Letters, March 27

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/03/2023 (926 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Tax cuts have high cost

When I heard our property taxes would not be supporting the costs of our education system, I wondered how that would work. Now I know: not very well.

As a retired teacher with many personal connections to our schools, I am hearing stories of increased class sizes, staffing cutbacks and no supplies left in the budget. Months ago, a close family member had no budget for paper with half the school year to finish.

I am reading about our largest school divisions having to go to extreme and unsustainable measures to stay afloat (Province withholds $4-M grant after Seven Oaks School Division raises taxes, March 17).

How can we be congratulating these tax cuts when our very future is being compromised? Shame on us.

Eileen Gibson

East St. Paul

Minister should resign

The front-page article NDP blasts health minister after nurses jump ship (March 23) describes Health Minister Audrey Gordon blaming everyone but herself for the failure of the forensic nurse examiner program at Health Sciences Centre. Perhaps if Gordon had spent more time tending to her portfolio and less time trying to garner media attention through her laughable “come talk to me on my sofa” initiative this could have been avoided.

Astoundingly, both Gordon and Families Minister Rochelle Squires decided to seize this as an opportunity to disparage a member of the opposition who is a lawyer and defends people charged with sexual assault as part of his legal practice. Perhaps the right to be seen as innocent until proven guilty and the right to effective legal representation are not part of the Conservative party lexicon. After all, they have already decided that drug users are guilty of being… well, drug users, and as such are not deserving of safe-injection sites that would save lives.

If Gordon truly wants to contribute to a healthy Manitoba she would resign, thereby lowering my blood pressure.

Tom Pearson

Indian Wells, Calif.

Analysis falls short

Re: Explaining Poilievre’s popularity with unions (March 18)

I saw the headline of this article, and naively believed it would be an objective analysis about why the Conservative leader has popularity in unexpected places. Unfortunately, it was nothing of the sort.

Instead, it was a left-wing diatribe that equated Canada-first policies with racism and other unpalatable traits — and used these arguments as an attempt to shame union members into avoiding support for the Conservatives. I should have saved myself some time and just read the bio of the article’s author — a labour studies professor, who first published this article on The Conversation website.

In other words, a far-left individual writing for a far-left publication. That’s fine, but let’s not pretend it ever was trying to be objective.

Steve Teller

Winnipeg

Gatekeeping, for some

The editorial cartoon on March 21 was interesting for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, it depicts what can be inferred as the U.S. banking system in free-fall, while the Canadian system is likely to be preserved, tethered by banking regulation.

Secondly, it brings to mind a couple of themes Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre emphasizes, a somewhat nebulous concept of “freedom” and the “gatekeepers” preventing Canadians from reaching their full potential. It is not hard to imagine how Poilievre could deregulate our banking system to rid us of what he perceives to be gatekeepers restricting our freedom.

We do have some indications of how the “gatekeeper” concept would be applied. The gates were wide open when three members of Poilievre’s caucus (one sitting in the front bench) met with far-right German politician Christine Anderson. All three were allowed to stay in caucus and suffered no consequences for their poor judgment.

When legislation to provide dental care to some of Canada’s poorest children was proposed, Poilievre and his band of gatekeepers would have denied them access to what is basic health care. This, from a bunch enjoying one of the most comprehensive heath-care plans available.

Rick Weind

Winnipeg

A province of children

In her letter to the editor (“Eyes on autumn,” March 23), regarding NDP Leader Wab Kinew’s pledge of free birth control, Irene Neroda suggested the NDP needed to come up with a more relevant offer to win the next election, because “the very least thing most Manitobans are concerned with is birth control. In a province of seniors, you can come up with something better.”

However, according to Statistics Canada, Manitoba is not a province of seniors; it is a province of children. In fact, it is one of only three provinces in Canada where children under 15 still outnumber people 65 years and older. Apparently, this is mostly due to higher fertility than elsewhere in Canada, apart from the territories.

So, it would appear the NDP are really on to something.

Cheryl Moore

Winnipeg

Human uniqueness

In face of the increasing presence of artificial intelligence (AI), computer scientist Calvin Brown raises some fundamental questions about what it means to be human (We’re too quick to dismiss AI’s human side, March 22). He believes that AI drives a nail in the coffin of human exceptionality — that seemingly universal need to feel “special” within creation (notwithstanding the reality that, as far as we know, it is only humans who have been able to create artificial intelligence!).

Brown takes a trait approach in his analysis, comparing human capacities with those of other sentient beings. He provides evidence that we are not that unique because many of our abilities, such as cognition, tool use, language, and problem solving are present in animals and AI. From there he concludes that there is no essential difference, for example, between a mouse and a human person.

It’s interesting that a sense of “specialness” among humans can cut both ways. As we have witnessed over the past number of decades, reckless human activity — a kind of specialness — is threatening the very existence of life on planet Earth. Yet for climate activists, humanity’s specialness means stewardship of our planet, without concern for personal comfort and gain.

Counterintuitively perhaps, maybe what is distinctively human is the capacity to embrace our similarities with fellow earthlings and seek connection with the wholeness of things.

Humanity’s saints, sages, artists (and some scientists) have found our uniqueness in the drive to transcend our lives into realms beyond any easily defined “traits.”

American playwright Thornton Wilder, in his play Our Town, put it well: “Everybody knows in their bones that something is eternal, and that something has to do with human beings”

Edwin Buettner

Winnipeg

I don’t like spam

In her letter, Bev Stacey expressed her frustration with daily phone calls from WestJet, offering her discounts on flights (“Flight, or fight?” Letters, March 24). She has decided not to fly WestJet anymore.

I am wondering if Stacey has considered the possibility that these calls are spam calls and not actually from WestJet at all? Maybe it’s time for her to get rid of her landline. (Just for the record, I do not work for WestJet.)

Bonnie Robinson

Winnipeg