Letters, June 3

Business knows what time it is

Re: Considering a unified prairie time zone (Think Tank, June 1)

I must reply to Bryan Oborne’s op-ed regarding a unified prairie time zone. There is absolutely no reason to have a unified prairie time zone. Oborne suggests it will be better for business and help make Manitoba a “have province”, an assertion that has no evidence to back it up, in my opinion.

Time zones do not interfere with business. Big businesses operate around the world and time zones are not a problem. I know of many very small businesses (five employees or less) that have done business in Asia (10 to 12 hours difference) for 30 or 40 years with no problem. If there is a good business case for doing business in a different time zone, businesses will find a way to do it.

On the other hand, politics does interfere with business. Interprovincial trade barriers hurt business right across Canada. I’ve had clients who did not want to do business with China due to politics. For 150 years, Canada has done a lot of business with the U.S.A. The only impediment over the years has been politics, not time zones.

Taking Oborne’s assertion one step further, why not have the whole world on one time zone? That would be great for business and make us all wealthy. But who wants to work during the night and sleep during the day? Not many. And who wants to have an extra hour of daylight at 3 or 4 a.m., and lose an hour of daylight in the evening. Not many in my opinion.

Oborne’s “solution” is for a problem that does not exist and will negatively affect many people.

Ray Hignell

Winnipeg

More problems than solutions

To suggest that a single prairie time zone that includes Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba would somehow provide an economic benefit to our Manitoba economy is a bit of a stretch. Bryan Oborne does not support that position very well.

If it does come to be, what then if Ontario changes to daylight time? Manitoba would then be two hours removed from the eastern time zone. And if our neighbours to the south, Minnesota and North Dakota, go to daylight time, we’d be different by an hour.

If a permanent time change is adopted, there are going to be some very unhappy people on both sides of this debate. Year-round standard time will see the sun set at approximately 8:30 p.m. in June and July. Year-round daylight time will see the sun not rise until approximately 9:30 a.m. in December and January. Have people thought this through?

I’m for the status quo. We have the best of both situations. In my mind the satisfaction of having that extra hour of summer sun and earlier winter daylight outweighs any minimal health risk of changing the clocks twice yearly. Let’s be careful what we wish for!

Cameron Laxdal

Dugald

Beyond the numbers

Re: “Looking at the data” (Letters, June 1)

Focusing on the percentage of teachers who responded to the recent survey overlooks the more important reality that educators across Manitoba are overwhelmed by growing demands and increasingly difficult working conditions.

Teachers are taking marking home, planning late into the evening, responding to increasing behavioural and mental health challenges and managing larger classes with more complex student needs. At the same time, employers continue to add expectations and responsibilities.

Many teachers simply do not have the capacity to complete surveys, just as many struggle to complete formal reports on violence and serious incidents in schools. That does not mean these concerns are not real. If anything, it highlights the seriousness of the situation.

While survey methodology can be debated, concerns about violence, workload, inadequate supports and unsafe working conditions are longstanding and widespread. As former president of both the Winnipeg Teachers’ Association and the Manitoba Teachers’ Society, I spoke with thousands of teachers over a span of 12 years. Teachers are struggling and the public deserves to understand why.

Nathan Martindale

Winnipeg

Smith’s comments inconsequential

Re: Smith calls out Kinew after he criticizes her (June 2)

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith could have said these words to Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew when they were talking to the press together. Instead, she waited to host her weekly radio program to criticize him. She took a week to think of what to say and had nothing substantive to say to defend herself.

Her criticism doesn’t hold water. Wab did not lecture Albertans, he corrected Danielle Smith’s lies; he did not lecture Albertans, as a majority are against separatism; and, finally, he did not lecture Albertans, he brought the concerns of First Nations in Alberta to the national stage.

Wab was doing Smith’s job for her. It is not the duty of Manitoba’s premier to meet with First Nations and to represent them. That is the job of Alberta’s premier.

Kelsey Enns

Winnipeg

One thing Manitoba has

It’s nice that both Danielle Smith and Obby Khan point out we are a “have-not” province. The one thing we do have is the most popular premier in the country.

Paul Forest

Winnipeg

City gets F for spelling

Re: Stretch of Panet Road named after longtime local business (June 1)

Congrats to Princess Auto on its honorary street naming in Transcona.

You will notice that I (and your writer, Malak Abas, and your copy editors) know that honorary is spelled without a “u”.

For sure, we spell “honour” differently than the Americans, but this does not change the spelling of honorary.

I see this error every day outside my house on Oak Street in River Heights – a.k.a. “Honourary (sic) Duff Roblin Way”.

I guess spellcheck doesn’t work on manufactured signs? Come on, City of Winnipeg, this stuff shouldn’t be so hard!

Derek Rolstone

Winnipeg

Separate but equal cyclists and drivers

Re: Unintended Consequences of bike-safety policy (Think Tank, May 29)

I don’t want to write this letter but there’s a need to clear the air. Opinion writer Gregory Mason notes he has no data yet makes conclusions using false assumptions.

He says that as we invest more in bike safety measures, we can expect the number of cyclist-related accidents and deaths to increase. For someone who loves using adages like “the law of unintended consequences,” has he not ever heard of “safety in numbers”?

The more people cycle in a community, the safer that roads become. Drivers become more aware of cyclists, demand for separated bike infrastructure increases and, generally, infrastructure increases follow.

Improvements to bike infrastructure in the city will reduce driver frustration as it separates bikes and vehicles, allowing faster movement of vehicle traffic and keeping cyclists safe.

Corey Dyck

Winnipeg