Letters, May 27

Watch Smith carefully

How can Alberta Premier Danielle Smith sit in a conference with the premiers from Western Canada and the northern territories and talk about business, trade and their neighbouring relationships while she is trying to separate her own province from the rest of Canada?

Prime Minister Mark Carney needs to watch himself in her presence — she is not to be trusted. From my own perspective, there is no way Danielle Smith can change our constitution. Regardless of what her referendum might indicate, we are one country, strong and free.

Ken Butchart

Winnipeg

Until the tar sands freeze over

Re: Eby questions timing of premiers meeting (May 26)

In this article, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is quoted as saying “These ports are not British Columbia’s ports, they are Canada’s.”

I am now waiting to hear her say “These oil fields are not Alberta’s oil fields, they are Canada’s.”

I think I shall be waiting for a long while.

Robert King

Winnipeg

Defining insanity

Re: Arlington Bridge into its final weeks (May 26)

Would it be an exaggeration to declare our city financially destitute?

A bridge that was declared unsafe and closed two years ago is only now going to be dismantled, with no timeline for a replacement.

Every year we delay the construction of a new bridge, the price tag only goes up. (Similar to our property taxes!)

I have a feeling no one at city hall is taking into account the extra stress the Slaw Rebchuk Bridge is now facing and the impact of this stress on the longevity of that bridge. Soon, repairs to Slaw Rebchuk and, of course, closure for repairs, will leave only Main and McPhillips streets open to north/south traffic in this part of the city.

Alfred Sansregret

Winnipeg

Adult ed a sound investment

Re: Adult education gets funding boost (May 20)

Advanced Education and Training Minister Renee Cable is to be commended for her generous support of adult literacy centres in Manitoba. She aptly refers to ALCs as the “…forgotten piece of the puzzle.” Currently receiving two-thirds of one per cent of the provincial education budget, ALCs are indeed forgotten.

Taxpayers expect a good financial return on their investment, so what do the numbers show? It costs over $150,000 annually to house one inmate in a federal penitentiary and over $94,000 in a provincial jail. The annual cost to support one unhoused person is about $46,000.

The annual cost for one adult learner enrolled in an ALC is about $2,458 and will pay for itself in about 10 years. With nearly one in four Manitoba children living in poverty and reading levels of incarcerated adults hovering between grades 3 and 8, this is exactly the progressive thinking needed to stop the revolving door of childhood poverty.

The $24.9-million dollar funding announcement for ALCs is a very good start and deserves our full attention. It offers hope and opportunity for thousands of marginalized families throughout Manitoba. It’s simply a good financial return on our investment and we haven’t even considered the significant social benefits.

Well done.

Michael Bennett

Winnipeg

What about solar?

Re: Planning for an electric future — now (May 22)

Manitoba Hydro’s proposal (not yet approved by the Public Utilities Board and cabinet) to build 750 MW of natural gas or bio-methane fired generating capacity as part of its 2025 Integrated Resource Management Plan does not seem to have considered the accelerating and predictable effects of climate change, such as “fire weather,” fuelled by our continuing dependence on fossil fuels.

Regrettably, the prospect of another summer of wildfires and smoke-filled skies seems not to have entered the equation for Hydro.

Perhaps it is thought that an extra 750 MW of combustion capacity is an insignificant contribution to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. The plan is said to reflect Hydro’s commitment to achieving a net-zero electrical grid by 2035, since combustion turbines will be fuelled by “low-carbon fuels as they become readily available” and emissions will be offset with carbon credits. It is not clear what “low-carbon fuel” Hydro anticipates burning. Nor is it clear why Hydro has decided that combustion turbines and carbon credits are the best alternative.

Conspicuous in its absence from Hydro’s plan is consideration of solar (photovoltaic) generation. Meanwhile, other provinces are investing heavily in solar energy. A March 2026 report from Statistics Canada shows Alberta led the country in solar generation, which increased 26.6 per cent year over year to 3.5 million megawatt-hours in 2025.

Canada’s energy landscape is changing. According to the same Statistics Canada report on Canadian electricity generation, hydroelectricity continues to dominate, followed by combustion fuels, nuclear and then wind and solar. However, in 2025, combustion increased by 6.6 per cent year over year while wind generation grew by 10.1 per cent and solar climbed 13.9 per cent. Average-lifetime-cost for generation of electricity by onshore wind turbines and utility-scale solar panels remains higher than for large hydroelectric projects, but below the cost per megawatt-hour for combustion or nuclear.

Solar generation of electricity should be a key component of Hydro’s plan. I hope that the Public Utilities Board and cabinet share similar concerns and will direct Hydro to revise the planto reduce combustion generation and incorporate solar. Future generations may yet thank us for making the right choices.

Tim Wildman

Winnipeg

Downtown needs intervention

Because there are so many homeless and partially housed people outside and loitering downtown during the day and night, the onus should be on government to provide and fund food, washrooms, toiletries, adequate clothing and extensive social interventions.

The situation is beyond the point at which the public can be expected to provide handouts to the multitude of people panhandling and begging for food and necessities. When people shoplift and commit crime to eat, there is a very severe social problem.

The consequences of addiction and mental-health issues cannot be mitigated by donations and charity. Seeing urination and defecation in storefront alcoves, in bus shelters, behind bushes, at alleyways and in parking lots and parkades adds to the sanitation issues of the already not-very-clean downtown.

Keeping shelters, soup kitchens, food distribution, washrooms and addiction and mental health support facilities to the fringes and outskirts of downtown is denying reality. Downtown is ground zero.

There is lots of empty commercial space available for street-level support sites. Allocating money to improve social conditions on the street will lower crime, improve business revenues and opportunities, and make downtown more livable and desirable.

Holly Bertram

Winnipeg