Letters, Sept. 11

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/09/2023 (756 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Take responsibility

Re: NDP’s plan to reopen ERs could further harm health-care system (Sept. 7)

Tom Brodbeck is right, opening up three emergency rooms at a time when every province in Canada is short of nurses and doctors may be folly. During the pandemic many nurses and doctors retired and now we are trying to get them to come back to work. The “baby boomers” are all in their 60s and 70s and are not coming back to work in large numbers.

Recently one of our close relatives needed to use our health-care system and the system worked marvellously. The Victoria Hospital, Urgent Care staff did all the diagnostics and St. Boniface Hospital staff completed the necessary operation. The system worked!

Roughly 38 per cent of our population are “boomers” and are needing more and more care in our hospitals. The present system with private medical clinics, urgent care hospitals and the three major hospitals is working well. Not perfect but we all need to understand that the three years of the pandemic has made huge changes in every part of our society and our health care also has been affected.

We need to take more responsibility for our own health. Walk more, bike and exercise and eat healthier diets and smaller portions.

More nurses and doctors will not be the answer to better health.

There are countries where people live longer, healthier lives and we need to study what they do well and emulate their successes. Spending more money will not fix what ails us.

Peter Kaufmann

Winnipeg

Learn from others

Re: Too many people have lost their lives (Sept. 7)

Once again we read another tragic story that has to prompt Manitoba’s highway design department to look at a new paradigm when it comes to intersection layout/design. We need to throw away the age-old practice of just stop signs and traffic lights that can be easily ignored resulting in a T-bone collision.

We don’t necessarily need high cost, multi-level concrete interchanges.

As many other writers to the editor have said, the easier and safer option of roundabouts need to be constructed.

Like them, I have experience using international roundabouts; I’m talking of ‘real’ multi-lane, grade level highway roundabouts (not like the ‘kiddy one’ on Highway 3 in Oak Bluff), with a 100-200 metre diameter, correctly angled approach and exit lanes that large vehicles can safely navigate without fear of crossing traffic or causing anything more than a glancing blow in an collision.

We have ample space in Manitoba to accommodate them.

Please, “Highway Design Person”, Google ‘Turbo Roundabouts” currently used in Europe, Asia and Australia and get them built in Manitoba.

At the very least, ask some of the newly Canadian professional drivers with international experience what a real roundabout could look like.

Manitobans deserve nothing less.

Bob Sales

Winnipeg

Dollars and sense

Re: Tough to describe Stefanson’s stance (Letters, Aug. 31)

Comparing wage increases by percentage points as is commonly done in editorials and letters to the editor can be so misleading, and rarely gives the big picture. You need to look at the dollar numbers. A case in point are Ron Menec’s letter and the following one by Ron Robert.

Menec states health-care workers received an 8.35 per cent wage increase over five years, an average of 1.69 per cent per year. Google tells me an average annual wage for health care workers in Manitoba is $29,751, so their wage increase for the year works out to be the princely sum of $496.84.

Menec notes the first year of MLAs’ increases is 3.3 per cent. Google tells me an MLA receives a basic salary of $94,513, while Premier Stefanson receives a total of $173,714, not including allowances. It works out that our MLAs’ 3.3 per cent gives them an increase for the year of $3,118.93, while our premier gets an increase of $5,732.56!

So the MLAs’ increase in terms of dollars is 6.28 times more than the health-care worker’s, and our premier’s increase is 11.54 times higher, in fact just under 20 per cent of the health care workers annual salary!

So don’t be lulled by percentage points. Look at the dollars!

Colin Reed

Winnipeg

Vote for seniors

The National Association of Federal Retirees is calling on the province’s next government to ensure a secure, healthy and dignified future for Manitobans.

This work is more important now than ever before. In Manitoba, over 17 per cent of the population, or more than 229,000 Manitobans, are already over age 65. Population trends through 2036 project a larger and older population of Manitobans than ever before.

Older adults deserve dignity— and it’s time to create a healthier future for aging in Manitoba.

This provincial election is our chance to do that.

We need Manitoba’s next government to appoint an independent and effective seniors advocate for the province of Manitoba.

Manitoba’s next government must implement — and evaluate the progress of — the recently announced Manitoba seniors strategy.

Now is the time for Manitoba’s next government to improve access to care, by ensuring funding and services to enable aging in place — including access to publicly-funded home care, access to local care providers, and improved wait times for care.

And, Manitoba’s next government must ensure Manitobans’ incomes keep up with cost-of-living increases by protecting and encouraging more defined benefit pension plans.

The National Association of Federal Retirees is the largest advocacy organization representing active and retired members of the federal public service, Canadian Armed Forces, Royal Canadian Mounted Police and retired federally appointed judges, as well as their spouses and survivors.

With nearly 170,000 members nationally — including 7,500 in Manitoba —- and 60,000 veterans and their families, the association has advocated for improvements to the financial security, health and well-being of our members and all Canadians since 1963.

Our members need a plan for older adults in Manitoba. Manitoba needs a plan to create a healthier future for aging.

Heather Harding

Fannystelle

Penny wise…

Re: Budget estimate goes down the toilet (Sept. 2)

A story Winnipeg likes to tell itself is that Winnipeg is a “frugal” or “thrifty” city, and that the city’s “frugal” or “thrifty” nature is a virtue that sets Winnipeg apart from the rest of the country.

I interpret this story as a ruse, a story extrapolated by politicians from the suburbs of Winnipeg, used as a reason why Winnipeg can’t invest in infrastructure projects, for fear that the tax burden of their constituents might increase.

Winnipeg now has a $7-billion infrastructure deficit.

We are decades behind other cities of comparable size in Canada, in relation to transit, roadways, and public works projects. We have been kicking the can down the road for so long, it has now caught up with us in a project that is necessary for Winnipeg to continue its measly rate of growth.

We are now caught in a perfect storm of inflation, labour shortages, and supply chain issues, meaning the north end sewage treatment upgrade project, and many like it, will cost billions more than first projected in the early 2000s.

There is lots of talk about making Winnipeg competitive for investment, but how is Winnipeg supposed to be competitive with Hamilton, Quebec City and Edmonton, without comparable infrastructure and services? The City of Winnipeg should change its slogan from, ‘made from what’s real’ to ‘penny wise and pound foolish.’

Mike Edwards

Winnipeg