Letters, April 19

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 19/04/2025 (186 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Shelve the insults

Re: Rookie challenges incumbent who has politics in his blood (April 16)

It was very disappointing to see unknown Winnipeg South Centre Conservative candidate Royden Brousseau use his opportunity to be showcased in the Free Press to inject Pierre Poilievre-style negativity and thinly veiled insults at incumbent Ben Carr, suggesting Carr was elected by tens of thousands of residents in a byelection as a result of “nepotism.”

First off, Jim Carr was a well respected MP dedicated to service and a champion for the Prairies who carried himself with dignity and class. If these traits were passed down to his son, that is a strength and not a weakness, and likely why the riding trusts the Carr name. Second off, the chance to bring up nepotism was in the byelection several years ago. Carr has now served Winnipeg South Centre during a very challenging period in national and international politics and the residents of the riding can make their choice based on his track record compared to the promises of untested candidates from other parties.

As with many of the conservative punchlines these days, the nepotism accusation just sounds dusty and dated. To all the conservative candidates, please use your limited sound bites to tell us why you’re a good choice, not to put down others. Voters need good useful information to choose our next representatives.

Aaron Trachtenberg

Winnipeg

Greens should have been in debate

I am appalled by the decision to bar the Green Party of Canada from participating in the French-language debate due to an insufficient number of candidates fielded across Canada to gain status.

The Green Party fields candidates all across Canada with their message related to protecting our environment. The Bloc Québécois field only candidates in the province of Quebec, which has a total of 78 possible ridings which they could win.

How do they rate calling themselves a national party when they represent only one province and get to participate in a national debate while the Green Party is barred? I do not understand these kinds of actions.

Alice French

Winnipeg

Limit the notwithstanding clause

Re: Poilievre says Liberals ‘woke’ on crime, promises to protect seniors from scams (April 15)

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre now has the distinction of being the first federal party leader to campaign on proudly saying that he would use the notwithstanding clause. I find this to be rather disturbing, and an unfortunate further normalization of politicians using the notwithstanding clause.

We only need to look south to see what it looks like when a leader decides that they’re above judicial scrutiny. An innocent man is sent to a prison in El Salvador, and a U.S. president who refuses to bring him home even in the face of a unanimous Supreme Court decision.

That is essentially what the notwithstanding clause allows any premier or prime minister to do; ignore most of your Charter rights. Except, they can do it pre-emptively, so that there wouldn’t even be the benefit of a court decision to inform the public. And while advocating for unconstitutional consecutive sentences may not be in the same ballpark as deporting people to prisons in El Salvador, it won’t end at consecutive sentences.

Quebec started with banning the wearing of religious symbols for provincial employees of authority, like teachers. Now they want to expand it to cleaning staff. They’re even considering banning prayer in public places, all shielded by the notwithstanding clause. Ontario looked to use the notwithstanding clause for something as frivolous as disbanding homeless encampments. Once the notwithstanding clause is used to bypass one right, all rights are in danger.

This is why we need to put some reasonable limitations on how the notwithstanding clause can be used at the provincial and federal levels, such as requiring that it not be used preemptively, and that a two-thirds majority government vote be necessary to invoke it.

Chris Barsanti

Grosse Isle

Improve vaccine access

On April 16, the Manitoba government issued a press release announcing its COVID-19 spring vaccination program.

To the great disappointment of those of us who engage with COVID-19 research and/or are part of Manitoba’s large disabled community, this program will deny vaccine access to the majority of Manitobans, including many people who are at high risk for acute COVID and post-acute COVID sequelae.

This is particularly baffling, as it contradicts research findings that point to a need for more-frequent boosters to counter waning immunity and shifting COVID-19 variants.

To add insult to injury, the very same afternoon, the province’s official social media accounts shared cheery-toned posts for their “Every Vaccine Counts!” campaign.

By preventing Manitobans from protecting themselves with vaccines, the provincial government only adds to its litany of poor choices regarding COVID-19 and public health over recent months and years, and further endangers those whom it is tasked with protecting.

Kristen Hardy

Winnipeg

Leave the squirrels alone

A public notice was presented in the April 16 Free Press from Manitoba Environment and Climate Change stating that ground squirrels in athletic areas and high-use pedestrian areas (such as parks) would be killed using the pesticide Giant Destroyer.

The purported reason for this was that ground squirrels make holes which are dangerous to humans. I would strongly suspect that more injuries on athletic fields occur because of body contact than by stepping in a hole. Nor am I aware that squirrel holes pose a serious danger in parks, and I have never seen any posting in any public parks warning us to be aware of squirrel holes. I also think that more Winnipeggers have suffered broken bones or sprained ankles from falling on icy roads or sidewalks than from stepping in animal-produced holes.

It is unconscionable that we would kill living creatures because, by their nature, they dig holes which are of dubious danger to people. I would implore anyone who would object to the cruel death suffered by a living animal because it dug a hole to also submit a complaint.

Mary-Jane Robinson

Winnipeg

Name game

With the renaming of part of the Disraeli Freeway to Bachman-Turner Overdrive, it should only be fitting that we rename Route 62 — known as Salter, Isabel, Balmoral, Colony, Osborne North, Osborne, Osborne South, Dunkirk and Dakota. It should be aptly named The Guess Who Way.

Doug Petersen

Dugald

Congrats to the Jets

I live in Edmonton so, of course, I am an Oilers fan. However, I would like to extend my most sincere congratulations to the Winnipeg Jets for their outstanding season and for winning the Presidents’ Trophy.

I feel they deserve more recognition from the NHL as a prospective Stanley Cup contender. Good luck to the Jets during the playoffs.

Jeanette Zetter

Edmonton