Letters, April 7

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/04/2025 (193 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Questions for Gretzky

Re: Trump tariffs and statehood comments about Canada stir loyalty debate about NHL great Wayne Gretzky (April 1)

I’ll start by saying how proud I am, and I’m sure most Canadians would agree, of your incredible accomplishments as one of the greatest hockey players to ever have played the game. Just as importantly, throughout your illustrious career, you have been an ambassador of our sport and of our country on and off the ice; your philanthropic work with the Gretzky Foundation and other charitable organizations is well respected and admired.

However, I do have a couple of concerns about your more recent actions and questionable choices you have made. I believe that many Canadians probably share these same concerns and are asking themselves the same things:

1) Why gambling ads? It’s obviously not for the money, so why promote gambling?

2) What’s with the visits to the White House and the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump? Do you seriously support, arguably, the most divisive president to hold U.S. office? And if so, what do say when you hear him talk about the annexation of Greenland, the Panama Canal and our beloved Canada?

Also, how about the tariffs; you are a businessman, so can you not see what his policies are doing to the economies of our two countries, and potentially to the economies of our friendly global trading partners?

Trump is well known for his misogynistic, anti-inclusive and anti-immigrant views. If what we know about your family is true, you were raised in a humble, moral household where you learned to respect people of all walks of life. So, if you truly support such a man, the most important question that you should ask of yourself is, “What would my father think?”

I’m not sure Mr. Walter Gretzky would approve.

3) Why were you not sporting a Canadian jersey at the 4 Nations Face-Off game? Although, I’m sure laundry/dry-cleaning schedules can get pretty hectic for celebrities on the go, so maybe it was in the wash, eh?

Finally, I hope that my fellow Canadians and I can continue to be proud of you and not be questioning, to the point of being ashamed, your most recent choices and affiliations. So please, do the right thing — put your “elbows up” with us because you will always be “The Great One” and we’d hate to face you on the other team.

Slavo Federkevic

Winnipeg

Next steps on trade

Canada and Mexico have largely been spared the tariff tsunami sweeping across the globe, but that’s not to say that we’ve been exempted.

So while we have to step lightly as we explore the pathways through our new economy, we have to resist our first inclination to strike back quick and hard. We need to take a deep breath and check our pulse as we await the script of the final order. Any reciprocal tariffs that Canada levels against the U.S. will surely be met with an increase in U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods, as Trump has already promised.

Our best course of action may be to ensure that our exports are congruent with Trump’s “free trade” vision.

Randy Clinch

Winnipeg

The gold standard

Re: “Thoughts on the Euro” (Letters, April 4)

Letter writer Kenneth Miller is on the right path concerning our low dollar. However, the Euro is just as subject to central bank manipulation as is our dollar and the American greenback. The bottom line is those persons running those central banks have no more clue about what the purchasing power of their currencies should be than Donald Trump has any clue of what rate the tariff should be.

I make the case for a return to the gold standard, which served humanity well for thousands of years simply because politicians and their minions at the central bank cannot manipulate the supply. In short, gold and silver serve the people, currency serves the state and most often the actions of the politicians are not in the best interests of the people as in whatever passes for an understanding of economics in Donald Trump’s brain.

History shows that every currency ever legislated into legal tender has failed because there simply will never be enough money for politicians to do all they would like to do with our money. When taxation reaches its limits of toleration, politicians resort to running the printing press debasing the currency to buy votes. Have a look out the window. Printing money never ends well for the people.

Chris Buors

Winnipeg

Reform laws around mining

Standards required for success regarding our mineral supply can only be achieved through meaningful law and policy reform.

Manitoba’s current law and policy is broken. It fails the standard of free prior informed consent, integration of Indigenous and Western knowledge, lacks meaningful public engagement, lacks supports for citizens seeking to protect their homes and livelihoods, is full of gaps, weakness, loopholes, exemptions, unaccountable and as transparent as a closed book. What little regulation that exists is simply not enforced.

From its early beginning, the NDP has claimed the environment as part of its core constituency. Many would like to think that the NDP has deep environmental roots, but growing evidence at the Manitoba provincial level, suggests that is no longer true!

The former Manitoba NDP government had come to the realization that the cost factor of mining cleanups far outweighs any mining benefits for the province or the people of Manitoba. They were aware of the deadly mining pollution (i.e. Flin Flon and Lynn lake) and also the tragic costs to the environment and our water sources. In October 2009, it was reported the province was spending $42 million in the cleanup of 18 mine sites, this being only a portion of the 149 sites targeted for cleanup in Manitoba.

This is a huge cost for our taxpayers to assume, and I expect it could exceed $500-$700 million and even more when all the cleanups are eventually completed. Pollution cleanup is very costly. Faced with such a stinging report, our present Manitoba government needs to step back now, learn, and do things right. That is exactly what the former NDP government of Manitoba was doing.

Reviving a past mining reputation would be a senseless and extremely costly undertaking.

It makes me wonder if the government has learned any lessons or wisdom from “those” previous man-made disasters. Apparently not; for they seem just as determined as ever, to allow mining developments to continue polluting and destroying public water and the surrounding habitat.

Even now, the process is underway in Manitoba to let it happen; for after all, one has to put all the scraps and junk somewhere and what could be more convenient than a nearby lake as a dumping ground?

John Fefchak

Virden