Letters, Oct. 17

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/10/2024 (525 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The value of animals

Re: Couple allegedly sold videos of animals being crushed (Oct. 16)

It was difficult to read your article “Couple allegedly sold videos of animals being crushed.”

I happen to volunteer in the cat section of the Winnipeg Humane Society. Part of my work involves restoring faith in human beings for cats who have been neglected or abused. One comment I hear occasionally is, “Oh, it’s just a cat.”

This phrase reflects an attitude that a cat is a trifling thing, easy to replace as there are plenty of cats up for adoption.

No living creature is “just” something. Pets ask for little and in return give unconditional love. I often hear people talk fondly of pets that passed many years ago.

All lives are precious.

Kurt Clyde

Winnipeg

A right not to be harmed

Re: Employee facing charges after shoplifter hurt (Oct.16)

Tyler Searle’s article regarding a recent shoplifting incident covers many issues related to that topic.

We need to ask ourselves: What horrible childhood did the shoplifter experience? Perhaps the shoplifter was on the verge of starvation. A vicious drug habit might drive any of us to shoplift. In order to be part of a gang, an individual might be asked to demonstrate loyalty by robbing a business.

Once we look closer, we might conclude: Shoplifters have a right to be free from physical harm as they roam the store aisles filling their pockets.

Dennis McGavock

Winnipeg

Officers needed

It seems the Winnipeg Police Service doesn’t have much business sense, at least when it comes to spending taxpayers money.

It seems the people making the decisions are the ones making the money from overtime.

The solution is right in front of them, but for some reason they can’t see it. Hire more officers and rent them out at regular pay rates.

There are more than enough billable hours to pay for the extra staffing. Everyone wins. The taxpayers won’t be paying for pensionable overtime. Consumers of the services would be paying less and officers would be working less hours and reducing stress.

There is even room to structure the service fees to pay for the extra administrative costs.

Gary Fraser

Winnipeg

Moving rails could be pivotal

Re: Moving rails out of the city (Editorial, Oct. 16)

The editorial highlights some of the benefits of moving the rail lines but seems to lean into “oh, another study,” and the many barriers to a successful outcome.

If that was the attitude expressed back in the day, we would still be drinking water from the Red River rather than Shoal Lake. We would still be subject to disastrous floods every few years, rather than being sheltered behind Duff’s Ditch.

This is a large, complicated project. It is also one that could be pivotal to the quality of lives and fortunes of our city.

Rather than harping about all the barriers to the project we should be looking at how they can be overcome. That attitude is the essence of Lloyd Axworthy’s service to our country and our city.

As a collective, we need to get behind Mr. Axworthy and push hard.

Tom Pearson

Winnipeg

I hope we go ahead with rail relocation. Then we can build high-density residential units, some of them affordable, to alleviate our housing shortage.

How about adding in some nice parks for an area currently lacking? Also, what about throwing in an east-west rapid transit (bus or rail) line? Then we’d only need to add a north rapid transit corridor to modernize our public transportation network.

How about it, Winnipeg?

Eric Hemmerling

Winnipeg

Bring on Selinger

Re: Axworthy ‘best person’ for rail study: Kinew (Oct. 15)

It was great to read in the Free Press that Lloyd Axworthy will be leading the movement to relocate the rail lines in Winnipeg. I think that it would be even better if Lloyd Axworthy immediately recruits former premier Greg Selinger to serve on this committee.

Greg Selinger is probably the leading expert when it comes to relocating the rail yards. He has always had a particular interest in this subject, and he has an incredible resumé.

With Axworthy and Selinger on board, this train is bound for glory.

Richard North

Winnipeg

Disingenuous on tax

Re: Taxing home heating (Think Tank, Oct. 15)

I find Gage Haubrich’s opinion piece quite disingenuous. He, like Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, appears to want us to believe that Trudeau’s unpopular carbon tax does not work and that there is an economically painless way to wean Canadians off fossil fuels which are believed by the experts to be the major cause of man-made climate change.

According to Haubrich and Poilievre the carbon tax does not work — in spite of a majority of Canadian economists saying it does work and it is doing exactly what it was designed to do: motivate consumers to use less polluting alternative energy sources in their homes, vehicles and businesses.

I suspect that in their heart of hearts neither of these two politicians believe in man-made climate change. If so, in my opinion, they have a public obligation to say so right up front, so that we know where they stand on the issue. Or, are we dealing with a simple case of “figures don’t lie, but liars will figure?”

Maybe Canada also needs the kind of legislation that was recently introduced into the Welsh parliament. Politicians caught lying will be punished and barred from public office.

Robert G. Roehle

Winnipeg

Once again the Free Press gives valuable time and space to Gage Haubrich and the irresponsible Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF). This totally irrelevant small group of anti-climate-change and pro-fossil-fuel advocates continues to attack and misrepresent the federal government tax on carbon.

Haubrich states that the majority of Manitobans will pay more on their heating bills, but fails to add that at least 50 per cent, and possibly as many as 75 per cent, will still be receiving more in rebates than the cost of the tax. The other 25 per cent are, of course, the higher income earners who are most responsible for their share of carbon pollution.

He also states that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau charges you the carbon tax, but this is actually a policy adopted by the federal government as a concerted effort to bring pollution under control. Economists around the world continue to suggest that this is the most equitable form of fighting global warming and man-made climate change. The CTF and the opposition Conservative party have no alternatives and no policies, and are in total denial that this problem even exists.

Having recently talked to a number of young people about this serious global issue, I am in agreement of their assessment that something drastic needs to be done to save their planet. As such, it would be a good idea if we could continue to see more positive articles to reflect what is actually taking place around the world rather than articles of misinformation and denial.

Brian Dyck

Winnipeg