Letters, April 12

Opinion

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This article was published 12/04/2024 (517 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Bike spat tiring

Re: Councillor sorry for calling group ‘bicycle nazis’ (April 10)

The case of Bike Winnipeg and Russ Wyatt is simply a case of clowns to the left of me and jokers to the right. No, we can’t have councillors calling groups bicycle nazis, but there’s no sense in pretending that he said some type of racial slur worthy of a resignation, tarring, and feathering either.

I’m certainly a grammar nazi, as I am for spelling and punctuation. I’d also probably fit into Wyatt’s category of bicycle nazi — I get out and ride down Scotia as many days I can in the warm weather and encourage others to do the same. I am also in support better cycling infrastructure because it’s clear that what we have now is inadequate.

So while I truly appreciate Bike Winnipeg’s efforts to lobby for better cycling infrastructure, I believe that meaningful progress requires a fundamental change in how our city values cyclists and pedestrians, which cannot be achieved by simply ousting a car-centric councillor from a committee over crude verbiage.

Kenneth Ingram

Winnipeg

Wyatt must go

Coun. Russ Wyatt’s outrageous and unhinged outburst at the April 9 meeting of the City of Winnipeg public works committee is without precedent.

Referring to Mark Cohoe, executive director of Bike Winnipeg who was giving a presentation about safety measures at street intersections, as “a bicycle nazi”, displays a profound and appalling lapse in judgment, a stunning impairment of moral cognition and an overall inability to curb violent rhetoric and petulant frustration: “For the average people who don’t show up to the committee, I realize a bicycle nazi wants to take away all the lanes for the cars.”

That Wyatt is incapable of curbing his impulse to insult, degrade and make the most egregious comparison when confronted with an experienced, thoughtful and knowledgeable presenter boggles the mind.

Apparently, Wyatt needs to be schooled in Nazism.

The Nazis were responsible for the Holocaust, the systematic murder of six million Jewish children, women and men. The Nazis also murdered 11 million non-Jewish people whom they considered subhuman and undesirable: among them, Slavs; Romani; homosexual men; people with mental or physical disabilities; Spanish Republicans; Black Europeans and others.

In total, the Nazis murdered 17 million innocent victims.

The City of Winnipeg “Code of Conduct for Members of Council” states: “9. Respectful Conduct a. All Members have a duty to treat members of the public, one another, and staff with respect and without abuse, harassment, or intimidation.

a. Harassment includes:

i. any behaviour, whether a single incident or a course of conduct, that a reasonable person should have known would be unwelcome, and that is inappropriate, demeaning, humiliating, embarrassing, or otherwise offensive, including but not limited to:

a. verbal or written insults, abuse or threats;

b. racial or ethnic slurs, including racially derogatory nicknames … “

Wyatt’s words and comportment are unbecoming of a City of Winnipeg employee and reveal his profound inability to serve in a balanced manner the residents of Transcona. He is clearly incapable of controlling hideously violent outbursts.

The residents of Transcona deserve better; the City of Winnipeg deserves better. Wyatt is clearly unfit for public office.

Remove him.

Kenneth Meadwell

Winnipeg

Cheers for Cohoe

Bike Winnipeg executive director Mark Cohoe is a rare bird. Steadfast, diplomatic, calm, open, committed.

It must be more than 20 years now that he has been leading the city towards active transportation, organizing across social movements, finding ways to connect and gather collective pressure. Despite the grind and frequent disappointments, Winnipeggers have watched him consistently engaging city processes honestly and respectfully: providing evidence data, and widely supported plans towards improving life in Winnipeg.

I’m very grateful for his ongoing efforts throughout the city, on all of our behalf.

Kate Sjoberg

Winnipeg

Biodiversity at risk

Re: Manitoba delays Interlake flood outlets yet again (April 10)

It seems Manitoba governments are willing to reconsider a reset of what constitutes meaningful consultation for some projects and not others.

Backtracking is supported when the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada publishes a draft environmental assessment report, but when the province of Manitoba issues an environmental license to Canadian Premium Sand for an alteration to a completely different mine that includes brand-new research on carcinogenic airborne particulate matter and the inclusion of plans to address acid drainage and heavy metal leaching into Lake Winnipeg, the province uses a ministerial directive to bypass public consultation and Section 35 consultation.

Biodiversity and unique ecosystems are at risk when provincial coffers are the main beneficiary of resource extraction. There needs to be a consistent approach to consultation in this province.

Mary Jane McCarron

Wanipigow

Honest carbon discussion

There has been much written lately about carbon tax; for or against it. A lot of what has been published is pro-tax and is presented as a necessary tax to solve the climate crisis. As always, the supporters present a one-dimensional rationale and omit many facts that would cast doubt on the effectiveness and true cost of the tax. The first premise is that the tax is revenue neutral and results in “rebate checks.”

The truth is that the federal government adds GST after the carbon tax resulting in a windfall of$486 million in GST. Additionally, the rebate check, at $300 per quarter in Manitoba, amounts to whopping $3.30 per day just enough for a bus ride on a diesel-powered bus. The world’s largest emitter don’t have a carbon tax, in fact only 40 countries presently have a carbon tax. Here in Canada, one the largest emitters, Sunoco, has used carbon offsets to reduce its carbon costs to approximately $2.10 per tonne, about one 14th the full carbon tax price. Canadian drivers are paying $30 per tonne or 6.6 cents per litre on top of carbon tax on home heating. Let us have a frank and honest discussion about what we really need to do to mitigate climate change, not like what is happening now.

Gilles Nicolas

Winnipeg

Everybody, pitch in

Re: Unsightly messes (Letters, April 10)

I do agree with the writer’s pride of Winnipeg. I lived in two other cities and resort areas for years and can say Winnipeg is the best place I have lived in.

I would ask the downtown entertainment venues as to why they do not clean up in front and near their facilities; go to just about any retail store or coffee shop and, more often than not, you will see an employee clearing the area regardless of whether it’s city property or their own.

When I walk the dog, I pick up litter in my neighborhood.

It’s April in Winnipeg, and, yes, there is sand on the roads and pathways, happens every year, but the dictates of machines usually require warmer nights in order to facilitate the cleaning equipment, they use water, dont’cha know.

And that unpaved bit — is that not in the area where construction was required and probably at end of the construction season meant they could not finish the pathway?

That would probably be rectified this summer.

All in all, it is an early spring in the ‘Peg, and I think we are all good with that.

Gary Billson

Winnipeg