Letters, Jan. 22

Poilievre out of touch

Re: Poilievre seeks applause, PM plans for Canada’s future (Jan. 21)

Tom Brodbeck’s column is right on the money.

Neither Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre or former prime minister Justin Trudeau know what the average ordinary Canadian deals with on a daily basis.

Although Carney is not an ordinary Canadian, he has a proven understanding of finances and is diplomatic in dealing with leaders of all countries.

Thanks Tom for an excellent article.

Allan Jakilazek

Winnipeg

American imperialism a baked-in trait

Re: “New kind of MAGA” (Letters, Jan. 19)

I wholeheartedly agree with the sentiment Wally Barton shared in his letter from Jan. 19. The world desperately needs an end to American (global) authoritarianism and imperialism. Unfortunately, both of those aspects of the U.S. are baked into their state and are very much bipartisan.

Of course U.S. President Donald Trump is a uniquely vulgar expression of the American state’s (not their people, to be clear) violence, arrogance, hubris, and chauvinism. But, American imperialism was not born out of Trump’s election. It has existed from America’s inception with the genocide of Indigenous peoples, and has spread around the globe most pronouncedly post-Second World War, throughout the Cold War, and through every Democrat or Republican administration to this very day.

The Vietnam War was bipartisan. The violent overthrow of progressive South American governments in the ‘70s and ‘80s were bipartisan. The illegal wars throughout the Middle East (West Asia) were (are) bipartisan. Remember, Obama bombed Yemen, Libya, Syria with the help of Hillary Clinton. The death and destruction in Gaza (still ongoing) was facilitated both politically and materially under former president Joe Biden’s tenure. And these examples are just a drop in the bucket of U.S. bipartisan foreign meddling and war crimes.

Americans may be able to vote Trump out (though elections in 2028 are not a guarantee at this point), but unless the people are able to force their leaders to dramatically reverse course on their violent, coercive, and interventionist foreign policy — based in a false notion of spreading neoliberal “democracy” — they will not vote American imperialism out of office.

Evan Marnoch

Winnipeg

Carney speaks volumes

Upon reading Prime Minister Mark Carney’s words he spoke at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, I am proud to be a Canadian with a leader who can speak clear and concise words of the current state of coercion-based politics without naming the bully behind it all.

His speech was meet with strong support by the countries in attendance.

I have longed struggled to find the words to describe Trump’s unfair and insane state of mind.

Carney has clearly defined the state of Trump’s attempt to dominate world power is in the midst of a “rupture.”

Trump is threatening middle power countries such as Canada, which must now band together to offset the super powers of China, Russia and our once supportive neighbours, the U.S.

Trump feels he can take whatever he wants under false pretences.

We’re not naive to his claims. The world that we once knew is sadly changing.

Karen Zurba

Winnipeg

Mark Carney’s speech at the World Economic Forum addressed straight on a number of salient world issues, issues which extend beyond short-sighted self interest. Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew’s response to the China canola deal also extended beyond Manitoba to a Team Canada awareness which included cautious optimism and empathy for Ontario auto workers.

An important issue spoken to by both Kinew and especially Carney is the necessity to face realities and problems directly and truthfully, without euphemism or denial. A primary factor in the disenchantment and mistrust of politicians is exactly this, speaking in pretend mode when people’s lived experiences demonstrate reality, not the pretense of deceipt and reality avoidance.

Whether international relationships and economics or local issues of underfunding of necessary infrastructure, truth denial and realty avoidance results in half-baked solutions, a weakening of personal value based living and ultimately social and political decay.

Facing and speaking realities is the beginning to clearly identifying the nature of problems and the arriving at actual solutions — even when those solutions may represent a tempering or lessening of our expectations. The world is changing. We need to work to understand these changes, even as many are complex and seemingly overwhelming. The time of heads in the sand, of normalizing co-optedness, and living within a lie has passed. The time for the exercising of courage, which is strength building, is very much upon us.

I celebrate these rare, but much needed, messages from both Kinew and Carney and wish them well in living the truth of their messages. We need it. The world needs it. The question remains, will we accept it, will we find the courage to embrace it?

Garrett Loeppky

Winnipeg

America, the pariah

Re: Carney calls on middle powers to band together in World Economic Forum speech (Jan. 20)

The U.S. has officially become a hostile pariah-state, recognized as such around the planet, while threatening world stability and peace, human rights and morality.

At Davos on Tuesday, Prime Minister Mark Carney spoke of “a risky new age of great power rivalries and middle powers.”

His pragmatism, clear-eyed and level-headed approach to a menacing autocrat, and his understanding that the U.S. has irreparably broken its relationship with Canada, will stand Canada in good stead.

At the same meeting, French President Emmanuel Macron and other stalwart European leaders read the U.S. the riot act: “We don’t give in to bullies.”

The shiny crown of impunity gifted to U.S. President Donald Trump by the U.S. Supreme Court — adding to the effects of his ever-decreasing cognitive skills, malignant narcissism, and epic hubris — has made him even more emboldened, erratic, and an existential threat to the world order, embodied by his fixation on taking over Greenland.

Trump’s legacy will be one of massive corruption, self-dealing, illegal acts (regional, national, planetary) while a useless Congress, diddled, mute and impotent, because Congress is now spineless.

One is aghast that the American electoral college system voted in such a planetary nightmare.

However, through all of this, one knows that Canadians are tough, determined, and resilient. We will not kowtow to a pariah-state, run by an autocrat.

Kenneth Meadwell

Winnipeg

Feline friends

Usually when there is an overpopulation of any species in the wild it is due to a lack of natural predators in the area.

Perhaps the city could fund (through the Humane Society), a spay-and-neuter clinic for feral cats, which would be handled as a catch-and-release program.

These cats could then be released in the parks experiencing the problem, forming small feral cat colonies. Given the plentiful food supply, they would be more than happy to help bring the numbers under control. A considerably more natural method of handling the problem rather than poisoning everything in site.

Keeping in mind these are homeless cats, that are already fending for themselves, for most of them, this would probably be an improvement.

Mary Coran

Winnipeg