Letters, Aug. 17

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/08/2024 (467 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Other methods

Re: Good for the citizens of Ignace, Think Tank, Aug 14.

There has been a misunderstanding.

With absolute respect to Jerry Storie, please let me clarify concerns regarding the storage of nuclear waste, which becomes dangerously toxic.

It seems to make sense that those who choose to use nuclear energy should think about how to safely store the waste.

But that is not what has happened.

The waste has been in temporary storage for about 50 years. Now, the only solution that the Nuclear Waste Management Organization is suggesting is to truck it 1,600 kilometres over the hills of Lake Superior on our only highway, to a different watershed. Then, dump it in a hole blasted out of the rock.

And the process they have decided upon has never been done anywhere in the world.

Also, once you blast Precambrian shield, it is no longer stable.

But the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility offers an alternative: rolling stewardship where the waste is never left unattended. They explain that, this way, the knowledge about care for the waste is passed on to each generation in a place that is accessible, until a permanent solution can be formulated.

There needs to be consideration for options other than the one they seem to have decided upon.

Charleen Frenette

Winnipeg

Too simple

Re: Shame on Canada, Letters, Aug. 12.

Letter writer Aaron Bethnell conflates Israel’s bombing of Gaza with “the dropping of a nuclear bomb on Nagasaki by the Americans.”

If life were only that simple!

In war time tough decisions have to be made. My father and uncle fought in the Second World War.

They supported the decision to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki, recognizing that Japan’s leaders were fanatics who were unwilling to surrender unconditionally.

The alternative to invade Japan with an estimated 20 million Japanese deaths and four million Allied casualties was unpalatable to U.S. leaders.

Proportionality and discrimination re who is targeted are always huge issues in a war. But ultimately someone has to make a decision.

And it is all too easy to second guess those decisions when you are sitting in the comfort of your home or office.

Mac Horsburgh

Winnipeg

Plenty of space

Re: Rethinking Portage, Letters, Aug. 15.

I strongly disagree with Bob Martin’s idea that Portage Avenue should be narrowed to allow for the addition of bike lanes and a better pedestrian experience.

I specifically moved to the western end of Winnipeg because Portage Avenue is the only major thoroughfare radiating out from downtown that flows well.

Driving St. Anne’s or St. Mary’s, especially in winter when a car is inevitably stalled in one lane, is a natural blood pressure elevator.

It’s frustrating for drivers, inefficient for deliveries and slows the response time for emergency vehicles.

There is more than ample room for bike lanes and sidewalks where the massive sidewalks currently are on Portage Avenue.

Joan Anderson

Winnipeg

Shoplifting penalties

If shoplifting is going to be considered a petty crime, no matter what happens in regards to police going into stores for the next little while, it will not stop.

Once the police leave stores such as 7-Eleven, the shoplifting will start up again, because there are very little consequences for this crime.

Years ago, I worked in loss prevention, when the offence of theft was categorized as “theft over $1,000.” At that time, there was a lot of theft and, because the things being stolen were adding up to more than $1,000, the charges were clogging up our justice system with shoplifting cases.

They decided to raise the amount in the offence to “theft over $5,000,” which helped to alleviate the clog in our court systems, but I think we need to go back to “theft over $1,000” so that these thieves know that there will be consequences for their actions.

I do think some of the theft is the result of poverty and addiction, but I believe the majority of the theft is due to greed, and the fact that the thieves can get away with it and nothing’s going to happen to them. Once 7-11 leaves, these thieves are just going to go to the next closest convenience store, like a Circle K or something similar, and steal from them, forcing them to close, too.

So until this crime is considered to be more serious than it’s being considered to be now, I do not think it’s going to slow down.

It’s just too easy to get away with.

Ron Robert

Winnipeg

Hunting rights — and wrongs

Re:  Hunting advocates want court to review province’s reduced moose-licence limit

Manitobans should be concerned about the province drastically reducing the moose hunting opportunities in northern Manitoba. It’s a reduction that is not based on surveys and population estimates, but instead on the urging of Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak northern chiefs to keep non-native moose hunters out of the north.

The province calls it a reduction, but with only offering 50 bull moose hunting tags, one may as well call it a shut-out for non-natives.

If the reduction was based on the analysis of moose populations in the north, and it was found that moose numbers were quite low in certain areas, the province could target these areas with no tags for non-native hunters.

To enable a decision of this magnitude, without knowing how and where the resource is doing well or not, smacks of political correctness.

Shutting out one group while catering to another is an ill-thought-out move.

Now the province is considering a long-standing request from the Manitoba Metis Federation to expand their harvester rights area.

Having two groups with unfettered hunting and fishing rights will certainly decimate wildlife populations, especially in the south.

As well, the level of resentment of one group having rights and privileges over another group is a recipe for disaster, not just for fish and wildlife, but for race relations and the process of reconciliation.

Bruce Williams

Lac du Bonnet

More planning, please

Re: One growing city, Aug 15.

I read many articles that talk about housing shortages for new immigrants, but I don’t see any commentary about the shortage of health care for them.

This article talks about 30,000 new people in our city in 2023. Federally, the numbers are enormous.

Everywhere I turn, I hear another story about poor access to health care.

Given that we are failing to serve our existing population adequately, how do we possible cope with all these newcomers?

I’m not anti-immigration, but in a relatively socialist society such as ours, shouldn’t we plan for the infrastructure to support them before they all arrive, so we don’t all suffer?

Our health underpins our whole life experience.

Kim Bassey

Winnipeg