Letters, June 29

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 29/06/2023 (1170 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Care home funding major issue

Re: Long term care association pushes for funding (June 28)

Once again, it has come to my attention that long term care facilities have received no funding increases from the province in the past 15 years. I challenge any member of the government to purchase the same goods today as they did in 2008, using the same amount of money. It is an impossible task.

I am getting uncomfortably close in age to needing a care facility to keep quiet about this underfunding. I see small but significant changes at the PCH where a family member resides, changes I can only assume happen because the dollars have to be stretched.

The care provided is still excellent, and for that we as a family are grateful, but small things like cookies with tea have been eliminated. I wonder what other invisible changes have been necessary.

Funding for personal care homes is in my top three election issues. I will be watching closely for an announcement addressing this issue.

Brenda Wedlake

Winnipeg

Putin proves crafty

Re: Infighting rocks Russia (June 24)

After reading the article and viewing on social media what transpired over the last weekend in Russia, Vladimir Putin is still in power and the figurehead of Russia, nothing has changed. The Wagner military mercenary force and their leader Yevgeny Prigozhin failed in their armed rebellion, aimed at ousting Russia’s defence ministry. Once again President Putin prevailed by implementing Russian propaganda, even against his own kind. How does Putin get away time after time using his KGB tactics?

Putin has proven beyond any doubt that he is prepared to destabilize even a leader of a mercenary group to reach his strategic objective. How many times have we seen how Vladimir Putin expands his campaign of force, even to protect his personal army from Prigozhin’s invasion. Putin continues his aggressive KGB style to re-establish a Moscow-centred empire. President Putin has an agenda, to sustain the power of the Kremlin and to control and dominate as much as possible Mother Russia, even not allowing his closest comrades to invade the Red Square.

As I see it, Vladimir Putin is a very crafty dictator, he expands his campaign of destruction even against his own people and the military like the Wagner mercenary force. This latest event in Russia forced Putin to listen to Yevgeny Prigozhin, he couldn’t use his “bluff” technique as he does with the West.

What is Putin’s next plan behind the Iron Curtain? Will there be other attempts to overpower Putin, who is next?

Peter John Manastyrsky

Winnipeg

Better solutions to stairwell problem

Re: Stinky Portage and Main stairwell step closer to wrecking ball (June 28)

Problems with a bus shelter at Portage Place? Tear it down. Problems with a stairwell near Portage and Main? Get rid of the stairwell at a cost of $1.65 million.

As a long-standing resident of the Exchange District, this will likely just move the problem elsewhere at P&M and certainly is not a constructive approach to salvaging downtown Winnipeg.

Surely a little creativity and $1.65 million could generate a better solution. How about prevention measures like better lighting that is motion activated, cameras, a nearby facility, and extended hours for downtown patrols to cover the entrances and the underground itself?

These might not only resolve the problem but also create jobs, be cheaper, and provide a safer atmosphere for people who now avoid the area.

Jim Clark

Winnipeg

Careful what you wish for

Re: Books won’t be banned in Prairie Rose School Division (June 28)

I’d love to know what the response might be if one demanded the removal of all biblical references in both our schools and libraries.

Those inclined to support judgmental, subjective morality-based censorship ought to be careful what they wish for as history has shown, the pendulum swings both ways.

Dan Donahue

Winnipeg

In the late 1950s, Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence was banned among other books. A friend and I took the train to Minneapolis for the weekend, and of course, purchased a copy.

I would like to thank the “book banners” because they recommended a great book. What they did then, and are doing now, is preparing a list of must read books.

June Kirby

Winnipeg

Good riddance, Dubois

Re: Jets deal Dubois for Kings ransom (June 28)

You could have received Rogie Vachon in his place and it would still be a win for the Jets. This young player with plenty of skill but no moxie and no idea what being a professional means was dead weight and a detriment for the team.

Two teams in his young career, two demands for a trade because was not happy and very lacklustre play at critical times. I believe Coach Bowness’s dump on the team after playoffs was, at least in part, rightfully aimed at him.

Now an eight-year contract, I see a buyout when LA tires of his attitude. I believe it is well in order for his former Jets mates to hold a “gone away party.”

Now please, let’s move Wheeler out of the way, off the roster, in the most economical way.

It’s a start!

John Zaplitny

Carman

Voters’ power limited

Re: Get out the vote (Letters, June 27)

Writer Scott Blyth has inadvertently identified what may be the biggest flaw in our current political system. He writes “we must evaluate these platforms and choose the candidate whose values and ideas align with our own.” Later, he writes “we have the power to choose the candidate who will represent us and our values.”

The flaw is that while we want to show our support for “values and ideas”, we are limited in how we show that support to voting for a person. Given the current level of technology, we could easily set up a system with periodic votes for things like “should we implement single-payer dental coverage for all Manitobans?”

I’m not suggesting we go for full democracy where we vote incessantly on every small issue, but there are some broad “values and ideas” which are worth deciding in this way. Implementation would perhaps be the purview of a group of citizens with relevant expertise.

Obviously myriad details would need to be worked out, but my space here is limited.

Kevin McGregor

Winnipeg

Save the trees

Has the City of Winnipeg received the memo about climate change, and the need to preserve all that’s green — trees, plants, grass, and so on? Sure doesn’t look like it when you take a stroll at Assiniboine Park these days.

An obscene amount of green space has already been sacrificed to build The Leaf. Now, more trees are being cut down and more grass is being removed to accommodate more and more parking lots and thus, increase air pollution and traffic congestion.

Just this morning, I found out that the path off the brand new parking spots off Diversity Drive, near the Shaftesbury entrance, is going to be widened, and thus, more concrete poured.

Can anyone stop this madness?

Ruth Hodder

Winnipeg