Letters, Aug. 8

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 08/08/2023 (1142 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Don’t follow Vancouver’s lead

Re: A vision for 2050 in Winnipeg (Think Tank, July 31)

It is supremely ironic that Gregory Mason would state that he would not live in Vancouver and then proceed to encourage Winnipeg to become the same dystopian nightmare of dense residential towers with streets choked with traffic.

According to Statistics Canada, Winnipeg already has the least amount of green space of all major cities in Canada (38 per cent), and we are rapidly losing our trees to drought, heat and disease at 5,000 trees a year. With Mason’s plans to jam another million plus people into the city, gaily wiping out the remains of the Parker wetlands and sandwiching as many people as possible into public green spaces, Winnipeg will become unlivable.

We already have a deficit of park space compared to other large cities in Canada even if you include our public golf courses, but Mason would not increase the uses but prefer to sell them off. The city is moving into a completely different direction with the creation of a Master Greenspace and Natural Corridors Plan and Biodiversity Policy and the addition of a thousand acres of new greenspace. City council recently committed 15 to one to signing the Montréal Pledge for Biodiversity which includes increasing the amount of green space and water areas.

So please don’t encourage a vision of the city that will only cause people to move away in droves as soon and they can muster the means to do so.

Shelley Sweeney

Winnipeg

Recently, Canada’s Environmental Protection Act was amended by federal Bill S-5, designed to “strengthen environmental protection for a healthier Canada.” However, Professor Mason’s urban vision omits consideration of either environment or human health; he fails to mention the evidence-based principle that all residents of a thriving community should have ready access to pristine green spaces.

Most Winnipeg residents treasure our magnificent tree canopy, valued for cooling our homes and cleaning our air of particulate pollution.

Anyone who frequently accesses Assiniboine Park, as Mason does, is very lucky, but Winnipeg is not the uniformly green oasis it used to be. Many city parks are getting smaller and losing trees to disease.

Responding to market demand for greater housing density, developers of new housing are eliminating boulevards and private yards. This trend creates a need for more — not fewer — neighbourhood parks where people can socialize and enjoy games or picnics in the shade. Without access to such places, city-centre children suffer poorer health than suburban kids.

Planning for a city’s population growth from the viewpoint of efficient servicing is only one dimension of its future. More housing is needed to accommodate newcomers, but they also will want green, leafy public places for relaxation and fresh air.

A more appealing vision for Winnipeg 2050 would be that of a city not only with plenty of housing but also with a healthy living environment where everyone thrives.

J.A. Paterson

Winnipeg

Preferred picture

Re: ‘This is, in fact, a reckoning’ (Aug. 4)

Let us hope that the next time it’s necessary to have Donald Trump on the front page of your paper that he’s shown behind bars rather than car doors.

Lynda Bagacki

Winnipeg

Give raise to those deserving

Re: ‘Lock her out’: Striking liquor staff (Aug. 4)

If the quoted MLCC worker worked a full 40hr/week, she would receive a salary of approximately $31,000/yr. If the MGEU’s 3.3 per cent demand is awarded that will rise by $1,023 for that employee. On the other hand Premier Stefanson’s current salary is approximately $189,000/yr (plus various allowances), her 3.3 per cent raise this year will amount to $6,237!

Considering the recent lack of performance by Stefanson, I suspect the lowly MLCC worker deserves her measly raise far more than the premiers six times higher raise.

A loaf of bread costs them both the same, remember.

Bob Sales

Winnipeg

Dandelions just dandy

Re: Rewriting history for political gain (Editorial, Aug. 4)

My grandfather born 1885 was a medicine man in the Dene Nation. His words resonate in my mind: “All plants are medicine.”

In response and in defence of the editorial comment, “They can be a nuisance. Like dandelions taking over the front lawns…”

While attending an Indian Residential School in the 1940s and ’50s, and as children, we looked forward to seeing the arrival of spring especially the yellow dandelion flower. It meant we were getting closer to going home for the summer vacation from the Indian Residential School.

Dandelion leaves act as a diuretic, increasing the amount of urine your body makes. The green leaves are used to stimulate the appetite and help digestion. It makes a wonderful salad. Dandelion flowers have antioxidant properties may also help improve the immune system.

Long live the dandelion….and you also.

Ralph Paul

Winnipeg

One thing after another

I have lived all across Canada and am currently living in a province with the worst government I’ve ever encountered.

Premier Stefanson, though not as arduous and belligerent as the previous premier Brian Pallister, is still pushing the hubris of a Conservative Party that is no longer relevant to the people they were elected to serve. Recently this government seems awash in dollars it’s eager to spend on everything and anything except a landfill search for two Indigenous women.

The austerity measures that Premier Pallister embarked on not so long ago created a lot of disdain and contempt from Manitobans in general. Spend $10 to save $5. Polls are now showing an uptick for the PCs with their new and aggressive spending campaign. Looks like smoke and mirrors, an about face in political strategy. Behind the curtain of the great Oz show however is the same party with the same ineptitude.

Through their latest propaganda crusade they cherry-pick truths that provide an incomplete but seemingly rosier picture. The latest debacle involving Kevin Klein, the minister of Environment and Climate, claims he is Metis. Apparently there is no evidence at all as to his ancestry claim. He does indicate that this is his own private and personal “life journey.”

Aren’t we all in our own private and personal life journey? And if this was so private and personal would anyone know about this?

Stefanson, in her callous assessment of the landfill search, said it’s too complicated with health and safety issues at hand, therefore it can’t be done, so go away but thanks for asking. End of conversation.

Good luck to all the folks that rely on clean drinking water found in the southern Manitoba aquifer. The Sio Silica Mining Company proposal was rebuffed by the latest environmental assessment. No problem for this government. Under Brian Pallister new land-use legislation was passed to allow them to undermine any municipal authorities.

Enough of the pompous arrogance and futility, Manitoba needs a real government for the people, the real people, not the privileged.

David Carty

Richer