Letters, June 4

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This article was published 04/06/2024 (708 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Shoplifting sorrows

Re: Stealing and dealing (May 31)

Part one of Mike McIntyre’s feature on Winnipeg’s shoplifting woes is a very interesting read, especially for those of us who see it every day, living in a part of the city where this happens with astonishing frequency. McIntyre details the organized criminal element at play, and the high dollar items, my favourite of which is meat.

I’ve always found it interesting that people are willing to take a chance on meat being sold from a dark alley even if the discount is 80 per cent off the sticker price, I get needing to eat, but you really want to take a chance on the meat being tampered with? Not to mention how the meat was acquired. By way of example, I once saw a vagrant stealing meat from my local No Frills by shoving steaks down his ratty, torn, dirty pants.

The solutions here are obvious; big chain stores need to redesign their entrances with man traps like MLCC locations, ID required to get in, or the Amazon Grocery model — the second you lift a product from the shelf your card is charged. Or the consumer’s distributing model you hand the grocery clerk your list and they collect it for you, or even a renewed focus on grocery delivery, something Save on Foods does, but no one else seemingly.

What we don’t need is $100,000 a year police constables standing around Superstore collecting overtime and court pay, we also don’t need more vigilantism, what we need are systemic solutions from the retailers and from government.

Will Jones

Winnipeg

In reading Mike McIntyre’s piece on shoplifting, my response was one of absolute horror that something as elemental as personal honesty is becoming less common, while thievery has become a viable form of fund raising for a growing number of Winnipeggers. Apparently there is a thriving market, mostly in pubs and bars, for stolen property, meats and other items.

I believe most people who live here would prefer that retail stores were a safer place to go than some stores have been recently. I believe most Winnipeggers would prefer that their city not be known as the center of a growing illegal industry, shoplifting, but rather one that offers kindness and a hand up to those less fortunate than ourselves.

I have a solution: Do not buy stolen property! If it is being sold in a pub or a bar (or outside of same) it is almost certainly stolen property. If we all refuse to buy it, the biggest part of thievery will stop. If nobody will buy that bag of steaks or roasts or whatever that some lowlife is peddling, it becomes pointless to steal unless the reason is hunger.

My simple solution … don’t buy it. Problem solved.

Sign me “Pollyanna Bob.”

Bob Greenhalgh

Lockport

Hold your opinion

Re: Buffer-zone bill about censorship, not safety (Think Tank, June 1)

I was disappointed to read the op-ed in Saturday’s paper regarding Bill 8, the Safe Access to Abortion Services Act. Clearly the author has no clue as to why this bill has been brought forward or is just blinded by one side of the abortion issue. What seems to be his main problem with the bill is that some of it is already covered by Canada’s Criminal Code, and the rest he sees as limiting free speech. The bill will restrict protesters camped out in front of medical facilities who feel they can attempt to persuade someone from accessing abortion, share information or express disapproval.

My question to him is, why do you think that anyone accessing these services needs the one-sided advice of strangers? Do you think that folks accessing this (or any service within the facility) are going in without information? Accessing abortion is a personal decision and is no business of anyone else. This bill would prevent the gauntlet of those “disapproving” of personal choice standing in the way of these facilities.

No one is preventing free speech; it is preventing it right in front of a medical facility. Protest, inform and express disappointment somewhere else — where folks have a choice to cross the street to avoid it, or be free to go around it.

My body, my choice. I don’t need your opinion.

Melissa Dvorak

Winnipeg

In Saturday’s Free Press Daniel Zekveld, a policy analyst with the Association for Reformed Political Action (ARPA) Canada, advocates that the Manitoba government should withdraw its legislation creating buffer zones around centres providing abortion services.

It would be useful for readers to know the ARPA labels itself as a grassroots Christian Political organization that promotes the idea that Jesus Christ is sovereign over all, including all civil governments. ARPA further promotes that concept that our civil authorities should be lobbied to incorporate a biblical perspective in how they govern our society.

The ARPA believes its members should have the right to promulgate their right-wing Christian views upon women (and their partners) who are freely accessing a legal medical service. This is pure harassment.

The Manitoba government should be applauded in its legislative effort to create safe and legal buffer zones and should ignore the rantings of ARPA.

Irwin Corobow

Winnipeg

A convict by any other name

Re: The Trump trials — after another loss, what’s next? (Editorial, June 1)

In Saturday’s editorial regarding convicted felon Donald Trump, it was mentioned that an editorial might not make much of a difference.

OK. Maybe. But one of the reasons you write, and we read these columns is that part of what a free press does is give us informational nutrition for truth-based thought. But then, accompanying the editorial was a photo of convicted felon Donald Trump. Only it was captioned ‘Former president Donald Trump.’ It mindlessly did not include his new, well earned title of ‘convicted felon.’

I think this needs to be corrected — everywhere. And if you wanted to potentially make a difference, the little old Winnipeg Free Press could publicly issue, loud and proud, a statement of policy that from now on, in the Winnipeg Free Press, all references to this person, beyond his name, will include the full and correct descriptor, convicted felon former president Donald Trump. After all, he earned it.

And no one should ever forget it. Not using the full descriptor is a win for him, and a lost opportunity for the rest of us who value everything he threatens. The truth is yours. Wield it here. I’d love to see it become the norm. There should be outrage when it is not included. Such might be the power of the Free Press I subscribe to and read every day.

Dan O’Dell

Winnipeg

A grave concern

Re: From Winnipeg to Juno Beach (June 1); The Trump trials — after another loss, what’s next? (Editorial, June 1)

As reported, many members of the Royal Winnipeg Rifles died or were injured to destroy fascism in Western Europe and prevent its spread to Canada — to preserve the freedoms we enjoy under our democratic system of government.

Donald Trump has disdain for those and, in fact, all soldiers. He has disparaged soldiers who have died while serving in the U.S. military and those who were captured, most notably John McCain.

Trump and his “MAGA” followers have clearly rejected the democracy that the Winnipeg Rifles fought and died for, and are promoting a government led by a dictator (Trump) having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism. Trump’s followers don’t appear to realize that if they vote for Trump and he wins an electoral college majority in November, that could be the last meaningful vote they ever cast.

And if Trump wins, this may very well embolden those politicians in Canada with fascist leanings, and who have already mimicked some of Trump’s rhetoric, to double down on their promotion of a fascist-style government for our country if they think that may be their path to power.

I think that the Trump story in the U.S. is best characterized as a grave concern to Canadians.

Greg Martin

Winnipeg