Letters, Feb. 12

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/02/2025 (409 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Lake Winnipeg needs drastic measures

Re: Could charges mean a change for Lake Winnipeg? (Think Tank, Feb. 11)

In 1974, co-author of The Algal Bowl, scientist John R. Vallentyne predicted that we would be living with an environmental disaster he called the algal bowl by the year 2000. Just as the dust bowl of the 1930s was created by misusing western farmland, he forecast that continued misuse of lakes would also lead to water degradation. A second publication in 2008 by David Schindler reiterates the situation of Lake Winnipeg. Today, waters suffer from our ignorance and denial. Their predictions have been realized!

Science data have long identified the source of the problems with the lake waters and many other Canadian lakes and waters experiencing massive eutrophication. For more than 50 years, study after study, arrived at a consensus; over-fertilization of our fresh waters. Another predicament is that Lake Winnipeg can no longer thoroughly flush itself of the sediments that continue to accumulate at a ratio of three to one.

In my opinion, we have not made any progress, other than patty-caking the situation.

When it comes to doing what needs to be done to help Lake Winnipeg survive, our governments and those in charge not wanting to take drastic action, are pretty well “stuck in neutral” … and getting nowhere.

Our governments have been using Band-Aid solutions to deal with the situation; when what is really needed is a tourniquet.

John Fefchak

Virden

Give the Granite a chance

Re: Yet another parking lot fiasco for city (Think Tank, Feb. 11)

In response to Erna Buffie’s op-ed: I can see you have never been to our club before, so I would personally like to invite you out sometime to see what it is that makes this club so special.

We have nine sheets of ice, meaning there are 72 people out during a draw. People typically stay after to enjoy some wonderful food and cheap drinks, then the next draw starts. With staff and fans, there can be over 100 people in the club on any given evening.

I don’t know how the residents of this neighbourhood would feel if suddenly 50-plus extra cars were parked in front of their homes, taking up their parking after coming home from work, but I doubt there is enough street parking to accommodate.

But what about the bus! Yes, it’s a lovely idea — one I want to try myself as a resident of Crescentwood. But many of our curlers come from far away or squeeze in this time for themselves between busy life obligations.

Now, this comment about “physically fit curlers.” I assume you are not trying to be ableist, but just to highlight, we host wheelchair curling events, have curlers who are pushing 80 and have families who bring their little kids to come learn the game. I would hate to see the loss of the vibrancy in our club if we could only accommodate what you imply as fit, especially during our harshest weather months.

I can understand if you don’t know something, you can’t fear its loss. So please, come see our facility, let us show you what we’ll lose if the Granite can’t secure a fair agreement with the city.

Dana Proctor

Winnipeg

Northern base plan misguided

Re: Poilievre promises military base in Iqaluit, would cut foreign aid to pay for it (Feb. 10)

Pierre Poilievre intends to build a permanent military base in Nunavut that would be paid for by a “massive cut” to foreign aid greater than the full cost of the proposed base. Nunavut Premier P.J. Akeeagok, apparently unaware of the northern photo op, reminded Poilievre that decisions about the region require consultation with northerners, alluding to the Nunavut Lands and Resources Devolution Agreement.

Poilievre’s proposal would exacerbate the equally ill-considered American cut to USAID which has disrupted international programs. Parroting Donald Trump, Poilievre claims foreign aid goes to “terrorists, dictators and global bureaucracies.”

In fact, USAID and Canadian foreign aid supports international partners involved in programming developed by organizations such as the Mennonite Central Committee and the University of Manitoba. It pays for the local health workers who support mothers and children in rural communities and helps pay for HIV medications. It supports emergency interventions and underwrites education at all levels.

Yes, “we’ve got our own problems at home” but anyone aspiring to be prime minister owes Canadians more than the chaos south of our border.

Evelyn L. Forget

Winnipeg

Fears of third term

Re: Reassessing NATO’s worth in the time of Trump (Editorial, Feb. 10)

You begin your Feb. 10 editorial with “As much as one might try to remember U.S. President Donald Trump’s time in office is only temporary…”

Many do take solace in that reassuring thought.

But Trump and his busy coterie of wreckers are seriously examining ways of providing him with a third shot at the presidency despite being constitutionally prevented from doing so.

Given the Trump gang’s success in running roughshod over so many laws, rules and regulations once considered untouchable, as well as an opposition which is in almost complete disarray, a third term for their boss appears possible, if not probable.

Preposterous?

What is happening now would have once been called preposterous.

Rule No. 1: Trump’s first election as president meant anything can happen.

People can’t be blamed for not understanding that back then.

But they should take it to heart now.

And among a countless number of other dreadful implications, Rule No. 1 means there’s no comfort to be had in thinking Trump will be gone after Jan. 20, 2029.

Ross McLennan

Winnipeg

The value of downsizing

Over the years there have been many articles regarding seniors remaining in their homes with the assistance of home care. The problem lies in the concept of “home.”

Seniors must realize that home is “where the heart is,” not a physical place. I continually come across seniors who will not move out of a house which is too big and has steps they have trouble negotiating, because it is full of stuff that they think they need or someone in the family will want. As far as what others in the family want, they should ask their family to come over and determine items they might want.

Most seniors have no idea that the items they have cherished all their lives have very little value. If they were to check auctions, second-hand stores, and antique stores they will find that dark brown wood (oak, etc.) furniture and old sets of high-end dishware are cheap, silverware is only worth its weight in silver and all those old pictures and keepsakes they have saved are not held in the same regard by their children.

They would do their children a great service by redefining their concept of “home,” selling the oversized house, downsizing their possessions and moving into an easily managed apartment or condo (one floor and an elevator). Thereby making life easier for themselves and the kids and eliminating the need for all the stuff they had in the basement and garage as someone else will do the maintenance. The kids will still come to visit but will not have all the worries that go with you trying to cope with the yard, shovelling snow and so on.

My siblings and I were lucky that our parents logically decided for themselves to move out of their house and move into an apartment, that taking a taxi was cheaper than running a car and got rid of all the things not necessary for their new way of living (yes, we each took an item or two).

I am 80, living in an apartment in easily walked and vibrant area, and so can say: seniors give your head a shake and make life easier for everyone.

James Gosman

Winnipeg