Letters, Jan. 31

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 31/01/2025 (251 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Wrong-headed argument

Re: Canada must stroke Trump’s ego — not start a trade war, by columnist Tom Brodbeck, Jan. 29.

I am perennially mystified by the right-wing/libertarian exhortation that we must all “Stand up to bullies!” when it is the non-political Public Health Agency of Canada begging Canadians merely to wear masks, wash their hands and get life-saving and proven safe vaccinations in order to keep seniors, children and vulnerable people safe during a deadly pandemic, but we must apparently roll over and do whatever Donald Trump demands, however ruinous to our health, safety, economy or nationhood (not to mention every other country’s) all because a known narcissist bully “doesn’t respond well to threats.”

I love how Tom Brodbeck blithely chirps “There’s no downside other than the the cost!” Ummm, that cost — financially, socially and politically — is exactly the problem!

I also love how he now chooses to laud the benefits of diplomacy, while downplaying the fact that our current government is actually doing just that, while simultaneously planning ahead for the trade dispute that we did not start.

Would Mr Brodbeck prefer we up-end our own laws and regulations, negatively affect our own people and damage our own environment to mollify Dear Leader Trump in an attempt at getting “peace in our time”?

Now, where have we heard that before … ?

Sowmya Dakshinamurti

Winnipeg

Stoke Trump’s ego? I thought the headline was a joke, or at the very least was going to be a play on words.

But no! Tom Brodbeck actually thinks it is a good idea to stoke the ego of an “unstable narcissist, who uses threats, deceit and misinformation to get his way” (Brodbeck’s words, not mine).

Good thing Brodbeck wasn’t around prior to the Second World War and giving advice to Great Britian, France, the Netherlands and Canada, otherwise, to use someone else’s words, we would all be speaking German by now.

Trump, quite simply, is a bully. And the only way to handle a bully is to face them head on. Canada and our elected officials (as lacklustre that they are) must stand up to him. Oil, gas, lumber, minerals, all the raw materials that Trump says the U.S.A. doesn’t need, should have 25 per cent tariffs or perhaps a refusal of Canada to supply those items.

After all, that would obviously please Brodbeck, there would be no trade war, if we are not trading.

It would also please Trump: after all, he has publically stated his country doesn’t need Canada and the aformentioned products.

Of course Canadians would suffer, I am not naive enough to think otherwise. But Trump and the U.S.A. would too.

And a bully might not remember the hurt they have done to their victim but they will remember the swipe back at them and how much it hurt.

And in closing, about the comment saying Canada should not start a trade war; Canada did not start a trade war, Trump the “unstable narcissist” did. Get your facts straight, Brodbeck!

Janice Chase

Stonewall

Forests and trees

Re: Its name is Bond … Bond Redux, Jan. 30

A seven-storey mass timber building is being proposed for a piece of land on William Stephenson Way.

To quote City Councillor Vivian Santos (Point Douglas) in the article, “It is a bold step forward in building environmentally conscious infrastructure…”

I guess I’m missing something.

How is cutting down huge trees to get these massive timbers environmentally conscious? Destroying old growth forests to get massive timbers is not environmentally conscious, it’s narrow sighted and environmentally unconscionable.

Ken McLean

Starbuck

Level playing field

The last two weeks have seen a new round of budget cuts at the University of Winnipeg.

This time, women’s soccer and the almost six-decade-old English Language Program have been axed.

Dozens of jobs have been lost, athletic and academic possibilities curtailed, and morale — already low thanks to a previous round of cuts — has sunk further.

The fact of the matter is that the government is failing this institution: while other Manitoba universities run surpluses and stockpile money for rainy days, thanks to the low operating grant provided to the University of Winnipeg, this downtown hub of learning, research, and community engagement may soon struggle to keep the lights on.

Why, we ask, is the University of Winnipeg funded at such a disproportionately low level when compared to other Manitoba institutions? Why, we ask, are students, staff, and faculty at the University of Winnipeg asked to do more with less — and less and less — as years go on? It’s long past time that the government address this funding discrepancy, which has been left to fester by different parties over decades. The University of Winnipeg — and the Winnipeggers and Canadians it serves with high quality education, community work, and a universe of possibilities for a diverse student body — deserves far better.

Peter J. Miller

President

University of Winnipeg Faculty Association

Tomiris Kaliyeva

President

University of Winnipeg Students Association

Stopping crime

My heart goes out to business people in the North End who are facing an onslaught of break-ins, shoplifting, malicious destruction of property and insurance companies that are not covering their losses. The businesses in many cases are forced to shut down or move out of the neighbourhood that has been their neighbourhood for decades.

The city needs to be very concerned and double up policing and change shifts as required to catch the perpetrators. The courts need to discontinue the “catch and release” program that seems to be ineffective in turning these individuals around. We have closed the jail in Dauphin and Milner Ridge; perhaps, while we build more hospitals and schools, we can add a few correctional facilities.

The present system is not working. There are Asian countries that seem to have much less crime, European countries too. We need a quick turnaround or parts of Winnipeg will be business ghost towns.

Peter Kaufmann

Winnipeg

Great article

Every once in a while, you see an article which reminds you what great journalism is. Peter Denton’s article Losing books means also losing history (Jan. 29) is such an article.

I have haunted public libraries my entire life. My earliest memory is my mother taking me to the Cornish Library when I was about five (this would be the mid-1950s). I believe that the state of public librairies is the barometer of a society.

Denton expresses the importance of librairies in a manner I wish I could emulate. He states: “I have pulled down volumes that had not been taken out since the card was glued in the back in the 1930s…”

I have had this experience wandering in the stacks of the Elizabeth Dafoe library at the University of Manitoba. I, like Denton, have found gems.

I have cut out Denton’s article. I suggest that every household in Manitoba do likewise.

Congratulations, Mr. Denton.

Kurt Clyde

Winnipeg

Uniting the country

Listening to an interview with the new CBC president this morning, I was reminded of the first time I felt the power of the CBC as a unifying force in Canadian life.

Forty years ago my family and I were touring Newfoundland, and it happened to be Canada Day. Thus, experiencing the uniqueness of “the Rock”, with its pre-1949 flag still flying here and there, impressed me with the healthy variety of Canada’s population.

I was struck by the thought that the Canada Day programming we were enjoying in Newfoundland was beaming out to the farthest reaches of our vast country. I felt pride in, and hope for, our country.

If there is a force more important than any other in preserving the uniqueness and character of Canada, it is the CBC.

Lionel Steiman

Winnipeg