Letters, Aug. 22

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/08/2023 (1007 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The right move

With reference to Charles Adler’s column, “A huge political dice-roll” in the Free Press on Aug. 19: I respect Mr. Kinew for putting his criminal past “out there” in public.

Even though it may be a “dice-roll” as Charles Adler says, it is very necessary and courageous.

The Progressive Conservatives are using this information for a third election to scare voters, so I’m very sure Mr. Kinew felt he had to make some comments himself.

If there’s something negative about your life, it’s better to talk about it openly, rather than hide and let others try to use personal information against you. To me, this strategy by the PC election committee is unprofessional.

Is it that the PCs have fallen short in so many of their files in Manitoba over the last seven years that they need to resort to fear-mongering to win the October election?

Voters will decide.

Donna Eastoe

Winnipeg

Although I appreciated Charles Adler’s comments, being honest isn’t rolling the dice.

It is what we should expect from our politicians. Perhaps we should expect such honesty from our current premier about her multi-million dollar oversight.

Clearly, that is as much about character as anything Kinew did many years ago.

Wab Kinew is telling the truth. We should be celebrating his courage for speaking the truth about a difficult period in his life and the hard work, both personally and publicly, it took to get to this moment in his life.

I live in Wab’s constituency and have campaigned with him. He is who he says he is.

I hope Manitobans can get past the titillation of his life’s trials in the distant past and listen to what he is saying.

In his remarks at CMU he also talked honestly about what Indigenous people need and what we all need — respect, education, work and freedom from violence and crime.

Speaking the truth should never be considered reckless. I hope he keeps speaking the truth.

Jerry Storie

Winnipeg

No bragging rights here

I read with interest the article commending the WRHA on decreasing the wait list for bone density scans (Surgical, diagnostic wait times grow in June, Aug. 17).

I had my scan on July 19, 2023.

I have to wait for the results before I can start any treatment. I was told there was only one doctor who reads these scans so I may not get the report until the end of August.

Then I found out there is a lack of secretarial help and there is an added six-week delay before the report will be completed.

I am still waiting.

I don’t think our government has anything to brag about.

Sharon Enns

Winnipeg

Winnipeg isn’t everything

In his Aug. 19 column, A huge political dice roll, Charles Adler repeats the wisdom that all Manitoba elections are won or lost in Winnipeg, a statement that has appeared multiple times in the Free Press in recent weeks.

This certainly understates the importance of the rural vote in Manitoba.

For starters, even if one counts McPhillips riding as a Winnipeg seat (though it has areas outside of the city) there are still only 32 of the 57 Manitoba provincial ridings that are Winnipeg seats, or 56 per cent.

In the past few decades, Winnipeg has gained two seats at the expense of rural Manitoba, but all of the writing about “vote-rich Winnipeg” misses the fact that 44 per cent of the seats are outside the city.

Secondly, it is very possible for a party not to win Winnipeg and still form government.

The PCs formed a minority government in 1988 with 25 seats, winning only six of those in Winnipeg (the Liberals took 19 in Winnipeg).

In 1990, the PCs formed a majority with 13 of their 30 seats in Winnipeg, and in 1995 the PCs formed a 31-seat majority with 14 coming out of Winnipeg.

In both of those elections the PCs did not win even half of the seats in Winnipeg, so it would appear that not all elections are won or lost within the Perimeter.

This letter is not meant to endorse or criticize any political party. In the October election, the NDP will almost certainly win the popular vote in Winnipeg and will almost certainly win the most seats in Winnipeg. This may produce a province-wide victory — but that is far less certain.

Brian Mayes

Winnipeg

Right move

Golf course owners are not off course!

I found Saturday’s “Baby not on board” (Aug. 19) article off base and unfair to the owners of Southside.

The Free Press published a lengthy article that makes it sound like Heather Worth was wronged by the owners of Southside Golf Course, including references to sexism being at play.

Ms. Worth makes the case that children are allowed in hockey rinks and tries to make the comparison to the risks on a golf course.

Excuse me, but infants are not allowed on the ice playing surface and are not exposed to skates, sticks or pucks in the field of play.

I’ll point out by law hockey rinks are required to have netting because, wait for it, people were being injured or killed in hockey rinks.

Parents have the right to determine what risks they will expose their children to. That said, I’m sure in the event of an injury or death on the golf course, both the course owners and the person whose wayward shot injured the child would be subject to a lawsuit.

Patrick Bailey

Winnipeg

Overdue recognition

Thank you, Prof. Gerald Friesen, and the Free Press for the recognition of “Honest John Norquay” our first Indigenous premier, his service and his battles with Ottawa to affirm the rights of our fledgling province in the uncertain times following entry into Canada. (From humble Red River roots to pre-eminent Manitoba premier, Aug. 19)

Industrious, popular, speaking multiple languages and with his many other attributes, what emerges is a picture of a man seeking a fair and balanced path. (As a big man who could dance a Red River jig, he demonstrated that balance.)

You have recognized his perseverance for “better terms” for Manitoba, expansion of our borders, long service in the legislature and many other contributions to the community, to help us understand “how we got to here.”

Dan Furlan

President, Manitoba Historical Society

Winnipeg

Better choices

Re: Erna Buffie’s “The Carbon Tax Boondoggle” Sat. Aug. 19.

This article blew us away. Buffie expresses so much of what we have been thinking and is written so well and so boldly.

Our personal efforts in lessening the fossil fuel industry’s stranglehold involves heating one of two properties entirely with electricity for the last ten years with a system of our own design. Our home, partly heated the same way, now sports 17 solar panels on its roof.

During maple syrup time each spring, our evaporation process is now 90 per cent electric.

Small steps, admittedly, but one really has to start somewhere.

We’ve learned a few things on our ongoing journey.

For instance, the bulk of one’s heating can be done at night when the demand is lower and wind power peaks; there is little or no carbon released into the atmosphere and, most importantly, the cost is comparable.

When seeking advice during our efforts at conversion to electric heat, we were met with polite indifference by hydro companies who pointed out that the majority of homes are heated with natural gas and will continue to do so well into the future.

Rather discouraging, but perhaps more thinkers like Ms. Buffie will change a few minds.

In conclusion, we’d like to share the fact that our friends’ chicken house, which they’ve converted to electric heat, now shelters a number of the most contented and productive chickens on the planet.

Henry Rasmussen

Kenora, Ont.