Letters, Dec. 9

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 09/12/2024 (324 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Playing catch-up

Re: City services struggle with population growth (Dec. 6)

I keep reading, again and again, that the economy and the City of Winnipeg cannot survive unless there is continued growth.

A greater tax base is required to finance all that growth. It seems the increase in the tax base is insufficient to finance the services that grow along with that growth, so why bother with the growth?

What’s wrong with letting other cities deal with growth while we catch up with our infrastructure deficits?

Ray Muller

Winnipeg

Decisive action required

Re: Politicians failing us during climate crunch time (Dec. 5)

Kudos to Dan Lett for calling out politicians for their dismal record on addressing the climate crisis or as we’ve been recognizing it in the Green Party of Manitoba, of which I am president and co-deputy leader, “the climate emergency.”

It’s both disappointing and distressing that the big three parties have managed to divert attention away from the existential emergency. However, those parties have only been addressing what most voters have been asking for, a focus on health care, affordability, homelessness, crime and addiction.

Only until we all wake up and urge our elected representatives — and election campaign candidates — to act decisively on the climate emergency, we’ll continue to plunge beyond the point of return. I’m afraid I’m not optimistic that we still have time to reverse this happening.

Dennis Bayomi

Winnipeg

Dan Lett’s column has got me wondering: what are our politicians thinking? Do none of them care that their inaction on the environment will leave our children and grandchildren not only with the horrible effects of climate-warming induced weather, but a severe shortage of healthy food and water and the strong possibility of scarcity of energy?

As Lett points out, the economic benefits of moving quickly and aggressively into clean energy generation would far outweigh the temporary costs. For an extra $14 per month, we could possibly reverse the worst of climate change. I for one would be willing to pay that. Some will be unable to afford it, but why not levy extra taxes on those who are earning millions to offset the less fortunate.

Politicians: Stop playing political games and think of our planet’s future!

Marlene Beaty

Winnipeg

Clear reasons

Re: Gamesmanship, instead of statesmanship (Editorial, Dec. 5)

Given the patently absurd reasons Pierre Poilievre has given for refusing to submit to the process needed for him to acquire top-level security clearance, only one sensible conclusion can be reached.

There must be something in his background which he wishes to conceal, something close scrutiny would bring to light, something serious enough to cripple his reputation and his political career.

Poilievre’s refusing to fulfil what is a perfectly sensible and necessary requirement given his ambitious political aspirations, can brook no other explanation.

Any other justification simply flies in the face of common sense.

Ross McLennan

Winnipeg

Sharing and listening

Re: Hoping for a resurgence of educational leadership (Think Tank, Dec. 5)

John Wiens raises an important question around voices in education; who holds forth and who listens?

Early in my career as a school leader, John invited those interested from our school division to sit in a circle and discuss what it meant to be in education, linking our work to democracy and the idea of a “commons” where all were welcome and could share, listen to each other and deliberate the purposes of our work with children, youth and staff.

I recall that John both shared and listened intently as a leader. Later in my own career as an educational leader, I learned about and then adopted the sharing circle as a way to facilitate my meetings with staff, a way of giving all those present voice, and practising listening as a leader within the circle.

If you’re interested in using sharing circles in any education or business organization, consult an Indigenous elder or knowledge keeper who can guide you in a good way. This is a way to hear each other’s views, foster inclusion and move towards what John calls “creating citizens, not subjects.”

Peter Krahn

Winnipeg

A look at our ‘progress’

Re: Finding sewage treatment money a necessity (Think Tank, Dec. 3)

If this isn’t a wakeup call for urgently prioritizing upgrades to this biosolids “Phase 2” portion of the sewage plant overhaul, then I don’t know what is.

I am a first generation Canadian, born and raised on a Manitoba farm in the early 1930s. I did not take up farming as my livelihood, however I did learn to recognize that farm life can be extremely rewarding in so many different ways. I also learned to appreciate and realize that water and nature (environment) were to be treated with the utmost respect and courtesy, with a sense of dignity.

Now retired, I, along with so many, have become very concerned and worried how those once valued principles have deteriorated and crumbled. Corporations and their investors, i.e.: Sio Silica are taking over, interested only in benefiting from the current economic activity. Plus, huge hog-producing factories and massive feedlots threaten our health, our water sources, and our environment.

Part of the problem is that our economy, our governments and our society does not account for the social and environmental consequences that are being experienced and inflicted upon the communities and our precious water sources. In the past, Manitoba’s rivers provided a means of transportation, a source of food and clean water. Today the rivers are regarded, for the most part, as handy open-air sewers (someplace to dump the leftovers). All but our most northern and isolated water sources are being affected. Lake Winnipeg, the 10th largest freshwater lake in the world, has become a sewage lagoon and is dying.

Now the people of rural Manitoba have a common purpose that brings them together to face a shared adversary and the malignant forces of the expansionism of corporations and industries. For the “people” now have come to realize that the future of our generations is at stake, and the risks cannot be tolerated any longer.

I agree with a competitive and profitable agriculture industry, but never at the expense of our health, our waters and the environment. Feeding the world with pork, while exploiting and destroying our resources in the process, is just not acceptable. In fact, it is irresponsible, ignorant and immoral.

It seems to me that “nature” is literally screaming about the impact that we are putting on her, yet we think wistfully of what has been lost and dismiss it as “the price of progress.”

It’s about time we started to put moral ethics back into our present day society. Also, it’s about time we started redefining “progress.”

John Fefchak

Virden

Police presence welcome

Re: Police patrols step up transit bus checks downtown (Nov. 28)

I’m proud that the police plan to boost their presence on transit buses. They would keep an eye on passengers and the others who look very suspicious.

Some readers probably feel scared on transit buses. If we want people to take the bus, we need them to feel safe. And for that, we need all levels of government to step up and address this crisis.

Skye Young

Winnipeg