Letters, Feb. 3

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 03/02/2025 (248 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Defining mass timber

Re: “Forests and trees” (Letters, Jan. 31)

In his Jan. 31 letter, Ken Mclean was concerned that old-growth forests are being cut down to produce mass timber for the proposed seven-storey high-rise building near the Forks. He then stated “I must be missing something.”

Here is what he is missing. Mass timber is simply regular dimensional lumber (2×4, 2×6, etc.) that is glued or laminated together, often at right angles to each other to create strength. Entire walls and floor can be manufactured faster and cheaper and then assembled onsite.

These forest products are known as CLT (cross-laminated timber) or GLT (glue laminated timber). Cross-laminated timbers can be made into almost any thickness, or length. The dimensional lumber comes from regular sawmills, using spruce, pine or balsam fir (that’s the SPF you see stamped on lumber) from managed forests, not old-growth forests. Using timber in this manner has a lighter carbon footprint than steel or concrete, and comes from a 100 per cent renewable source.

Canada owns 10 per cent of the world’s forests, and are sustainably managed using Forest Stewardship Council standards (fsc.org). We harvest less than one per cent of our approximately 400 million hectares of forest. We lose far more annually to insects, fire, and disease. These facts can be found on the Canadian Forest Service website (natural-resources canada.ca)

Old-growth forests are wonderful ecosystems, and only exist because they have ‘dodged the bullets’ that Mother Nature throws at our forests daily, such as ice storms, wind storms and other dynamic and natural forces, and even they, too, like all life forms, eventually die of old age.

Bob Austman

Beausejour

Too many patients

Re: ‘Dr. Google’ comes with risks, campaign warns (Jan. 31)

People of Manitoba would not have to refer to Dr. Google if we got our appointments, tests, and diagnoses done in a timely manner instead of having to wait six months or more to see a specialist or get an MRI done.

This is not the fault of the people working in the health-care system but it is the fault of government letting too many people into the country and not keeping up with the service increases that are needed to accommodate these people.

Either increase the services quickly or decrease the amount of people significantly that are coming into the country and hope we can catch up with the backlog as soon as possible, before more people die waiting for a test or doctor.

Ron Robert

Winnipeg

Up-close view of atrocity

Re: “Painful history” (Letters, Jan. 28)

In spring of 1964 at the age of 24, whilst residing in Germany and touring the beautiful and historic countryside, I had the occasion to walk through one of the concentration camps (Dachau), north of Munich with no inkling of what I was about to perceive.

I came face to face with, up until then, the written horrors of the Second World War. Reminders of life as depicted in a concentration camp were everywhere. It was raining the day I went for this memorable walk and my feet sunk into mud as I trudged from barracks to the ovens to the showers. The ghosts of lost souls were all around you. You could hear, see, smell and yet there was no one there now.

Displays for the public consisted of caked blood on the wall, the floor and the beating clubs. Photographs of atrocities and some of the lost souls were hanging everywhere along with the ghostly screams and unearthly silence.

My walk through this death camp was made on Good Friday which made it even more memorable to me as something that should never have been. I will never forget witnessing the living nightmare that was. Trembling from the unearthly surroundings, I left the premises, quietly and silently, feeling like an intruder on the outside looking in at unimaginable suffering.

I learned nothing of this in school. Rene Jamieson has an indelible knowledge of these ghosts of lost souls, as do I.

Diane R. Unger

Winnipeg

Fearing for Canadian science

Re: Trump’s calculated assault on science (Think Tank, Jan. 27)

While it is disturbing, though not surprising, that Donald Trump is attacking scientific institutions, halting new research, muzzling scientists and destroying climate-related research, I am more alarmed at the prospect of Pierre Poilievre and the Conservative Party repeating similar tactics that Stephen Harper used against federal scientific institutions in Canada when he was in power.

In 2012, the Harper Conservatives eliminated many federal scientific programs, most notably the world-renowned Experimental Lakes Area. Scientists were restricted from speaking to citizens about their research, with staffers appointed to monitor them. I remember scientists and concerned citizens publicly demonstrating against these actions by the Conservatives, something in which scientists, in their professional capacities, rarely engage.

Pierre Poilievre has been part of the Harper Conservative caucus since 2004 and was there in 2012 when these assaults on our scientists took place. Since being elected to lead the Conservatives, I have heard him repeatedly use the same demeaning language used by Trump, directed against people and organizations at large, accusing them of being “elites” and “woke.” Yet, I have never heard him explain what he means by this language, or specifically whom he is targeting. I watched him support the participants of the “freedom” convoy and make clear his stance against vaccine mandates. He and his party have hammered people with a deliberate campaign of misinformation about carbon pricing, yet I have not heard any practical policy ideas that would help us reduce our carbon emissions.

Given these circumstances, and his support for the assaults on science that took place under Stephen Harper, I have no doubt that Pierre Poilievre will unleash similar, calculated, and devastating assaults on our scientific and public health institutions.

Kim Tyson

Winnipeg

Managing Trump

In planning how to navigate the second Trump presidency, it may be useful to examine the nature of the person we’re dealing with.

Commonly accepted characteristics of “antisocial personality disorder,” i.e., sociopathy, include: lack of empathy, inability or unwillingness to distinguish between right and wrong, lying, lack of respect for others, criminal behaviour, sense of superiority, and hostile, aggressive behaviour. In other words, a clear portrait of Donald Trump.

Then, we have to remember that a majority of Americans voted for him. So, what to do? I suggest that, given the power of this particular sociopath, avoid unnecessary provocation, but respond calmly and proportionally in ways that don’t unduly harm Canadians. Give urgent priority to finding non-American trading partners, including Canadian ones in other provinces. Aggressively promote “buy Canadian” and stringently avoid buying U.S.-made products.

And importantly, do not give your political support to those who support or would emulate the policies of such a person.

Ron Menec

Winnipeg