Letters, March 21

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/03/2025 (371 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Glad to see system back in Canada

Re: NDP scraps provincial park pass fees for a year (March 20)

I’m glad that the provincial government will move the parks reservation system from Texas to a Canadian vendor. This had always bothered me having an American company do this when there was probably a Canadian company that could do this.

Sad to see that $7 million went to the states when this could have remained in Canada.

Leanne Hanuschuk

Winnipeg

Visions of the same old, same old

It’s really too bad that the Liberals and Conservatives are neck and neck in the polls. The next federal election will see the NDP helping the winning party to stay in power or we will have yet another election because of a non-confidence vote. How bad is that?

Has every Canadian realized that the Conservatives have to win the next election by a large margin or it’s going to be another four years of the same old, same old all over again? Mark my words.

Robert J. Moskal

Winnipeg

Look after core services

The City of Winnipeg is hitting property owners with a barrage of tax increases.

Families and seniors are already experiencing high inflation costs.

Why would our city government, in a time of global financial uncertainty due to U.S. tariffs and market downturns, add another huge cost to its residents?

We don’t need to pay for the water treatment plant all at once, this should be financed over time. Why is money raised by water fees going into general revenue? The extension of the Chief Peguis Trail can wait, not to mention the unnecessary Portage and Main project.

As well, there is talk about raising school taxes in some areas.

The city should take a deep breath and slow down the nice-to-have projects and look after the core expenses required to run the city.

Karen Robert

Winnipeg

U of W needs its fair share

Re: U of W finances in dire straits (March 19)

I am disappointed by the comments attributed to Advanced Education Minister Renee Cable. Whatever the method used to finance universities in Manitoba, it is clear from comparisons to the other universities in Manitoba (U of M, Brandon, St. Boniface and Canadian Mennonite) that the University of Winnipeg is underfunded in respect to the other universities. This information can be found on the University of Winnipeg board of regents open session agenda from Jan. 27, 2025.

I am a 1979 graduate of the U of W (and now the president of the university’s alumni association) who was fortunate enough to play on the junior varsity basketball team for two years. Being a member of those teams improved my academic experience, improved my connection to the university and taught me all of the life lessons available through sport that has enriched my life and aided in my career in education (I taught and coached for 41 years). I recall at that time that the university supported teams in varsity and junior varsity men’s and women’s basketball and men’s and women’s volleyball, men’s hockey, track and field, cross-country and fencing.

As a former Wesmen athlete I recently did some of my own research and found that in this academic year, of the 17 universities that support teams in the Canadawest Conference, the U of W supports the fewest teams per student at a ratio of 0.4 teams for every 1,000 students (i.e. men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball). The U of M ranks 14th at 0.53 teams per 1,000 students while BU ranks 3rd at 1.08 teams per 1,000 students. (CMU and SBU support teams in other conferences. Their ratios are both eight teams per 1,000 students.) This is yet another indicator of the effect lack of financial support provided to the U of W.

I agree with Cable when she says that the government’s priority is funding health care: it should be. The issues associated with the U.S. tariffs are also of great concern and require special attention. However, I strongly doubt that the government is going to cut all funding to universities this year. What would be appropriate at this time is to admit that the current funding formula is inappropriate and that whatever money is available to support Manitoba’s universities be more equitably distributed now and in the future.

Brent Corrigan

Winnipeg

Poilievre’s approach would hurt Canada

Re: Poilievre says he’ll repeal carbon price law including for big industrial emitters (March 17)

Pierre Poilievre’s pledge to scrap the carbon levy on industrial emitters makes little sense. Beyond the undeniable reality of climate change, this approach would also hurt Canada economically.

The Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) is a policy from the European Union (EU) that ensures imported products are subject to the same carbon pricing as those made in Europe. It applies to high-emission industries like aluminum, cement, electricity, fertilizers, hydrogen, iron, and steel.

Under CBAM, companies exporting these products to the EU must report their carbon emissions, and starting in 2026, they will have to pay a carbon price if their country does not already impose one.

In today’s trade environment, Canada is looking to expand business with the EU and if Canada removes its industrial carbon tax, Canadian companies exporting to the EU will still have to pay a carbon fee, but instead of paying it to Canada, they will pay it to the EU. Keeping the tax allows Canada to keep control over its own industries and use the money for its own economy.

Melanie Chatfield

Winnipeg

What guides our choices?

Re: Empathy is what makes us human (Think Tank, March 19)

Scott Forbes is to be congratulated on his op-ed regarding the profound importance of empathy as a basis for positive human emotions and behaviour. I do wonder, however, about his focus on anthropological studies in making his case.

It seems to me that rather than using animal behaviours to “prove” the presence of empathy in the human evolutionary ladder, it may be more productive to move up the evolutionary ladder to understand why people have a built in need to respond to injustice. For me, the key difference lies in humanity’s spiritual nature which recognizes freedom to choose to act with empathy.

Of course, human beings’ choices are circumscribed by biological and psychological factors. Nonetheless, societies are grounded on the notion that people are able to exercise choice. Two examples are the legal systems and moral codes embedded in human society.

Furthermore, the choices some of us are able to make do not have ulterior motives — giving without any expectation of return. To a greater or lesser degree, there is something in us that is called to go beyond ourselves.

What that “something” is has been and will continue to be the essential — indeed, existential — question that we all must ask. Some find that joining with others, such as in religious groupings, in seeking that answer is important. Others prefer the more difficult option: to look inside themselves. Regardless, we are meaning-making and meaning-seeking creatures.

Reducing loving behaviours as instinctual will only take us so far. Why else would many (including myself) take issue with Elon Musk’s view that empathy is a “fundamental weakness of Western civilization”?

Edwin Buettner

Winnipeg