Letters, April 9

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/04/2024 (577 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Thank you, maestro

It was with mixed emotion on Saturday night for most of us at the Centennial Concert Hall as we had the pleasure of another superb performance of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. It was the final WSO conducting performance for Julian Pellicano, who has been the orchestra’s associate conductor since 2013 (and musical director of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet) as he will be taking leave to other pastures to further his already accomplished musical career.

You could tell by their ovations on Saturday night how much the many in attendance appreciated his significant contribution to our rich cultural life in Winnipeg.

His shoes will be hard to fill for sure. Thank you Julian.

Irwin Corobow

Winnipeg

Apology from prosecutor in order

Re: Wrongfully convicted men file lawsuits (April 6)

In John Montgomery’s book Trials and Errors he states about George Dangerfield that, “were I about to be prosecuted by someone who bore the name Dangerfield, a sense of foreboding would surely overtake me.”

How ironic is it that George Dangerfield has now had five murder cases struck down as wrongful convictions? Allan Woodhouse and Brian Anderson deserve to be compensated for “the miscarriage of justice that cost them years of freedom.”

An apology from Dangerfield would also be in order.

Mac Horsburgh

Winnipeg

Wood smoke a health hazard

Canada Health has a warning about inhaling wood smoke. Wood smoke is no different from cigarette smoke.

It’s important to understand that burning wood is not a sustainable or recommended way to heat a home. While some may argue that burning wood saves money, it is not a valid excuse. If you can smell wood burning, you are endangering yourself, your family and your neighbours by polluting the environment and the air we breathe.

The annual increase in wildfires and recreational wood smoke can result in significant health issues. Short-term exposure to the smoke can exacerbate respiratory problems and even result in fatalities. Long-term exposure can lead to conditions such as asthma, COPD, reduced lung function, premature death, strokes, heart attacks, cancer, nervous system impairments, disruptions to normal reproductive functions, increased mortality rates and decreased cognitive functions.

Fire pits are legal in Winnipeg and the city administration claims our bylaws are similar to other cities. However, this statement lacks transparency and is selective. Bylaws in the same cities prohibit any activity that could cause smoke or dust to enter neighbouring properties. Furthermore, fire chiefs in those cities can order violators to stop burning and issue fines for further transgressions without going to court.

Wood burners are responsible for their choices. It is important to use fire pits, fireplaces and chimineas responsibly to avoid causing serious health problems to family and neighbours, and legal consequences such as injunctions, fines and fees. Precedents exist.

The sale and use of wood-burning appliances should come with health-label warnings similar to tobacco products. The city administration should promptly address this issue and prioritize the health and safety of its citizens.

Serge Massicotte

Winnipeg

Use of housing funds disappointing

The front page story of Saturday’s Free Press presented substantial evidence that we are facing a severe shortage of affordable housing. The city was provided with $122 million from the federal government to address this crisis, but if that story is correct, the majority of that money will be put towards housing too expensive for a majority of Winnipeggers.

Of the 3,155 units to be built, only 900 are categorized as “affordable.” The criteria for this category are not identified, but what I’ve seen in the past is either “below the median rent” or “affordable to the average family.” These measures describe middle-class housing, making it entirely possible that not a single new unit will be affordable to low-income individuals.

I was surprised and disappointed to see all this information published with no emphasis on the fact that our city was given millions of dollars to battle a shortage of affordable housing and put it towards 2,255 unaffordable housing units.

Adrianne Winfield

Winnipeg

Connecting the climate change dots

Re: Manitoba’s surprisingly anti-climate government; and Senegal, hope and danger (Think Tank, April 5)

Two Think Tank articles on April 5 contain dots that need to be connected in the worldwide climate and governance debates.

Scott Forbes laments that the NDP’s inadequate, even detrimental, climate budgeting is identical to the former PC government’s. All the Kinew government has done, he says, is “added flowery rhetoric about ‘bold action to address climate change’ without adding another dime.”

Gwynne Dyer notes that Senegal, a flickering beacon of democracy in West Africa, has narrowly avoided following the rest of the region into political chaos and collapse: “Senegal’s relative success signals to the other countries of the Sahel that they are not cursed … if only they could get their act together.” Later, he makes the important point that “the only escape route from all this is economic growth.” He’s speaking about demographics, but economic success is also important to the developing world, which is currently suffering the West’s responses to climate change.

Manitoba’s “bold action,” even doubled and redoubled in cost, will have virtually no effect on addressing climate change worldwide as long as India and China continue to address their development with coal-fired electrical generation and other petroleum technologies.

Meanwhile, Western virtue signalling such as EV mandates and incremental improvements elsewhere have the unintended, and unadmitted, consequences of sentencing developing countries such as Senegal and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to continued poverty, lack of education and governmental failure.

Other green mandates on developing countries put the cart before the horse, resulting in economic stagnation, or devastation, for hundreds of millions of people.

As Western governments haughtily order more and more EVs, cobalt mining in the third world will continue to enrich international companies and countries such as China while devastating local cultures, education and economies. It will also stunt the kind of competition-driven progress in batteries and “renewable” energy as companies scramble to answer governmental decrees with inadequate green technologies.

Acting boldly is nice, but the activity needs to have a measurable positive effect. Manitoba, and Canada in general, need to help, not hinder, developing countries of the world. We also need to prepare for the benefits of climate change to areas of the world like ours in order to help the developing world get its act together, rather than callously increasing poverty of countries, cultures and people.

Only economic development will allow humanity to take steps necessary to deal with climate change everywhere. Demagoguery about Manitoba’s insignificant greenhouse gas production at the expense of developing effective technologies, and aid to other countries, is bold, but also foolishly self-serving.

Bill Rambo

Landmark