cyclists over 15 and $5 a year for cyclists under 15 years of age. The licence number should be engraved on the frame to assist in tracking the bicycle when, inevitably, it is stolen.

There should also be a plate to identify the bicycle as being licensed. Unlicensed bicycles should be be seized and ticketed.

Robert Collings

Winnipeg

As a pedestrian walking on an active transportation trail, letter writer Will Franklin takes exception with “having” to move out of the way should a cyclist ring his or her bell.

I have seen the same attitude and behaviour from some cyclists on streets and motorways who adamantly insist they take up the entire car lane and block a whole parade of cars behind them who may or may not honk to ask the cyclist to “move over a bit” so they may pass.

I get it. I have been that cyclist who has often been sideswiped by some maniac in a car despite doing my best to stay as far to the right as possible. It does possess one with a recalcitrant and militant attitude of “I’m not moving an inch!”

But this is a recipe for disaster. All I am suggesting is that, to promote the smoothest and safest flow of both foot and cycle traffic, everybody on an active transportation path stays as far to the right as practical.

However, in this era of “rights” and “freedoms,” it appears some would rather maintain wilful defiance of common sense and courtesy, lest it disturbs their conception of personal freedom.

Howard Warren

Winnipeg

Diagnosing health-care failings

Re: Manitoba inks surgery deals with Thunder Bay, Cleveland, North Dakota (Aug. 24)

Manitobans who need hip or knee surgery will now have the option to have their operations out of province on Manitoba’s dime. Dr. Peter MacDonald, chair of Manitoba’s surgical and diagnostic recovery task force, attributes delays in surgeries to the COVID-19 pandemic. I guess host surgery sites in Thunder Bay, Ont., Fargo, N.D., and Cleveland, Ohio, were spared from the pandemic, leaving their medical systems fully “operational.”

Silly me. I thought the massive cuts by the Manitoba PC government prior to the pandemic were a significant contributing factor to our failing health care system.

Mary-Jane Robinson

Winnipeg

Medical oversight nuanced

Re: Physicians regulator improving (Letters, Aug. 22)

The Free Press investigation into the very serious allegations of sexual misconduct against a physician in St. Anne has morphed into an extended critique of the Manitoba College of Physicians and Surgeons. The major contention is that the self-regulatory body puts “physicians’ interests ahead of patients’ safety,” a view that is echoed in numerous interviews with opponents of medical colleges.

Many of the issues discussed, however, are nuanced and would be difficult to resolve whatever the regulatory regime. For example, what forms of communications between complainants and accused should be permitted? What restrictions should be imposed on doctors under investigation but not convicted? How do we balance the need for public accountability versus privacy rights for complainants and others involved in an investigation? The answers don’t seem obvious.

Furthermore, at least some of the reporting has been misleading. The series is titled “Behind Closed Doors” and gives the impression physician oversight is a highly secretive process. Yet in small print we learn hearings for physicians charged with sexual misconduct are in fact open to the public. How secretive is that?

Professions that are granted privileges of self-regulation should be routinely subject to scrutiny to ensure the public interest is protected. Before we jump to conclusions about medical oversight in Manitoba, we would need an examination with less bias and much more depth than the Free Press investigation has so far offered.

Joel Novek

Winnipeg

Care-home pods ineffective

Re: Visiting pods no longer vital spaces at many personal-care facilities (Aug. 25)

The story describes how shipping containers used as long-term care home visitation pods during the pandemic at a cost of $18 million are mostly just taking up space now.

I’ll say they have outlived their usefulness. They pretty much outlived their usefulness from the start.

Whoever designed them did not understand the needs of the elderly. There were pockets of cold in the winter because of poorly designed air circulation, but worst of all, they echoed, which made it difficult for the hearing impaired to understand conversations.

At my mother’s personal care home, they were never well used, and they are an eyesore. Imagine what PCHs could have done with the money wasted on these pods. I just hope the government is not going to leave PCHs with the expense of getting rid of them.

Dawn Harris

Gimli

Burkini apology appreciated

Re: Water park owner apologizes for burkini incident (Aug. 22)

I am pleased the owner of a Manitoba water park has apologized to a Muslim woman for taking issue with the full-body swimwear worn by her and her daughter. He believed it was streetwear. He must be commended for his humility and willingness to admit wrong and then resolve to correct it.

I am sorry for the aggressive messages he received. Doing anti-racism work for over 25 years, I have come to understand anger does not resolve conflicts; it draws lines between “us” and “them” and shuts down the path to resolution. To be angry about injustices, violations of human rights and racism is OK, as long as it leads to concrete positive action and relationship building.

Shahina Siddiqui

Winnipeg

Encampment inaction unfair

Re: Reprieve for legislature encampments (Aug. 23)

Manitoba’s elected government has apparently seen fit to again abdicate its responsibility and allow the unsightly, unsafe Indigenous encampment on our provincial legislative grounds to continue.

It seems there are different rules for Indigenous peoples. Why don’t we just save ourselves the effort of electing a government and simply hand the keys to the legislature to the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs and the Manitoba Métis Federation and let them run the province?

Cal Paul

Winnipeg

Open letter to ‘dog dumpers’

If you are the dog owner who dumped a Rottweiler-cross on the Brokenhead Reserve, let me give you an update on your dog’s well-being.

He spends his days pacing up and down the main road in the heat looking for anything or anyone familiar. There’s nothing there for him. Unfortunately, dumping dogs in this area is not uncommon. Abandoned dogs are considered a nuisance and are treated as such.

I tried to approach the poor thing, but it hobbled off the road in terror and disappeared in the bush. The best he can expect in what’s left of his miserable life is to either be shot, poisoned, killed on the road or maimed in a trap.

Come on, dog dumpers. Do the right thing and take your unwanted pets to your local shelter. There, they can at least have a chance to find a new home.

Linda Drolet

Brokenhead Reserve