Letters, Jan. 3

Light up the night again

What has happened to the Canada Day and New Year’s Eve celebrations at The Forks with fireworks and musical entertainment?

It was great New Year’s Eve watching the celebrations broadcast from across Canada, except for the lack of significant celebrations in Winnipeg. The Forks has been the central gathering place for celebrations for many years.

I hope 2026 will have a return to fireworks and entertainment at The Forks for everyone to enjoy.

Jennifer Bruce

Winnipeg

On the Hydro hike

Re: PUB approves 4 per cent rate hike, higher than Hydro requested (Dec. 30)

So another four per cent hike to kick off 2026, with likely more to come next year and so on.

When are the NDP and Finance Minister Adrian Sala going to rein in this Crown corporation as they promised to during the election?

A four per cent rate hike for a corporation that gave themselves a 15 per cent pay hike in 2024 after posting a $157-million loss. Average cost of living for us taxpayers is approximately 3.6 per cent. One employee got a pay raise from $199,000 to $239,000 in one year doing the same job. This is ludicrous, and would not pass in the real world of private enterprise. Former Hydro CEO Jay Grewal walked away with over $880,000 in compensation in 2024, for a company that lost money once again.

These taxpayer-funded institutions must come to an end, people are finding it hard to put food on table, pay their mortgage/rent and some are living day to day yet our government continues to do nothing. I don’t just blame the NDP, politicians of all parties are the same. Promise, get elected and then do nothing.

What a world we live in.

Don Liebrecht

West St. Paul

Manitoba Hydro has been an asset of the province, but it appears to be crumbling. It has not kept up with changing conditions and changing times.

It is long past time for a rebranding and a new mandate for Manitoba Hydro. The corporation should produce energy from whatever green sources can be accessed: The water, the abundant wind, and the sunshine of Sunny Manitoba.

We endure rate hikes while the corporation prays for rain.

Daniel Levin

Winnipeg

Fare evasion

On Thursday I ran an errand that required me to take the D15 bus from Broadway at Osborne Street to Fermor Avenue and Lakewood Boulevard; and later returning by the same route.

I paid with my Peggo card. Going down and coming back, I counted over a dozen riders who boarded the two buses without paying.

Most of those who skipped the bus fare were younger and less than middle age. None were older passengers.

I certainly don’t blame the drivers for not trying to collect the fares. Most non-payers were in groups of two or three and there were some obvious safety risks. Also, it was quite cold outside.

Drivers I hope, can track and log the skipped fares to document the extent of the problem for transit and city officials.

As an observant transit user, I think the issue is much larger than is admitted.

Bus drivers cannot and should not be policing fare payment. It seems much too dangerous and far too stressful for them.

Bus drivers earn their wages with safe driving. Being a fare conductor and enforcer needs different skills and tools.

Holly Bertram

Winnipeg

A humanitarian approach

Re: NIMBY by another name (Think Tank, Dec. 31); Drug site bid made on day consults were set (Dec. 31)

When we lobby our governments to provide or expand services, convenience is a concern. Yet, for the disadvantaged, this consideration is rarely assumed; rather, it is almost always fought for. Drug users tend to make rational choices on where they use. Service providers and the public need to acknowledge their logic, even (or especially) when it causes them encroach upon our so-called backyards.

The NIMBY concerns around the current proposed supervised consumption site neglect to consider that people use near Siloam because there are already social services (not just Siloam) in the neighbourhood that meet needs (food, health care, shelter, clothing, community spaces, etc.) and asking people to make a choice between using drugs safely or meeting their needs will not end well.

Those of us who profess a Christian faith just marked (or, if you’re Orthodox, soon will mark) the birth of the Jesus. A classic pietistic call to faith is to be imitators of Christ, as he is not merely divine but also the exemplar of human nature. He taught that we are to try to rid ourselves of our anxieties and love our neighbour.

Applied here, this means we cannot place our worries above the needs of others. More importantly, Jesus met the disadvantaged where they were and healed without pre-condition. If we are to imitate Jesus’s humanitarian approach, we should demand that public policy be at least as compassionate as that.

Kelsey Enns

Winnipeg

Benefits of bike lanes

Re: We need more Wellington Crescent bike lanes (Think Tank, Dec. 30)

Kele Schreckenbach raises numerous valid safety benefits for cars and bicycles related to the city’s proposed changes for Wellington Crescent. They however neglected the benefits to pedestrians.

Bike lines will not only increase safety for cars and bicycles but also for pedestrians. Slowing traffic will make it safer for pedestrians to cross Wellington Crescent — a must for those of us living on the river side of Wellington Crescent. Proposed changes to the Hugo-Wellington intersection will also increase safety for pedestrians crossing at the lights there, as cars often run the red light as they turn right onto Gertrude Avenue. Perhaps the most important benefit to pedestrians is removing cyclists from sidewalks.

Cyclists on Wellington, especially during rush hours, are often faced with two options: facing death or serious injury on the road or causing serious injury to pedestrians and dogs on the sidewalk. To the credit of most cyclists choosing the sidewalk option, they go slow and take a wide berth around pedestrians. The proposed changes to Wellington Crescent increase safety for all modes of transportation including cars, bicyclists and pedestrians.

The changes should be implemented immediately to reduce casualties on Wellington Crescent.

Marty Donkervoort

Winnipeg

Fooled again and again

Re: ‘I’m not sure the tariffs were a good idea’ (Dec. 27)

Iowa longtime farmer Mike Phillips is now having doubts about supporting U.S. President Donald Trump and his inane and insane tariff regime and is boo-hooing the resulting economic pain to him.

The man voted for Trump three times. He has one-upped the old saying “fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.”

Usually I feel sympathy for victims of Trump, but not in this case. Another old saying applies: you get the government you deserve. You voted for a completely incompetent and reprehensible sociopath because you thought his economic policies would benefit you personally. So now, to use an old biblical saying, you have sown the wind, now reap the whirlwind.

And finally, to Phillips, and other serial Trump supporters who, like him, after voting for Trump over and over and who maintain “I guess I still support him,” I refer them to another old saying about the definition of insanity.

R.J. Janis

Winnipeg