Letters, Oct. 8

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 08/10/2024 (645 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Aggressive bikers

Re: Battle of the bike lanes, Oct 3.

This story highlights concerns by cyclists regarding enforcement of parking restrictions on bike lanes. This is a valid concern, given that the lanes were originally established due to safety concerns and that they are, in general, well used.

I am an avid walker; I walk daily in our Riverview community, as well as on the path to the Forks and along Osborne Street to downtown.

It is disappointing that some cyclists don’t think that there is anything wrong with riding along the sidewalk at high speed.

Perhaps some enforcement is also in order there? And in terms of etiquette and common sense, one would hope that the macho men in spandex might slow down a bit before yelling, “on your left” and hurtling by at high speed on shared footpaths, and then yelling back at you if you don’t get out of their way quickly enough.

Most cyclists are polite and respectful.

The ones that aren’t are, I suspect, also aggressive drivers.

Tom Pearson

Winnipeg

Fair pay

Delivery drivers and servers at restaurants can potentially earn more money than some healthcare workers. Minimum wage is $15.80 and with tips and reimbursement for mileage, it’s most likely that they make more money than healthcare workers.

In other words, delivery drivers and servers at restaurants, who just deliver food and other items to customers, will probably make more money than healthcare workers that deliver medication, toilet, wash, feed, and constantly update medical records of the elderly.

My wife, the love of my life, has to rely on these services at Kin Place.

Shame on the government for not supporting these individuals who I have personally witnessed performing extremely important care to the residents of Kin Place.

How can the government turn their back on seniors who daily rely on these services?

If you think that being a healthcare worker is easy, I invite any MLA to come and observe how hard they work.

I fully support their cause and firmly believe that healthcare workers deserve a competitive salary for the outstanding and necessary work that they perform.

Kenneth Miller

Oakbank

Agreeing — and disagreeing

Shahina Siddiqui’s letter (“Silence not an option,” Oct. 5) states that in the Middle East “It is apparent that greed for wealth, land, resources, and hunger for dominance and power is driving this orgy of death and destruction.”

In this, I agree.

Here’s where we disagree: it’s Hamas and its allies in the “Axis of Resistance” who are greedy for land and power. They are responsible for driving this violence.

On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas made a surprise attack on Israel from Gaza, committing arson, rape, torture, and murder, killing 1,195 people, including 815 civilians (Human Rights Watch, Jul. 17, 2024).

After broadcasting these war crimes online, Hamas leadership promised to repeat these attacks again and again, until they had killed every Jew in Israel and abroad — the very definition of genocide. Further, Hamas dragged away 251 others as hostages to provoke and ensure an Israeli military response. Hamas fighters and weapons, embedded in homes or in tunnels under civilian infrastructure, were strategically placed to maximize Gazan civilian casualties.

Despite this, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), have eliminated between 17,000-18,000 Hamas fighters, while maintaining a civilian to military casualty ratio of 1.5 to 1 (calculated from figures released by Al Jazeera on Oct. 3, 2024 and Reuters on Oct. 1, 2024). In contrast, it was reported to the UN Security Council in May 2022 that in violent conflicts worldwide, the overall civilian to military casualty ratio is typically about 9 to 1.

War is terrible and sad. Every life is precious. Which is why Israel makes extraordinary efforts to minimize civilian casualties while protecting its people and eliminating a genocidal threat. Yet, in Canada and around the world, political leaders and the mainstream media celebrate Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza’s actions, while condemning Israel’s actions to defend itself.

Siddiqui deplores “the fact that one country perpetrates atrocities and crimes against humanity is honoured and embraced, while the victims are demonized and seen as worthy of extinction, hatred, and othering.” Again, I agree, but it’s the Gazan genocidal jihadists’ efforts at Palestinian nation-building that we see promoted by the UN and by Canada’s NDP.

Narratives sympathetic to Palestinians appear almost daily on the CBC and the BBC. Meanwhile, for a year, Israelis have been demonized and called “soulless dogs” for protecting themselves and competently fending off attacks by a rotating cast of terrorists based in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Yemen.

Until those who champion a Palestinian state denounce all terrorist violence, there will never be peace. The Middle East will remain trapped in a perpetual cycle of conflict.

Jeffrey Marcus

Winnipeg

More fines

As usual, the city is crying broke and the province is now facing a large deficit.

Here’s a solution to help bring in additional revenue; have the province pass legislation to substantially increase the stupidity tax.

Install photo radar at every major intersection and allow camera vans to operate anywhere in the city, as long as the speed limit is clearly visible.

Call it a cash grab and the city, province and police can all split the revenue equally. After all, it’s a fee you never have to pay if you don’t speed and if you do, then you deserve to pay. And as a bonus it will make our streets safer.

Jason Sudyn

Winnipeg

Who’s buying?

Re: Attack poverty, drugs to combat retail theft, summit hears, Oct. 5

I read with interest the article in the Saturday Free Press regarding the Manitoba Retail Secure Summit, which reported on former Judge Ray Wyant’s comments in his speech saying “Sometimes people are stealing to feed themselves. More often than not they’re stealing in order to sell for drugs or to get money for profit or gain.”

So often, we hear about measures to curb the increased incidents of retail theft by the perpetrators of the theft (the supply side), but rarely on what is being done to curb the demand side of this issue.

Who is buying these stolen goods and what does it say about our society when people will buy obviously stolen or likely stolen property from desperate segments of society for their profit or gain?

In the case of the increase in the theft of catalytic converters, a concerted effort was placed on the demand side of the issue, which I believe resulted in considerable success in reducing the problem.

I would like to hear more about the efforts, if any, being made to prosecute those who are purchasing stolen property, and to educate our citizens generally that getting a deal on stolen property is wrong, both legally and morally.

We should focus on those stealing the property at the retail level, but what are we doing to increase the focus and awareness of the people who are facilitating the consumption of, and more importantly actually consuming, the stolen property?

William Hill

Winnipeg