Letters, Aug. 10

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/08/2023 (836 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Stand up to tech bullies

The latest news is an appeal to the Competition Bureau, that the actions of META and Google and others are preventing Canadians from accessing Canadian News.

Here is a NEWS Flash for those who get their “news” from Meta or any other “feed”. They are not giving you NEWS. The social media business model is selling your “eyes” to advertisers. Their algorithms track your likes, shares, etc. to get your eyes on their site more often for longer, so they can get more for your “eyes”.

Surprisingly, their actions are directly against their own interests, if you deny them your “eyes” to get real news elsewhere. They are bluffing.

Their practices are deceptive, giving fools the impression they are receiving unbiased “news”. Taking content created by real news organizations, such as the Winnipeg Free Press, is criminal, it is stealing. Paying for content created by others is long standing law.

Mark and Elon are not exempt.

I trust our government maintains the backbone to stand up to the social media bullies. I hope more Canadians wise up to get their own news rather than be “fed” by an algorithm designed only to sell their eyeballs. I recommend the Free Press, a comprehensive and independent source of credible news. Indeed, I find it comparable to my other subscription, the New York Times, and the podcasts I follow from the Economist, CBC, BBC, etc. I am informed, not fed.

Fred Petrie

Winnipeg

 

Hydro concerns

Re: A path towards privatizing Hydro (Think Tank, Aug. 8)

Deveryn Ross’s op-ed makes for interesting reading. The notion that the private sector would become a major player in the provision of an essential public service is an anathema to me. One only needs to consider what has happened to power rates in Alberta to visualize the hit to consumers’ pocketbooks that would result from this approach.

I read Hydro’s “energy roadmap” and participated in its public outreach campaign relating to study inputs and conclusions. Until now, I have had two concerns regarding the study. One was the outright rejection of the notion of constructing new hydro generation capacity. The second is the huge uncertainty regarding demand projections and impacts on the supply side due to climate change. It is essential that Hydro has reserve capacity to deal with both of this issues, and that the reserve is diverse both geographically and based on generation type.

Now, thanks to Mr. Ross, I have a third concern. The supply of power to the citizens of Manitoba is an essential service. It is also a very complicated and capital intensive endeavour where sunk costs must be incurred well before projected demand. Involving the private sector directly in power generation will result in a more costly and complex system where it is likely that profit motivation will trump reliability.

If you don’t think that this is a possibility, consider the telephone service issues that have occurred since MTS was privatized. Another ideologically driven Conservative boondoggle that we are now footing the bill for.

Tom Pearson

Winnipeg

 

Roundabout solution

There has been a lot of discussion about re-configuring the intersection at Carberry where that horrible accident occurred recently.

There have been suggestions of clover-leafs, underpasses and overpasses with the resulting astronomical costs involved, not to mention the time scale of discussions, proposals, designs and eventual construction.

It seems that one solution has not been proposed: a roundabout. Manitoba has finally started to examine the benefits of such infrastructure as there is now the small roundabout in Portage leading to Island Park. But, much more significant, is the new roundabout at the junction of Highways 2 and 3 at Oak Bluff.

Looking at the aerial photographs of the Carberry interchange, it appears that a construction of a large roundabout would not present too much of a problem as half the infrastructure is already there. Furthermore, the land is already available and there would not be the cost of bridge/overpass construction.

A well-designed roundabout would oblige traffic to slow down at the approach, would permit traffic to safely drive through and would permit traffic to flow through much more efficiently.

The British have been using roundabouts, to my personal knowledge, for at least 50 years. Maybe it’s worth Manitoba exploring the possibility which would be cheaper, more efficient and quicker to build that the other propositions suggested.

John Quayle

St. Claude

 

Don’t be swayed by ads

Re: Safety concerns nuke decommissioning (Aug. 5)

It was a fortunate coincidence to see a Sio Silica ad at the top of the article about the deficiencies in oversight of the decommissioning of the former Whiteshell nuclear research laboratories.

The lesson is clear: even the heavily regulated nuclear industry is not immune to human failures in regulation that could potentially lead to environmental disaster.

How, then, can the provincial government even consider allowing a far-less regulated company as Sio Silica to engage in operations that are equally risky for the land and humans alike?

I hope they have not been swayed by Sio Silica’s fictitious ad campaign, which rivals the provincial government’s for rosy claims with no basis in fact.

Robin Attas

Ste. Genevieve

 

Help needed, not found

This month we’ve seen Prime Minister Justin Trudeau say the federal government is not primarily responsible for housing.

We’ve seen Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland deny financial assistance to Toronto to stop refugees from sleeping on the streets. Even churches have said they are at the end of their rope and need more funding to continue refugee care. Food banks across the country are in danger of collapsing because they have become the first choice supermarket for most refugees.

House prices are now out of reach for most Canadians under 35. Demand for rental units has pushed rental rates higher than some mortgage payments. Immigration with proper management is essential for the economic and social well-being of Canada. Immigration without proper management or proper planning by the current government has become a catastrophe.

It is the responsibility of the federal government to ensure every immigrant who comes to Canada has a viable affordable home, proper food, and a reasonable chance of employment. Believe it or not, this is the responsibility of the federal government to all Canadians, not just immigrants. The federal government has failed Canadians, immigrants and refugees. The worst part is the federal goverment has failed to see they have failed Canadians, immigrants and refugees.

To correct this problem I recommend all Canadian municipalities begin busing their homeless and refugees who are living on the sidewalks in their cities to Parliament Hill in Ottawa to live on Parliament Hill and then maybe then this out-of-touch federal government will begin to see the crisis they have created across Canada.

Chris Robertson

Stony Plain, Alta.