Letters, April 12

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/04/2023 (1283 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Bill stymies harm reduction

Re: NDP to delay addictions bill (April 3)

Our son died in 2014 from a fentanyl poisoning, and I have been advocating and sharing data and drug alerts with Manitoba since. I don’t think the general public understands Bill 33 will damage harm-reduction efforts, like safe-consumption sites and safe supply.

Our Progressive Conservative government says this bill is to protect those with addictions. To have guidelines and rules. What is incredibly sad is how little this government cares for people who use substances. And it is not enough to just care for people, you have to care about them.

The mobile overdose prevention site has been running since November. With over 4,587 visits to the RV. With six overdoses prevented and responded to. Countless drug-checking, and lots of harm-reduction supplies and continuance of care. Community helping community because of a lack of help from the province and city. All of this is happening out of a used RV van.

It was only when media made the public aware of the mobile safe consumption site that the government decided to visit.

I have been advocating for years now, and I can tell you that this government does not care about the loved ones dying every day in this province. They have never given out any data or drug alerts. It has only been made public because of public pressure.

I think the public has a right to know that someone dies every day from the toxic supply on our streets. That the drug xylazine is here in Manitoba. That fentanyl, carfentanyl, is being sold and put into all street drugs.

How is it acceptable to only talk about treatment when the drugs are toxic? What do you say to the more than 100 men on a wait-list for treatment at the Bruce Oake Recovery Centre?

The PCs say the NDP and those who advocate are not seeing the bigger picture. But this government is not seeing the picture at all.

How incredibly insulting to myself, to all families, to our loved ones, to say we don’t know what we’re talking about. That we are not putting safety first.

We tried it their way, and look where it got us. With 2,256 loved ones dead from toxic drugs and drug-related harms since 2014.

Common sense would tell us to fix the supply and not continue to say this doesn’t exist.

The PC government has tunnel vision when it comes to helping those that try or use drugs. They have one solution: “say no.” Well, we all know how well that worked in the ’80s.

Arlene Last-Kolb

Winnipeg

Update energy strategy

Progress on climate change is inextricably linked to energy policy. Manitoba’s finance minister should stop misleading the legislature about provincial energy policy development and admit that his government will not honour its promise to make Manitoba “Canada’s cleanest, greenest and most climate resilient province” (Energy strategy on way: minister, April 6).

When pressed in the legislature to explain when his government will release its overdue Energy Policy Framework, Finance Minister Cliff Cullen instead blamed the former NDP government for failing to develop an energy strategy during its tenure. That is false.

The minister should check his government’s website. Under Manitoba Environment, Climate and Parks, he would find that the provincial government does have a “Clean Energy Strategy.” However, it is the one developed by the former NDP government and released in December 2012.

It is easy to see why the minister wants to deflect attention from his government’s dismal record on energy and climate policy. Once the leading jurisdiction in Canada under the previous NDP government, Manitoba has consistently ranked near the bottom for the past few years in the Canadian Energy Efficiency Scorecard. Projections by Environment Canada reveal that Manitoba’s commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions is among the weakest of any province or territory.

Dramatic changes have occurred in the energy sector during the past several years. Manitoba urgently needs an updated energy strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, maximize economic development opportunities and minimize the burden of the high cost of fossil fuels on Manitobans.

Why, then, has the Tory provincial government been so slow, since its election almost seven years ago, to articulate and implement its vision for our province’s energy future?

Kenneth Klassen

Winnipeg

True colours?

Re: Examining goalie’s decision not to wear pride jersey (April 6)

John Longhurst writes: “Few of us are perfectly consistent when it comes to the ways in which we live out our religious beliefs.”

One can appreciate the way Longhurst calls out James Reimer for being a hypocrite without using the word. If I were Longhurst, I think I would have been less tactful.

Further, l acknowledge the succinctness of his statement about most everyone’s moral inconstancy. We humans can be a mess of contradictions but there are also degrees to our messiness. Reimer has been quoted as saying “that every person has value and worth, and the LGBTQIA+ community, like all others, should be welcomed in all aspects of the game of hockey.”

Yet, Reimer unilaterally has decided that wearing a Pride Jersey for a 20-minute warm-up is not one of the “aspects of the game of hockey.”

Another one of those things that make you go, “Hmmm.”

Mick Friesen

Gretna

Spate of spending

Re: Province expands post-surgery outpatient hip, knee physiotherapy access (April 5)

Premier Heather Stefanson is desperately trying to remake the mold of her party with the flurry of health initiatives that will undo the health cuts enacted over her and Pallister’s tenure. She is not providing any fiscal responsibility.

The announcement the government will pay for private physiotherapy services for knee and hip replacements is necessary and overdue, but only serves to restore the services that were provided by government workers at hospitals with a private, for-profit service, hardly good economic sense.

The contracts with U.S. clinics for hip and knee surgeries will certainly help reduce the backlog, but with the current exchange rate, our 75-cent dollar will cost us 33 per cent more for the same-priced service in the U.S.

For years prior to COVID, surgeons were telling the government they could perform more surgeries, but the government capped the allowed total number per year to curtail costs. Once again, their prior and current actions are costing us dearly.

With the drive to eliminate the property school taxes, school divisions are already being forced to eliminate services, borrow money, and cut staff. Those taxes were supposed to be replaced with general government revenue. I don’t recall any revelation of that happening, as Stefanson is still claiming she will cut taxes again.

October is fast approaching: so much to do and so little time.

Len Lewkowich

Winnipeg

Happy trails

Kudos to the Birds Hill Park staff for grooming the ski trails after the recent snow dump.

Trails were great Friday and Saturday. Parking lots were packed, as many skiers flocked out to enjoy one last (hopefully) taste of winter and the great weather.

Jim Lawrence

Winnipeg