Letters, May 22

Greed in Manitoba

Re: War spikes inflation to tops in Canada (May 20)

I disagree that the U.S./Israel/Iran war is the cause of Manitoba’s inflation rate jumping to new heights. Had the war been responsible, the inflation rate would have been more or less the same across Canada.

I acknowledge that the war has grossly affected supply line chains by hindering movement of goods, and the interruption in the flow of oil to international markets has affected fuel and transportation costs, but this is equally true across Canada. Manitoba has not been more affected than other areas. No, the cause is not so complex or nuanced. Our inflation rate is through the stratosphere because of corporate greed exploiting our vulnerabilities.

Look at the gas prices across the city as a very visible example. Why is it that some retailers are able to sell their product at 160.9 cents while so many others hold fast to 184.9 cents? Greed. Care for another example? Brace yourself and check the flyers in other major cities at the retailer you usually shop at. In every province from Ontario to British Columbia, you’ll find the stores advertise products for far less than in Winnipeg.

Why is it Winnipeggers are expected to pay several dollars more for identical products sold in other cities? Corporate greed. If gas and groceries can, and are, sold for substantially less in other cities, an adjustment is overdue here.

Randy Clinch

Winnipeg

A growing divide

Re: Designated encampments are a poor solution (Think Tank, May 20)

The overall degradation of public space and Kate Sjoberg’s proposed shrinking of the policy environment with respect to restrictions on use of public space is contributing to taxpaying citizens, minors and newcomers being less safe — and contributing to interest in ideas like providing long-term public funding for housing people in the grips of active drug addiction.

Crime associated with transients plagues the “housed” with many of the same afflictions Sjoberg identifies: limits on movement (would you take your kids to Central Park?), ability to make money (see the avalanche of local reportage concerning retail theft, commercial break and enter, etc.), access to education (see the string of incidents occurring on university campuses in the last decade). This totally undercuts the author’s argument about negative policy impacts on the homeless. What about the rest of us? Democracy is not a tyranny of the minority. We should not live in fear of the moral and corporal decay on our streets, and speaking as an active member of a central neighbourhood, many of us are.

The use of public space is always (and should be) limited: nobody is permitted to drive their car willy-nilly through public parks.

In the same sense, nobody should be permitted to publicly imbibe poisonous substances whose consumption poses a risk to both user and community! Society should in no way support this behaviour and its cessation should be a necessity to receive top-line services like subsidized housing. The notion that we can put drug addicts into nicely finished apartment units without resulting in massive property damage (on the taxpayer’s dime) is a fallacy commonly held by people in Sjoberg’s profession.

Advocates for the impoverished would do well to consult with impacted communities before sanctimoniously offering more of the same solutions that have, historically, failed to substantively address homelessness and addiction in this city.

One of the few comments of Mayor Scott Gillingham’s that I will agree with: (paraphrasing) there is nothing humane about leaving our fellow humans to the fate of homelessness and addiction. But there is a growing divide regarding the best way to address these issues.

Marston Fleming

Winnipeg

A suggestion for the city

One of the earliest and cheapest and easiest ways to make traffic flow down St. Mary’s Road is to open the blocked off lane over the Norwood Bridge heading towards south Winnipeg. Here is where the real bottle neck begins. From Main Street two lanes heading south down to one lane over the bridge, which then opens to two lanes once over the bridge.

How many times have I witnessed cars caught in the lanes heading to Marion Street suddenly pull into the lane heading to South St. Vital causing a collision or cutting off cars at the last minute? It’s simple: open the lane blocked by concrete barriers. There would still be room for a bike lane over the bridge.

Robert Gordon

Winnipeg

Carney should negotiate with U.S.

Canada, and Prime Minister Mark Carney, should not get too confident of cutting ties with the U.S.

One has to shudder to think what the economic fallout of losing a $34-billion a month customer would do to Canada.

Instead of letting the petulant leader to the south decide Canada’s fate, it should be our leader — who spent the last six months travelling to every second- and third-world country trying to bolster trade for Canada, but only came back with Canada buying cheaper EVs from China — who attends these negotiations in person.

Sending a delegation of retired and irrelevant politicians could be perceived as an insult. It should be the PM himself who attends. This will show the U.S. and Canada that he cares about his country.

The U.S. is our largest trading partner and we are their biggest importer as well. There is far more for Canada to lose than there is to gain by not attending.

Alfred Sansregret

Winnipeg

No thanks to AI

Re: Actually, you can say no to AI (Next, May 20)

Thank you to Jen Zoratti for her interesting and informative newsletter about artificial intelligence. You’ve expressed what I was feeling but couldn’t put into words myself and I would absolutely not ask an AI program to do that for me.

I avoid AI as much as possible. When I go into a bank account or credit card account online with a problem, there’s always an AI chat assistant available, and they’re absolutely useless.

The only good thing about them is that they’ll put you through to a real person when you request one.

When I do a Google search, I automatically skip over the AI comments that show at the top of the list and go to legitimate websites for the information I’m looking for. And don’t get me started about the increasing presence of AI on sites like YouTube.

You can spot an AI production a mile away in most cases. I know that may change in the future, but why is it there in the first place? Are people losing their ability to think for themselves?

AI will never replace human creativity. It’s the essence of our lives. Look around where you’re sitting and think about how many objects around you are the invention of a creative mind. I don’t believe there is an AI program that could ever come remotely close to matching the creativity that comes from human minds.

AI is not creative. It just uses information that’s already there.

Cheryl Lavigne

Winnipeg