Letters, Aug. 31

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This article was published 31/08/2022 (1363 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Strategic seeding of rage

Re: Broken political discourse on public display (Editorial, Aug. 30)

The editorial defines “rage farming” as “the strategy of seeding, cultivating and harvesting public anger with rhetoric that is, more often than not, unmoored from fact but is aligned with the unhinged ‘truths’ that echo and amplify in far-right internet enclaves.”

What a perfectly apt term. And what a fitting descriptor for the activities of the likes of Pierre Poilievre, Maxime Bernier, and Donald Trump and his acolytes, who go about stoking and amplifying the grievances (real or imagined) of protesters wherever they can find them. Rage farmers like them bear ultimate responsibility for the abusive, dangerous behaviour that is increasingly inflicted on people like Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland.

Ron Menec

Winnipeg

Among the politicians condemning the abusive confrontation of Chrystia Freeland in Grand Prairie, Alta., are a few obvious absentees. I hope journalists are pressing chief political fomenters of such behaviours, Pierre Poilievre and Maxime Bernier, to name just two, for their reactions. If not, then perhaps it’s time to write an obituary for courtesy and respect in public discourse.

To politicians who encourage such behaviours but stop short of condemning it when it happens, I say speak up. Your silence is not only deafening, but tragically revealing.

Dan Dyck

Winnipeg

Your editorial does not use Pierre Poilievre’s name, but you are clearly signalling he is a Canadian rage farmer akin to Donald Trump.

The last time there was this degree of public rage was in the early ’90s, immediately prior to Kim Campbell’s catastrophic loss of October 1993.

The Reform Party was burgeoning in the West, fuelled by a belief that then-prime minister Brian Mulroney had betrayed western economic issues to the east, particularly Quebec. Anyone recall the air-maintenance contract awarded to a Montreal firm instead of a Winnipeg firm?

In Quebec, soft nationalists were fleeing the PC party as Mulroney had promised Lucien Bouchard that he would amend the Constitution to meet Quebec’s historical grievances. This crashed with the failure of the Meech Lake and Charlottetown accords.

All this angst occurred in the absence of Poilievre, who would have been 13 or 14 years old at the time, and in the absence of Donald Trump. My point is that public anger does not sprout from one politician.

It seems the Free Press is constantly searching for the villain on whom to blame for public anger or angst, and is setting the stage to denounce the Conservative Party if it elects Poilievre as leader. It will be humourous if the party elects someone else, as the editorial board will be left spluttering, not knowing what to say.

Kurt Clyde

Winnipeg

The editorial condemns the verbal encounter between Chrystia Freeland and a concerned Albertan last week, but then predictably segues to an attack on Donald Trump.

We don’t need to look to our neighbours to the south for precedent. We only need to listen to our own prime minister, a master of this art. The most recent examples had Trudeau calling the virus-mandate protesters racists and anarchists, and commenting that the burning of dozens of Catholic and Anglican churches was “unacceptable and wrong but understandable.”

It is indeed hypocritical to condemn inappropriate discourse when directed at our politicians, and then not to condemn it when it is used as a standard technique by the same politicians.

Richard Wedel

Winnipeg

Bus turnstiles problematic

Re: Add turnstiles on buses (Letters, Aug. 29)

Letter writer Peter Zahradka suggests turnstiles on buses to prevent entry of riders who do not pay, and also to make riders use the rear door to exit the bus since persons using the front doors often slow entry.

His solution would certainly be effective. However, it would also mean people who use wheelchairs and walkers, and moms with strollers, would also be barred from using transit.

Perhaps it is time to look at increasing the services of Transit Plus to include parents with strollers, and to encourage people who use wheelchairs and walkers to use that service instead of the regular transit. Of course, that would mean changing the way Transit Plus handles its schedules, but it might be worth considering. Then Zahradka’s suggestion could be implemented more fairly.

Rene Jamieson

Winnipeg

Gray’s new job good news

Re: Diane Gray returning to public sector after steering multibillion-dollar inland port from concept to reality (Aug. 26)

The appointment of Diane Gray, former CEO of Centreport Canada, to the presidency of Prairies Economic Development Canada is good news from several perspectives.

First, it places this important pool of federal dollars under the management of a successful, dynamic and highly respected winner. A better choice would be hard to imagine.

Second, it appears to recognize the fact, lately largely ignored in Ottawa, that federal programs work best in partnership with the provinces. Gray is a former senior Manitoba public servant.

And third, it may signal the renewal of the practice of leavening the federal bureaucracy with folks with provincial government experience — where most of the action in delivering services to Canadians actually takes place — something now sadly lacking in Ottawa.

Norman Brandson

Winnipeg

Use public funds only for public good

Re: Stop spending on non-essentials (Letters, Aug. 29)

I concur with letter writer Kim Trethart that government should not spend tax money on non-essential items. How was it OK for government to hand over $200 milllion, a loan never to be paid back, to build a new football stadium that sits empty more than 90 per cent of the time.? Is professional football a public good? Hardly!

Or the $60 million for the Diversity Gardens at Assiniboine Park, where there will likely be an admission fee made more necessary by the significant cost overuns of this project.

It would seem politicians of all stripes like to attach themselves to costly high-profile projects regardless of their need or public good.

Irwin Corobow

Winnipeg

I love reading the letters to the editor, and I was particularly interested in two letters that were back-to-back on Monday.

Rachel Morgan, in her letter about bicycles, pedestrians and motorists, advocates for a system that benefits all and meets everyone’s needs. Kim Trethart, on the other hand, names eight things that don’t benefit him and that the city should stop spending his taxpayer dollars on.

Two different viewpoints: one advocates for all, the other advocates for himself.

LeeAnne Penner

Winnipeg

Blondie’s sausage choice too preachy

Re: Blondie comic strip (Aug. 29)

Just what us comics lovers don’t need — an unfunny strip about meatless sausages being served by a righteous Blondie to an unsuspecting Dagwood.

I was once a vegetarian myself, and defend their right to be heard. But enough is enough. Don’t need this preachy dietary stuff disguised as funny. Thumbs down.

Anna Knutson

Winnipeg

Ho, ho! Cartoon carnist Dagwood has the hemp completely pulled over his eyes when wife Blondie serves him a plant-based sausage. What next? Will they use the “V” word? Will the Bumstead kitchen be the first to feature a bioreactor? Stay tuned!

Debbie Wall

Winnipeg