Letters, March 12

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/03/2024 (599 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Good job, Mr. Mayor

Re: Ready for change in the ‘Peg (Think Tank, March 6)

I liked what Shaun Loney said.

Mayor Scott Gillingham does deserve praise. He’s making difficult decisions, and moving Winnipeg forward.

Great idea to follow Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow in advocating for community land trusts to tackle homelessness. These investment vehicles make sense, and provide opportunity to invest for both social and financial returns.

Shifting workload and budget money from the Winnipeg Police Service onto the non-profit support sector is a radically different way of looking at crime and repeat criminal offenders, and perhaps that’s what we need. Our current strong-arm tactics are not effective.

Keep up the good work, Mayor Gillingham!

Marilyn Bird

Winnipeg

No more time change

Scrap the time change already. It is pointless. We can have an extra hour of daylight during the evening (extra hour of dark during morning) or vice versa.

Statistics show increases in heart attack, stress, and auto accidents on days of time change. It also disorients children. They have to establish routine to prepare for adulthood.

Saskatchewan did away with it and they get along just fine. People get used to it.

Let the people decide. Let the people vote on this. That is only fair.

Thank you.

Jerry Kraynyk

Gimli

Options for Portage and Main

The solution to the Portage and Main problem is to install a traffic circle.

The advantages of a traffic circle are:

1. Elimination of traffic lights;

2. Elimination of cars stopping; and

3. Speeding up traffic.

The traffic circle would accommodate three lanes. The right-hand lane would go straight through. The other lanes would exit through other exits.

Drivers have to learn to merge. The car to your left has right-of-way so you have to wait for a gap. The driver to your right has to yield to you, so it is easy to change from one lane to another.

I would also build an overhead circular glassed-in heated walkway for pedestrians.

Access would be from the existing buildings.

The underground businesses and restaurants should stay.

Any mass meetings should be held where there is more room such as the Forks and the Exchange area

Traffic circles are in use all round the world. Just Google “roundabouts.”

Keith Bradley

Winnipeg

Regarding the intersection at Portage and Main, the city should implement scramble crossing, similar to the one in Shibuya, Japan. Traffic halts all at once in all directions and pedestrians can cross any which way, including diagonally.

The Shibuya Crossing features big screen TVs for when they hold outdoor events and festivals, and also a Starbucks which is one of the busiest in the world. If the city considered this for the iconic Portage and Main intersection, it would be an exciting way to increase foot traffic and bring people back downtown.

Nicole Stratton

Winnipeg

Current taxes suffice

Re: Consider a road tax (Letters, March 9)

In this letter the author suggests that the government levy a road tax on users to help pay for road repair, and that 100 per cent of the tax monies go to that and no other purpose.

In other words, not into general revenue. Interesting idea, but we already have a road tax, which is levied at the gas pumps, and which originally was to go towards road repair and not into general revenue, which is where it ends up today.

It is akin to the government justifying entering the gambling business on the basis that those profits would go towards funding our health care system, and not into general revenue, where it goes today. So, while the initial reasons for a particular tax to fund a particular problem may have been laudable, that tax invariably ends up in general revenue and not fully funding the problem it was meant to address.

Suggesting another tax on drivers will not solve the road repair problem, but merely go into the general revenue coffers, where the government of the day will decide where best to spend that money.

Keith Addison

Winnipeg

Time for a better card

Re: The right idea, but for the wrong card (Editorial, March 9)

Kudos to the editorial board for the story on vaccination cards in Manitoba. At the time that these cards were issued during the pandemic, I wondered why so much money was being spent on the vaccination cards, and why we were still being issued paper Manitoba health cards.

In fact, at the time, I wrote to the minister of health to inquire as to why a plastic card was not being issued to Manitobans for their use in accessing routine healthcare. (I got no response, not even an acknowledgment.)

If one looks at the practices across the country, every province with the exception of Manitoba and Alberta provides their citizens with a plastic health card. Even small provinces and the territories provide their citizens with a durable plastic health card. It is well past time that the province of Manitoba issue Manitobans durable plastic health cards that don’t run the risk of being torn and mutilated as a result of everyday use.

Karen R. Grant

Winnipeg

Trump’s condition

Re: Biden goes on the attack (Think Tank, March 9)

Charles Adler considers President Joe Biden too old to be running for the presidency.

Biden “will be 82 when he puts his hand on the Bible” during his inauguration, Adler writes, adding that after serving a full term, “he will be helicoptered off the White House lawn at the age of 86.”

It’s puzzling why Adler doesn’t add that Trump is also too old to be running for the presidency.

After all, “the cave dweller,” as Adler aptly labels Trump, will be 78 when he puts his hand on the Bible during his inauguration and 82 when helicoptered off the lawn of the White House after serving — excuse me, self-serving — a full term.

Moreover, when it comes to the cognitive abilities of these ancient combatants, what slip of Biden’s tongue compares to the incomprehensible gymnastics so often performed by Trump’s mind, as illustrated by the following:

“I never understood wind. I know windmills very much, I have studied it better than anybody. I know it is very expensive. They are made in China and Germany mostly, very few made here, almost none, but they are manufactured, tremendous — if you are into this — tremendous fumes and gases are spewing into the atmosphere. You know we have a world, right?

“So the world is tiny compared to the universe. So tremendous, tremendous amount of fumes and everything. You talk about the carbon footprint, fumes are spewing into the air, right spewing, whether it is China or Germany, is going into the air.”

If grandpappy turned to you and said that, you might find yourself thinking about alternative accommodations for the old gent.

Like Adler, I would much prefer that people who are a great deal younger than Biden and Trump were vying for the presidency. But given the choices they do have, I hope American voters choose the right too-old guy over the wrong too-old guy.

Ross McLennan

Winnipeg

Spay and neuter, too

Re: Program aims to limit rabies at northern First Nations (March 8)

It is a good idea. Saving dogs and lowering the risks of people contacting rabies is right. The problem is that as more dogs are saved, unless they are spayed or neutered, more puppies will be born, as there are now more dogs.

Spaying and neutering needs to be done at the same time.

Jim Caron

Winnipeg