Letters, July 17

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/07/2023 (1054 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Carberry crash: we can do better

Enough time has gone by that the handivan crash that happened on June 15 at Carberry has already fallen off the front page and is becoming old news. As I write this, seven people are still in the hospital, one who is still in critical care. This story is not old news for them, nor is it old news for the families in Dauphin who are still coming to terms with losing their loved ones.

And, it’s also not old news to the people who first arrived on that scene, the members of the general public who stopped, and the first responders from Carberry and Neepawa, who saw and heard things that could cause PTSD which they will carry with them for a lifetime.

I have only recently moved back to Carberry after 18 years away, but this intersection has been a problem for my town for decades, longer than the 52 years I’ve been alive. My first understanding of the danger of it was after a friend of my grandfather’s was decapitated there over 30 years ago. In Carberry, we have long memories and despite MPI’s assessment only being 10 years back, we know that there has been many fatalities and accidents there over many, many years.

This is a very busy intersection and it has a median that is too short for semi’s, trucks with trailers, farm equipment and buses. Many farmers take their equipment a mile east or west to cross the #1 because it’s just too dangerous at that intersection. Others take their chances trying to cross both lanes without stopping in the middle. Drivers who are unfamiliar with the crossing get stuck in the middle with their butt-ends sticking out on the driving lane. The intersection has been made busier now that we have the casino, Spruce Woods Park, the McCain’s plant, increased agricultural traffic during seeding and harvest, and many commuters who drive through it daily on their way to work, not to mention that truck transportation has greatly increased, moving almost all goods across the province and country. Surely increased safety should also be warranted.

At this point, after such a terrible tragedy, we need our politicians and bureaucrats to do better. If you are a concerned citizen, please write your MLA. The election is coming and this issue must not be brushed under the rug. Or, as so often happens, bureaucrats drag their heels until the problem just gets replaced with 15 others and people forget. We’ve been asking for lights at that intersection for decades. Dare we even suggest an overpass? At minimum reduce the speed to 80 km/hr. When I wrote to my MLA, Eileen Clarke, she told me the matter was being investigated by the RCMO (whoever that is) and that the Minister of Infrastructure was aware. What requirements are necessary to have any assessment done at intersections like this? What requirements are necessary to have an incredibly busy and dangerous intersection warrant control and safety measures? Is a massive accident where 16 people died enough of a requirement? How often are assessments/reassessments done so that tragedies like this do not occur? When was the last assessment completed for this intersection? It can’t come down to a matter of cost. Who can put a price on one life, much less 17 lives, or the many others who have died there who are not accounted for in this editorial.

On this matter, we need political will, not just to brush it off to the administration. We need political will so we can do better than just a cookie-cutter response from our politicians. We need to do better so that no one else will lose a loved one at that intersection. We need to do better so that our first responders don’t have to deal with a devastating scene like that.

We need to do better so that workers, semi-drivers, and people on route to Spruce Woods or the casino for some leisure time, are not taking their lives in their hands at that crossing. Carberry is now infamous for this crash and we are a town that is so much more than that. For Carberry, and for all our loved ones, we just need our politicians to do better.

B. Proven with support from T. Kotaska, K. Duguay, K. Enns, D. Mestdagh, and D. Schneider

Carberry

Canada should leave NATO

For Canada to choose a side in what clearly has become a Slavic civil war is tantamount to advocating genocide.

Furthermore, NATO is an agent provocateur. For instance, the Baltic countries, as Hitler’s Wehrmacht discovered in the Second World War, are militarily indefensible, but are indispensable if your intention is to move east; likewise Ukraine and Finland.

Hence, it is wrong for Canada to remain part of an organization that touts itself as defensive, yet has no regard for the security needs of non-members, i.e. Russia. And contrary to the prejudice espoused by propaganda, Russia’s desire to be surrounded by more neutral countries like Austria is not imperialist.

Thus, in actuality, the Slavs have no allies or friends. Members of NATO or not, they’re pure victims.

Scott Insch

Winnipeg

International students face barriers

Canada has the federal (Canadian experience class) and provincial nominee pathways for international students who intend to become permanent residents after studies.

Inasmuch as this helps Canada to attract various skills to support the economy, embedded in this is a subtle discrimination and unfairness which needs to be addressed. There are various factors that are considered during the review of permanent residence applications and among include; language proficiency, age, educational experience, work experience etc. The higher your score in these factors, the greater chance you have to be invited to apply for permanent residence to stay in Canada. At both federal and provincial levels, the work experience of full-time international students while in school is not considered during the permanent residence application.

Hence, to make their work experience in Canada count, international students have to acquire at least one year experience working in Canada and for some provincial nominee programs, a couple of months work experience after school. This is unfair and discriminatory because international students contribute to taxes when they get paid as employees. Immediately an individual (applying from outside the country or within Canada but not as a foreign student) is granted a work permit in Canada, the work experience of the person is considered from the day the person starts to work in the country and yet international students do not have the same treatment even though they are allowed to work-towards gaining employment income and study.

There have been temporary policies by IRCC to enable international students work full time throughout their studies without necessarily committing to the 20 off-campus work hours condition while school is in session. The purpose is to contribute to the Canadian economy and yet these hours do not count during permanent residence application.

In April, 2021, IRCC introduced a temporary pathway (from April 14,2021-November 05, 2021) to enable international students with eligible hours to apply for permanent residence. With this policy, international students work hours while in school were considered, giving some international students opportunity. These are gaps, systemic and incongruent barriers that should be addressed by the Canadian government as they seek to retain such a skilled portion of the population-international students.

Jonathan Worae

Winnipeg