Letters, May 15

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/05/2024 (864 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Focus on research and evidence

Re: People dying while NDP ponders; no need to re-invent supervised drug site wheel (April 19), B.C. asks Health Canada to make drug use in public illegal again (April 27), Put perfect policy aside, NDP must act now on drug crisis (May 9), and Government must move faster to stop drug deaths (Editorial, May 14)

In the pieces cited above, it is noted that research shows that supervised consumption sites save lives; B.C. is revising its pilot to make it illegal to use drugs in public; the politics over how to combat overdoses has become toxic; and the Manitoba government must act more quickly to address the drug overdose crisis.

Because I want to live in a safe place, and a place where individuals don’t self-destruct, I support a strong public health approach supplemented by law enforcement. I take this view coming not from a place of expertise or experience but, rather, from a belief that primarily relying on law enforcement to deal with this scourge will not work as the failed “war on drugs” strategy would seem to make obvious.

So, let’s have less politics and pay more attention to the research and evidence and as quickly as possible design and implement an integrated and balanced approach. An approach where the crisis is primarily defined as a social and health problem that can be best dealt with if managed through regulation, supervision and treatment in partnership with a real but limited role for law enforcement (i.e., no drug use in public).

Gerald Farthing

Winnipeg

Questioning the process

Re: The economic opportunity beneath our feet (Think Tank, May 13)

MaryAnn Mihychuk’s claim that the licensing of the Wanipigow Sand Mine next to Hollow Water went through a “robust science-based licensing process” is impossible to substantiate, as the notice of alteration review went on behind closed doors. The findings of the technical advisory committee remain a mystery, as they are not published on the government’s online public registry.

What is even more interesting is Mihychuk is listed as a board member of Gossan Resources Limited, a company that holds “a significant royalty on nine quarry leases owned by Canadian Premium Sand,” according to the Gossan website.

It comes as no surprise that the Manitoba Prospectors and Developers Association, under the leadership of the same Mihychuk, gave Canadian Premium Sand an award for reconciliation! They overlooked the fact that the efforts to accommodate the trapline did not work because too many trails opened the trapline to ATV and skidoo traffic.

Anyone who occupies a home or cottage near these silica sand mines should pay attention to the lack of transparency.

M.J. McCarron

Wanipigow

Ms. Mihychuk’s glowing account of Manitoba’s environmental legislation and the mining industry has somehow neglected to mention the 100-plus orphaned and abandoned mines in the province, a significant number of which are highly contaminated.

Although Manitoba has already spent hundreds of millions of dollars in attempted remediation, at some sites additional remediation is still required, while many other sites remain to be addressed. In some cases, complete cleanup is not possible.

This financial and environmental burden needs to be recognized, and its sober lessons must temper the way we continue to proceed.

Eva Pip

Winnipeg

Message of forgiveness

Re: We must be careful with words (Think Tank, May 13)

Upon reading Mac Horsburgh’s fine op-ed I was prompted to check out the Bible passage that had been sent to Horsburgh by one of his readers (Ephesians 4:31-32). It lists many of the ways in which our gift of language can be misused to malign others, but its clear message is that of the need for forgiveness.

As noted by Horsburgh, much of our hurtful language is rooted in the universal tendency to be judgmental. Indeed, when two people are in conflict, it is important to be “curious” about the other’s story — as well as the deep roots of our own.

It seems to me, however, that it’s only a first step: we often end up realizing that there is enough guilt to go around and are reminded that there are no ‘erase’ buttons for what has been said.

What is there to do? The scripture passage is unambiguous: one must strive to do the often ‘hard lifting” and long-term work of forgiveness. Even when the other party has sought to make amends, resentments often remain unless one chooses the road less travelled of forgiveness.

Edwin Buettner

Winnipeg

Comfort levels

I live a very comfortable life. I am kept warm in the winter months and cool in the summer.

I can travel anywhere in this city in a matter of minutes and anywhere on the planet in a matter of hours. My pension is kept secure in the economic system we have created. I probably live a much better life than many ancient kings and queens. And all this is all made possible because of our use of fossil fuels.

And yet I keep hearing again and again that we have a climate emergency. Really? What are we doing about this emergency? I grew up during the Second World War. That was an emergency and action was taken immediately; food was rationed, industry stopped domestic production and made weapons. Armies were created.

I remember in the late 1970s, U.S. President Jimmy Carter lowered speed limits to 55 mph (88 km/hr) to save fuel and asked people to wear sweaters indoors to save energy because of fossil fuel shortages created by the oil embargo.

As I observe the world I live in now facing a climate emergency, I have to scratch my head. Speed limits have never been higher and vehicles are getting bigger and heavier and faster. If I travel on the highway doing five kilometres over the speed limit, I am constantly being over taken by four-door trucks and large SUVs. No one seems to care about fuel economy any longer.

Vehicles are getting larger and heavier despite the carbon tax. When I come out of the local hockey arena I see vehicles running in the parking lot by remote control; warming in the winter and cooling in the summer. Waiting at the car wash or for trains at crossings, the neighbouring vehicles never stop idling.

People are still planning destination weddings and going on cruise ships that burn up to 15 tons of heavy-polluting oil per hour along with 60,000 other high tonnage ships plying the oceans bringing us more stuff from Asia. Yes, I have heard that the electric cars are coming so we won’t have to change our lifestyle one bit. Trillions of tons of lithium and cobalt and copper will have to be strip-mined and shipped for all those new batteries. By the way, a Tesla battery is made up 7,000 individual cells.

Oh, and Canada has just opened a new pipeline to ship Alberta bitumen to the west coast. Humans are adding 40 gigatons of carbon a year to the atmosphere and we will blow past 1.5 degrees warming by 2029. Oh, and when is the next Taylor Swift concert?

Next year we may get a new federal government and the carbon tax will probably be history. So much for democratic governments setting long-term climate policy. As I observe my fellow citizens’ behaviour around me I don’t much see political pressure to change things.

I could go on and on but I’ll just ask; what do you think? Are you comfortable too?

Don Bailey​​

Winnipeg