Letters, Aug. 28

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/08/2025 (215 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Slow it down

Attention all drivers! September 1st is fast approaching and it’s a holiday. Driving through school zones at normal residential speed will be over next week. Do not forget.

I am sure that parked speed enforcers will all be out in full force photographing forgetful speeding motorists. You have been warned.

R. Moskal

Winnipeg

Low turnout contributed to close race

Re: Tories keep Spruce Woods in a squeaker (Aug. 26)

Now let’s see if this rural constituency gets all the shiny things Premier Wab Kinew promised them.

Kinew visited Spruce Woods several times to campaign alongside NDP candidate Ray Berthelette. The NDP government announced $300 million in funding for projects in the riding before the byelection was called.

The low voter turnout, 41 per cent, helped the NDP at the polls, as most people in this farming community are trying to get their crops off the field and not worried about a byelection.

Alfred Sansregret

Winnipeg

Re: Drop-in sessions about PR, not nurse safety: union (Aug. 26)

If the idea was to sow confusion and distraction among Health Science Centre nurses, Shared Health should be congratulated for its absolutely brilliant idea of scheduling a meeting with them in the middle of a “noisy, high-traffic food court” to discuss their safety.

According to Manitoba Nurses Union president Darlene Jackson, “it was “absolutely chaotic … There were people walking past, visiting. It was such an open public area that it was very difficult to hear. It was very difficult to say very much.”

Perfect.

Ross McLennan

Winnipeg

Time to end military support

Re: Canada slams Israel after famine declared in Gaza (Aug 26).

Words are not enough. Being “deeply alarmed” and “horrified” about the deliberate starvation and decimation of a population and the deliberate bombing of hospitals and murder of journalists, health workers and civilians is not enough.

The time is long past for Canada to completely end all military support for Israel and for other measures such as an economic boycott to be implemented.

Until words are supported by definitive actions, Canada remains shamefully complicit in the unspeakable human tragedy being perpetrated in Palestine.

Anne Lindsey

Winnipeg

Frustrations with roadwork

Re: “Losing patience” (Letters, Aug. 26)

Expressing concern about how long various roadworks projects take to complete, sometimes with no work done for extended periods, D. Duane Johnston wrote: “we see what appears to be stupidity, incompetence or both.”

More likely, what we are seeing is for budgetary reasons the city is optimizing road work for cost, and since staff costs are the largest, they are kept busy as much as possible at the various sites, but there aren’t enough staff to be working on all phases of each project all of the time. So staff are efficiently used, but the projects aren’t completed as fast as possible.

I suggest Mr. Johnston call his councillor and demand that taxes be increased to hire enough staff such that they can be used less efficiently, but completing road work projects much faster.

Kevin McGregor

Winnipeg

An important part of patience is knowing the reason for something. In this case, if a delay between the appearance of barriers and 10×10 holes, for instance, was explained by signage or week-by-week “work in progress, and why” notices by the city (and province), my patience for one, would be extended.

For that matter, it would be great to see notices or billboards that outline plans of new construction (major structures or those that change roadways). Imagine satisfying public curiosity about the builder’s intentions when large equipment or big holes appear on a property! I’m a lot less cranky when I know why.

Judy Anderson

Winnipeg

Listen to rider feedback

The improved Winnipeg Transit system appears to demonstrate the tried and true method of systems change. That is, pick a concept, cherry-pick facts to embellish preconceived notions, avoid or disregard ground-level knowledge and wisdom, and hang on to the self-manufactured belief that the improved system is in fact improved, deny and promote false belief. Above all, do not acknowledge fallibility. In the vernacular, it’s called selling a bill of goods.

This cynical take on systems change has been hard-earned, living with inefficiencies and blunders in many walks of life, as a citizen and as a worker in public education. if asked, I could provide a collection of real life stories that illustrate such. I’m certain workers in health care and many other institutions and low paying jobs could also share real life stories illustrating know-it-all mentalities.

I am in no way underestimating the complexity of systems change, nor am I suggesting that ground level workers necessarily see the big picture or have done the necessary research. What I am saying is that thoughtful consideration of available information, including earnest consultation and collaboration with stake holders, authentic program assessment and an attitude of ongoing learning, with replanning and continuous improvement are necessary ingredients to optimal systems change.

We are all susceptible to human frailty, temptations and avoidance of hard work and personal courage. Hence the critical need for earnest reflection, self assessment and the resolve to do the right thing. Of course, challenging, but also hugely rewarding, personally and for social benefit.

Here’s hoping Winnipeg Transit opens itself up to rider feedback and reconsideration of route design.

Garrett Loeppky

Winnipeg

Climate illiteracy

If our current crop of political leaders at all levels (Elizabeth May excepted) is intentionally setting out to poke the gods of climate calamity with a stick, it couldn’t be doing a better job!

In a grotesque display of either “eco-stupidity” or “climate illiteracy,” it’s gleefully setting out to turn (or burn) Canada into “an energy superpower!” That’s eerily identical to the goal uttered by Stephen “climate change is a socialist plot” Harper more than a decade ago. And it’s all under the phoney guise of “nation-building.”

These poor sods either don’t know, or care, that you can’t gain an upper hand on the climate beast by unleashing evermore greenhouse emissions into our air. And the main opposition voice federally isn’t speaking out against these abominations, but going to bat for the gasoline car instead.

As for our newly minted prime minister, who has shown loudly and clearly on the public stage he understands that climate change is “an existential threat,” must not be acting out of ignorance or stupidity now, but rather with downright malice aforethought. When you think about it, what could go wrong when we elect a world banker as our leader?

Perhaps the saying, “at least the Tories stab you from the front,” is true, after all. In any case, if any of them love their children, they have an odd way of showing it.

Larry Powell

Shoal Lake