Letters, March 4

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/03/2024 (776 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Union’s issues must be fixed

Re: Manitoba Teachers’ Society headquarters described as ‘toxic’ workplace (Feb. 28)

Reading about how the MTS worksite has disintegrated into a toxic work environment left me feeling stunned and extremely disappointed.

As a retired teacher, I had proudly and vocally advocated on behalf of the MTS and its positions for 20-plus years. I collaborated with some of the most impressive minds in education who shared like-minded views and comported themselves with the utmost of class and knowledge while representing the MTS union as true ambassadors of professional rights.

Hence, it was a shock to read how this once proud institution has deteriorated into such an unprofessional and cut-throat environment. Such irony!

This is the union tasked with representing the professional interests of teachers and yet they cannot even mediate their own disputes. The teaching profession deserves better.

This situation must be addressed and remediated immediately before further educational harm ensues.

Dave Rondeau

Winnipeg

Comparisons to Trump

Re: Supreme Court sets April arguments over whether Trump can be prosecuted for election interference (Feb. 28)

Well, here is a surefire way to end up on a homeland security watchlist. Ask the question in a public forum, “If Trump is successful in arguing presidents are immune from prosecution for any actions they take while they are president, couldn’t Biden just turn around and order Seal Team 6 to take Trump out and not have to worry about any repercussions from it?”

And if you think that is just so far out there to even consider, imagine what Trump would do to people who oppose him if the Supreme Court sides with him and he get back into the White House. He would give Putin a run for his money when it comes to mysterious deaths and disappearances of rivals and people who question his authority. Only difference is Trump would tweet about it and what an amazing job he did murdering Americans and getting amnesty.

Brian Spencler

Winnipeg

Justice for animals

Re: Not fur-gotten; Private prosecution of horse exporter approved (Feb. 29)

Reading the Free Press on Feb. 29 provided an astonishing experience. On the same page that profiled a compassionate young man who relies largely on his own financial resources to construct winter shelters for stray cats, and gives them to people whom he believes have limited resources, another article confirmed that a private prosecution of a horse exporter has been approved by Manitoba provincial court judge.

Nick Merrells has built 130 shelters for cats in Winnipeg and was quoted as saying “there’s really nothing better than helping animals”, while a horse exporter living in the Swan River area is “confident that a case will be dismissed” against him. That case involves his shipment by air of horses that took 32 hours and 40 minutes, which is over the 28-hour time limit for such excursions.

More to the point is why anyone would want to justify sending horses to Japan, where horse meat is “sold raw as a culinary delicacy” after the animals are fattened there for slaughter. Bravo to Animal Justice, the Winnipeg Humane Society, Canadian Horse Defence Coalition and Manitoba Animal Save for initiating the complaint that led to involvement of our provincial justice system.

It’s long overdue for human beings to stop putting ourselves at the top of a hierarchy in which we believe we can do anything we like, no matter how animals may suffer. So I’ll look for a way to donate money to Nick Merrells, while I hope the horse exporter experiences the karmic consequences of merchandising that panders to a culinary “taste” for which no defence exists.

Linda Chernenkoff

Winnipeg

Mosques’ reasons clear

Re: MPs who won’t support ceasefire in Gaza not welcome: mosques (Feb. 29)

Kudos and thanks, Free Press editors, for publishing Malak Abas’ excellent article, which provides a high level and detailed account of the open letter that over 300 mosques have sent to MPs, asking them to demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

As Abas explains, MPs have been asked not to attend community gatherings during Ramadan unless they commit to solidarity with Palestinian people and condemn Israel’s war on Gaza. Abas provides relevant context for the specific government inactions that have prompted the open letter, and she describes the ways in which many politicians have, in the past, leveraged mosques as platforms for political support.

By doing so, it’s made clear why, this year, mosques are requesting that the relationship be reciprocal, and why MPs must recognize their role and call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

Dr. Kathleen Venema

Winnipeg

Equally distracted

I realize that this letter doesn’t relate to any stories in the paper but it does relate to advertising in the paper.

MPI is currently running print and TV ads about distracted driving. The ads show three vehicles, all driven by women, engaging in distracted driving. Don’t men also engage in distracted driving?

Who at MPI thought this was a good picture to portray? They should do better.

Ken McLean

Starbuck

Plea for sanity

Re: Poilievre drags well-intended legislation down into the partisan muck (Feb. 29)

It is becoming increasingly apparent that Pierre Poilievre is revealing his complete lack of credibility and ability to be at all reasonable in making credible decisions, other than blaming Justin Trudeau for all things wrong in Canada. He has turned what should have been an easy collaboration on a bill that is designed to protect children from online hate and sexual harassment into another reason to blame Trudeau.

The bill targets only the most egregious hate content against children. As Justice Minister Arif Virani indicated, anarchy on the internet cannot be tolerated. Already organizations such as the Canadian Civil Rights Agency and the Conservative party led by Mr. Poilievre have taken issue where the threshold should be for the level of hate to be tolerated. They apparently feel that the lines will be blurred between hate speech, political activism, and passionate debate.

They might choose to be enlightened by speaking to some of the many mothers and fathers who have lost a child to online hate and harassment. These parents feel that existing criminal law, which bans the sharing of intimate images online, is not being enforced as some police forces are not informed about the prohibitions. Rather than having this onus placed on police departments, they feel that an independent non-partisan board should monitor and act on complaints addressed in the online harms bill.

Once again, it seems that there is nothing that some groups will not stoop to in another case of perceived loss of “freedom” of expression, even if it means sacrificing our children. When will sanity prevail?

Brian Dyck

Winnipeg

Dief still the chief

Re: The man who changed Canada (March 1)

With the passing of former prime minister Brian Mulroney, an oft-repeated bit of misinformation is once again making the rounds: the assertion that Mulroney won the largest majority in Canadian history.

Mulroney did win the largest number of seats ever (211), but that was out of a total of 282 seats, making a majority of 74.8 per cent of the HOC seats. John Diefenbaker won 208 of 265 seats in 1958, a majority of 78.5 per cent of the seats. Dief’s majority was bigger.

Brad Brown

Winnipeg