Letters, July 29

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 29/07/2024 (432 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s time

Re: “Wrong Choice” (Letters, July 26)

J.D. Marion thinks that Pete Buttigieg is the wrong choice for Kamala Harris’s running mate in the U.S presidential election.

They conclude: “I just don’t think that the U.S. is ready for the “most progressive” duo that has ever run for the White House.”

A quarter of a century ago we were watching Will and Grace on television.

It’s time for some Will and Grace in the White House.

Rich North

Winnipeg

Better ways

Re: “Proud of students”, July 26

My advice to Dr. Jonathan Donald Jenner and Dr. Mark Libin is to get out of your academic world and into the real world.

I also suggest you do some credible research. Call it what you want but the encampment was nothing but hate, ignorant misinformation and intimidation. There are better ways to initiate discussion.

Anyone who supports the encampment and what it stands for has no business working at a university. Your antisemitism is showing.

Rochelle Litvack

Winnipeg

Burning question

Alberta premier fights tears over Canada wildfires…

Poor Danielle Smith and her followers are all upset about Alberta burning down for a second year in a row.

Good thing her government continues to fight against federal policies to combat global warming and continue to encourage Albertans to burn more gas.

What’s that saying?

You reap what you sow.

Stewart Jacques

Winnipeg

Customer disservice

These past few weeks WestJet is failing miserably in customer service once again.

Why in heaven’s name people continue to travel with them is beyond me. The story about the Vegas to Winnipeg flight (“Miserable passengers gambled, lost on WestJet flight”, July 26) was atrocious, and what passengers had to endure is unacceptable, sitting on a tarmac for 4+ hours.

It’s the same story every time. You wait on the tarmac, and then return to the hangar to refuel.

What needs to happen on that certain flight is that all the passengers need to acknowledge a class action lawsuit against WestJet, and we’ll see how quickly things change.

You need one representative to lead the way.

Willy Martens

Winnipeg

Fix up or tear down

RE: “Derelict buildings in city’s sights”, (July 25).

When will the city take concrete steps to tackle the problem of vacant and boarded up properties?

There are currently 700 such properties in Winnipeg, according to the Free Press.

These properties not only devalue and make neighbourhoods look bad and unsafe, they are a huge cost to the city and the rest of the taxpayers with their constant need for intervention by fire department, paramedics and police personnel.

The solution can be a simple take-over by the city.

Owners of these properties should be allowed six months to start remedial steps (and complete the job soon after) to bring these properties to livable conditions, or lose ownership status.

Where owners do nothing after six months, the properties would be taken over by the city. The properties can then be repurposed and/or sold as is, to individuals or institutions with a legitimate, approved plan.

Alternatively, the vacant buildings can be demolished and the lot cleaned up and prepared for future sale.

An empty lot is always better than a boarded up building or pile of rubble.

The cost of doing this can be recouped by sales proceeds, and even if there is no proceeds, it would still cost less than doing nothing. Maintaining status quo is definitely not a good option.

Mayor Scott Gillingham, Premier Wab Kinew, show us we have not wasted our vote. Amend the laws if necessary, but do it and do it now!

Giovanni Versace

Winnipeg

Well done

The tentative collective bargaining agreement concluded between Manitoba public school teachers and the province of Manitoba as reported in the Free Press (“Teachers in 37 divisions reach first provincewide contract,” July 20) is an outstanding example of how our civil systems can and should work.

No doubt bargaining was arduous, complex and tenacious over these past many months, and no doubt each side needed to yield on their interests to come to this historic first province-wide teacher agreement in Manitoba.

Most importantly, in my mind, there is no doubt the interests of students, schools and public education in Manitoba have been served by pragmatic, rational and committed ‘brokers’ who embraced a ‘win-win’ approach to problem solving where each side shares an interest to finding the middle ground and avoid unnecessary conflict around the provision of the vital service of public education.

Good work Manitoba Teachers’ Society and Manitoba School Boards Association in acting and living up to the preamble wording of our Manitoba Labour Relations Act where it states in part, “It is in the public interest of the province of Manitoba to further harmonious relations between employers and employees by encouraging the practice and procedure of collective bargaining between employers and unions … .”

Hopefully the ratification vote by teachers in early August will confirm that this process has found a fair and positive outcome to this very important matter.

Roland Stankevicius

Winnipeg

Strong column

Re: “Trudeau cabinet showing lack of discipline,” July 19.

Another bang-on piece from Prof. Royce Koop! Certainly federal cabinet ministers are fearful of going “against the grain” and speaking out.

However, this is not just for reasons of cabinet solidarity (or even fear of losing their jobs) — though that is part of it.

A bigger reason that they don’t speak out is more simple — most of them around the table lack the capacity to even understand the economics of the important issues of government (beyond their departmental fiefdom).

This is absolutely the worst cabinet in Canadian history. If only a few more of them had taken Intro Economics (or Intro Accounting) in university, our country would be in so much better shape!

Derek Rolstone

Winnipeg

Becoming desensitized

Is it normal for one to feel a slightly greater desensitization and even resignation with each news report of the daily civilian death toll from a foreign war’s frequent bombardment?

I’ve noticed this disturbing effect, at least in me, with almost every major prolonged conflict or war internationally since I began regularly consuming news products in 1987.

It’s as though the practical value of those civilians’ lives while caught in the military viciousness can eventually be subconsciously perceived as reduced by external news-consuming observers, notably we in the relatively democratic and civilized nations.

In other words, the lives’ worth is inversely proportional to the abundance of protracted conditions under which they suffer, a ‘quality of life’ measure of sorts, which might even start receiving comparably little coverage in the Western World’s general daily news.

The unfortunate effect may be exacerbated by any racial contrast between the news consumer and subject.

If accurate, what does it say about me/us when it has become normalized?

Frank Sterle Jr.

White Rock, B.C.