Letters, Oct. 6

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/10/2023 (734 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The one pulling the strings

The Free Press has published several opinion pieces over the past week or so commenting on the poorly conceived and overly negative campaign run by Manitoba’s PC party during the election. I don’t believe any of them have assigned proper recognition to the person responsible for this regrettable chapter in the PC’s history.

Campaign Manager Candice Bergen should be recognized for the poor strategic decisions, the disgusting attack ads, and the “don’t worry no one’s watching you vote” ads that were employed by the PCs.

I wonder if she’s still sporting the red MAGA hat?

Don McPherson

St. Andrews

A hard right

Re: Manitoba Tory cabinet minister denounces right-wing pivot in election campaign (Oct. 4)

I find Rochelle Squires’ concern that her PC party has gone too far to the right really interesting. Is she saying, and does this mean, that being strongly right wing necessarily entails a willingness to stir and feed on racism, bigotry, intolerance for and suspicion of different ways of being, and entitlement over safety and well-being?

If so, over 40 per cent of voters have swung quite wide, indeed.

Ken Clark

Winnipeg

Balancing act

The NDP have won the election and are leading our province and representing us to the rest of Canada. The NDP need to make sure they understand that they hold this post with less than one-third of the support from the registered voters in the province. Their desire to give everything to everyone all the time will have one of two effects.

The first will be raising taxes which will encourage business to seek better places to operate. The second would to send the province vastly deeper into debt which will load the next generations with this debt. This will cause those generations to move out of the province to divest themselves of this generational download.

The NDP now have the chance to lead the province into a brighter future or break our province beyond repair.

Bob Robinson

Winnipeg

Mostly a success

Re: Election ‘free and fair’ despite delayed results, independent agency says (Oct. 4)

Thank you to Chris Kitching for his article. The quote from Mike Ambrose, a spokesperson from Elections Manitoba, “A lot went well with the delivery of this election,” says it all, to my mind.

Yes, a lot went well, but a lot did not. No mention by either Ambrose or Kitching of the election workers who made this election happen despite minimal, often shoddy, training, and, too often, no training at all.

A. E. Ammeter

Elie

Dubious honour

Congratulations to Heather Stefanson for being the first female premier of Manitoba to lose an election. Young women everywhere will no doubt look back on her career as solid proof that even the ladies can’t escape the vicissitudes of public opinion.

The moral of this election is clear: popularity contests are gender-neutral.

Paul Robertson

Selkirk

Time for calm

Thanks to all Manitobans that voted. The election results give all Canadians hope for a calmer, more tolerant and resilient society.

This at a time when divisiness and anger seem to be on the rise. We will be cheering all Manitobans on as your province leads Canada in showing us new inclusive ways of governance.

Greg Roberts

Campbell River, B.C.

Hope on rebound

Re: There’s much more to Manitoba’s new leader than meets the eye (Oct. 4)

Beginning today, in so much as political leadership and governance has impact, I feel freedom from the sense of dread, doom and divisiveness that our previous provincial government aggressively fomented. Today, I begin to let myself feel hope and optimism, optimism for the well being of people and for increased care for the environment in which we live.

I am thankful for and appreciative of local media which stood tall creating forums for intelligent, thoughtful, truth based and compassionate journalism and expressions of voice.

I am particularly thankful for the majority of Manitobans who did not fall into the darkness of angry attacking and who voted and worked to maintain civility and unity.

Thank you to our new premier for his inspirational speech, to Niigaan Sinclair for his article, sharing with us a deeper picture of our new premier, and to the many contributors to the opinion section of the Free Press, including letters to the editor. Today there exists increased hope in purpose to our days as citizens, as people in community.

Life and people will certainly not become perfect, great challenges lie ahead, but we have cause to increase our efforts to become the people and community we wish to be. Hope is on the rise.

Garret Loeppky

Winnipeg

Thanks to all leaders

I was asked on several occasions before the election, what I thought about the candidates vying for Premier this fall. My preferred response was an honest one: I believed that any one of them would be a good choice: Manitobans had no bad choice ahead of them on the way to the polls by Oct. 3.

I continue to believe that, but I am disappointed that two of the three leaders appear to be stepping aside. To Ms. Stefanson and Mr. Lamont, I wish, firstly, to thank you both for the difficult task of participating in the public service. It is generally a thankless job, so thank you. I have a request of you both, also: please do not stop. We need leaders who are intelligent, thoughtful and brave, and you have each demonstrated these qualities. You made it clear, by your actions if not your words, that you were not seeking to hold these positions for personal gain.

A true democracy needs leaders like you – it is not and should never be a popularity contest. And to Mr. Kinew, I say firstly, congratulations and thank you for taking on this leadership role. You appear to have broad shoulders. I have a request of you, too: please do not waive the 14-cent provincial tax on fuel, even temporarily. You have been elected to be leader of Manitoba as we face climate change.

Every decision you make should keep that in mind. If the government does not, in fact, need this revenue to fix the roads, then apply it to maintaining the bike paths, or better yet, double the tax, and make public transit and alternate transport choices affordable and accessible for Manitobans.

Kristen Wittman

Winnipeg

Look to Calgary

As a bike rider on the city’s active transportation pathways — including the many bike/pedestrian paths — I applaud Coun. Shawn Dobson’s call for imposing speed limits on those pathways. Especially with the advent of electric bikes using those pathways I have witnessed many riders cycling way too fast and putting others at risk.

I had an opportunity this summer to cycle on the bike pathways in Calgary and there are 20 km/hour speed limits on many of those routes and on some more congested routes the speed limit is only 15 km/hour. I strongly encourage the Public Works Committee to recommend a similar model.

Irwin Corobow

Winnipeg