Letters, March 1

Opinion

Too little, too late

In Home care workers thank bereaved husband for making plight known (Feb. 24), Katie May reports what many of us already know. The workers on the front line in home care truly do care about their work and their clients. Yes, there is a shortage of workers, but the drivers behind this problem are the workplace policies, organizational culture at a management level, the apathy and perhaps the qualifications and work ethos of those in middle and upper management of the organization.

We can thank Premier Heather Stefanson and her cronies for taking an organization with many challenges and grinding it into dust with no regard to the folks who need home care. The Conservative mantra seems to be “Let’s make the system so bad that public employees leave to work for the private sector.”

Now that the Conservative provincial government has garnered public rage over its mismanagement of the system and its penchant for hiring managers more focused on nickel-diming than service delivery, they are busy throwing money at the problem that they created. It won’t get them reelected. It’s too little, too late. It’s too callous and too calculating.

Tom Pearson

Indian Wells, Calif.

Adaptive plans require funding

I read with interest Maggie Macintosh’s article Demand still exists for virtual school (Feb. 24).

How unfortunate that this school is closing. What our governing party fails to grasp is that not all learners learn best in a brick-and-mortar setting.

Education and Early Childhood Learning Minister Wayne Ewasko seems to indicate that his government will allocate the resources needed to allow these students continued success. Should we be anticipating another giant funding announcement?

As a former principal, and now substitute teacher, I can state that at present there is nowhere near the funding required for additional students to draw on. Administrators, teachers and EAs are run off their feet as they support their learners.

All the adaptive education plans in the world come to naught without the additional staffing to implement them. To indicate otherwise to parents who are already anxious about the future shows a lack of integrity and respect.

Roswitha Dudar

Winnipeg

On Feb. 2, Wayne Ewasko was quoted as saying “(o)ur government believes that all students must succeed regardless of where they live in this great province of ours, their background or individual circumstances.”

I guess the “individual circumstances” he referred to do not include students who are immunocompromised or cannot attend school in person due to any number of physical or mental health issues, or other circumstances.

The closing of the Manitoba Remote Learning Support Centre eliminates a resource that was a godsend for many Manitoba families. Despite an “astronomical” increase in funding, which included $5 million in “extra funding for students who have specific learning needs,” there appears to be no money left for the online learning program.

Yet another example of where our government rebates would have been better spent.

Brent Corrigan

Winnipeg

Heated discussion

Contrary to the impression created by Robert Parsons (“Practical solutions on emissions,” Letters, Feb. 28), heat pumps make environmental and economic sense in a wide range of situations based on current energy prices and carbon taxes.

The International Energy Agency describes heat pumps as ”an indispensable part of any plan to cut emissions and natural gas use.” A major milestone was reached in the U.S. last year when heat pump sales surpassed natural gas furnaces by a wide margin. In Canada, the main barriers to growth in the surging market demand for heat pumps are shortages of equipment and qualified installers.

With our abundance of low-cost, renewable electricity, installing a ground-source air-source heat pump makes sense for most new homes in Manitoba. In these cases, the heat pump system can be configured to not only heat the home but also provide hot water and air conditioning. The cost of the heat pump system is substantially reduced by eliminating the need to install and maintain a separate gas furnace, central air conditioner and water heater.

Ground source heat pumps are also a cost-effective option in many existing homes with an older gas furnace or boiler that is near the end of its life and requires replacement. Ground source heat pumps are especially attractive as an alternative to electric resistance heating in both new and older homes where they can cut heating costs by almost two-thirds according to Manitoba Hydro.

In very cold climates, air-source heat pumps are increasingly being installed as a hybrid system with an existing gas furnace. The heat pump provides both heating and air conditioning while the gas furnace provides back-up heating during the coldest periods. Much of the future growth in using heat pumps to heat homes and buildings in Canada is expected to come from a new generation of cold climate air-source heat pumps now reaching the market. Although less efficient than ground-source heat pumps, they are also much less expensive and easier to install.

Kenneth Klassen

Winnipeg

Better use for building

As I read the article in your paper regarding the Balmoral Street housing complex (From valued village to squalid scourge, Feb. 23), a common theme seems to appear. This building, which I used to pass every day on my way to work near the Health Sciences Centre, caused me to wonder what purpose the building was being built for owing to its peculiar design. To learn that this was built originally as a co-op and then became Manitoba Housing for low-income earners seems even more confusing.

It now sits empty and subject to vandalism and the provincial government is looking to offload it as a rent subsidy in the private market (as it is doing with Lions Manor for two years)

With 5,400 people waiting for subsidized housing, it seems unbelievable that a plan could not be devised to renovate this building to make it more livable and safer, and re-establish funding this government recently cut to the construction company that was helping to train young people in the building trades to carry out these renovations.

The main obstacle I see is the fact that this government would have to open the public coffers, which are considerably lighter due to all the carbon tax rebates it has mailed out.

Alice French

Winnipeg

Cold home on the prairie

I’d point out to Sean Petty (“Not true dough?” Letters, Feb. 24) that “carbon tax relief” would not be required if Canadians hadn’t had the draconian (it increases every year through the year 2030) carbon tax foisted on us by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Maybe our PM should spend a winter in Winnipeg or Regina and pay out of his own pocket to heat his home and his workplace and to drive his vehicle.

To entice the PM to spend a winter in the ’Peg we can assure him that our Red River skating trail, unlike the similar one on the Rideau Canal in Ottawa, will freeze over every year without fail and be available for his family to enjoy winter exercise. Of course, we should remember that our PM prefers to holiday on tropical islands during the Canadian winter, so….

A little dose of prairie winter reality might help our PM see things from the perspective of us who actually live our lives on the Canadian prairies!

Cal Paul

Winnipeg