Letters, July 18

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/07/2025 (254 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Willing to pay

Re: Survey suggests some Manitobans support higher hydro rates and appliance use at night (July 16)

I was encouraged by the report on the survey of Manitobans regarding increased Hydro rates. It shows that Manitobans are willing to pay higher rates when necessary. Similarly, Manitobans should be surveyed on whether they would be willing to pay higher taxes to provide funds to tackle the problems of health care, mental health, education, addictions and housing.

Give the people credit.

As long as the taxation practices are fair, I think increasing taxes would have the support of Manitobans.

It’s an insult when government thinks that the public is only interested in tax cuts when we all know that there are vast unmet needs in our society that require vast resources.

I want to help. Raise my taxes.

Ellen Karlinsky

Winnipeg

Projects not so impressive

Re: From jeers to cheers (July 15)

As a longtime resident of the Exchange, a better title would be “From jeers to tears,” as the non-stop erosion of downtown Winnipeg accelerated, in large part helped by several of these changes.

The downtown arena. The last word in this section is “fleetingly.” In other words, an entire block in the heart of downtown was designed to sit empty 99 per cent of the day and not much less in the evening. And strange as it might seem to politicians and city planners, people don’t “shop” when attending evening events. Go figure.

The Forks. Successful though it might appear, the Forks is heavily subsidized by government (i.e., taxpayers) and, until its parkade was sold, by parking revenues that could have better been used to save Portage Place. As a side benefit of consuming much discretionary spending, subsidizing The Forks undermined once vibrant neighbourhoods that could not compete, notably Osborne Village and Corydon.

Not done with greasing the skids for downtown decay, the latest moves include turning Portage Place into a social service centre, and disrupting travel downtown by walking, car, and public transit, the latter deliberately shutting down the Graham bus corridor that was a portal to multiple downtown offices and the Skywalk, itself soon to be broken at Portage Place and likely Portage and Main.

As a final touch, the city repeatedly approves exceptions to its own regulations (e.g., building heights) meant to protect areas like the Exchange, supposedly a heritage site because of its once-protected architecture. No more. Heritage, like much of downtown, is thrown under the proverbial bus in the name of misguided ideology and profit.

Jim Clark

Winnipeg

Honesty from Trump

Re: Trump’s tariffs have become blackmail (Editorial, July 11)

Every once in awhile, Trump truthfully says what’s really on his mind. First, in the very early days of his second administration he stated, unequivocally, that he intended to absorb Canada through economic coercion. So, the editorial premise articulated in a recent Free Press editorial that the tariffs were nothing more than blackmail and extortion is correct.

Secondly, since these tariffs are exactly what they appear to be, his next statement validates this fact. He stated during an interview that his intent is to force companies across the globe to relocate to the U.S. The reality is simple, Trump wants to roll back the clock to the period after the Second World War when the U.S was the go-to country for just about everything. European and Asian economies were in ruin, there was an ongoing threat of Soviet expansion, civil war in China and an active war in Korea. Trump wants to dominate the world economies.

This is the idea of “America First” writ large. Prime Minister Mark Carney, and the rest of the world’s leaders, had best come to grips with these facts and realize if they don’t step up and deal with Trump forcefully, sooner or later there will be price to pay and I doubt, that even collectively, no one is going to be able to pay it.

Don Reed

Winnipeg

Time to call byelection

I am a strong supporter of Premier Wab Kinew and the current NDP government, particularly because I have felt that Kinew has not wallowed in the mud so prevalent in today’s politics.

However, I am very disappointed in his delays in calling a byelection in Spruce Woods. The residents of this constituency have the right to have a representative in the provincial legislature. Delays to allow the NDP to field a strong candidate and to make political announcements to influence the upcoming vote are self-serving and not in the best interest of the very people be has sworn to represent. Shame.

Brent Corrigan

Winnipeg

Reduce speed limit now

Re: “The simple solution” (Letters, July 15)

Unbelievable that the “simplest, cheapest, fastest change” was not immediately made to that Carberry intersection where so many lives were lost.

Now is the time for a reduced speed zone prior to this intersection, and also at other similar intersections throughout our province.

Marilyn Bird

Winnipeg

Rethink criticism of Kinew

In the last few days there have been several letters denouncing Premier Wab Kinew’s support for oil and gas infrastructure.

I would invite these people to step back for a moment and really think about it.

Yes, we should endeavour to get away from fossil fuels, however we are stuck with these for decades to come.

So why should we not support the movement of fossil fuels until we have alternatives?

There are just too many dependencies at this time and it will take decades to change. Electricity is not the answer to many fossil fuel users.

Ships, planes, trucks, farm equipment, automobiles (more on this below), all the plastic used in everyday items, etc.

Take a guess what requires an enormous amount of energy? Social media and now artificial intelligence. The computer farms needed to support this are enormous, sucking energy in vast quantities. Let’s shut down X, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp, etc, etc. to save energy. Not going to happen.

As to cars being switched to electric, it is feasible right now on a small scale. Imagine every vehicle having to charge their batteries. Hydro’s infrastructure would literally burn up. The capacity is not there. How many houses are there in Canada that only have 100-amp electrical service to the distribution panel? Millions. You can’t add a 50-amp breaker required for an electric vehicle. Going to a charging station that, at this time are far and few in between, is often not an option. Who wants to wait 30 minutes to get a 80 per cent charge? By the way, I drive a hybrid.

I could go on and on why for the next decades we are still dependent on fossil fuel.

Therefore, if we can get a slice of the money pie, why not? It does not mean that we stop seeking alternatives, but at least let’s live in reality.

Karl Lang

Navin