Letters, June 26

Transit report disappoints

Re: Overhauled Transit system rollout ‘a nightmare,’ public works chair says (June 24)

The nightmare continues to this day.

The city gesturing toward the improvements it made post-launch of the primary transit network rings hollow to anyone who rides transit on a daily basis.

When buses on your “frequent express” route simply don’t show up, it’s inconvenient. When it’s a weekly occurrence, it’s inexcusable.

It’s clear that the city doesn’t have the resources to run either version of the transit system. So why aren’t they sounding the alarm to the province? Why does a report that is an obvious indictment of where we are and where we’re headed get spun as “look on the bright side”?

Dylan Manness

Winnipeg

By all accounts I’ve read the new transit system has been and still is a disaster.

For comparison, I cite a huge corporate blunder from history. Coca-Cola took its signature brand off the market and replaced it with New Coke. It was a disaster. But Coca-Cola eventually recognized the error, switched back to the original flavour and branded it as Coca-Cola Classic.

But Winnipeg has no chance of going back to the old system. Already the bus loop on Aubrey Street in Wolseley has been declared surplus, and one group wants to see a daycare centre and multi-unit housing to be installed there.

This city is run by dogma, not facts. We’ll just have to wait and see how much more revenue the city loses while it refuses to face reality.

Ray Hignell

Winnipeg

Funding transit a freedom of movement issue

Re: Transit upgrades could cost $16M (June 24)

The ideological argument in favour of increasing provincial funding to municipal transit and restoring the previous 50-50 split for Winnipeg Transit is strong.

Not too long ago, opponents to “vaccine passports” liked to remind us that one of our Charter rights is freedom of movement. Granted, the province does not deprive us of these rights when transit funding is not provided; however, bolstering transit systems does strengthen that right. It gives more options to people in municipalities which have the means to operate a transit system, and lessens the financial burden of exercising that right.

The benefits are not just abstract, though. If you’re an employer in Winnipeg, you probably have employees who regularly use transit. If you do, you reap the benefits of a mobile labour market. The less affordable that transit is for workers, the closer to home people will look for work. Likewise, the more reliable transit service is, the more comfortable many workers will feel applying for jobs further away.

Improving workers’ access to transit benefits them and their employers. The economic argument to spread the cost for such systems across the entire province seems clear when it means workers and consumers will have increased mobility.

Consumers can spend more money if they pay less getting themselves to shops and they will spend more time shopping if transit service can reliably get them from point A to point B.

Kelsey Enns

Winnipeg

No place for bullying

Re: Boy’s head plunged into toilet on field trip, mom says (June 24)

For years junior hockey players have gotten away with bullying younger players at the back of the bus. The No. 1 reason bullies bully with impunity is because adults don’t supervise them and hold them accountable. And then when the bullies are confronted with their bullying they say, “I was just joking!” That rationalization is then followed up by their parents defending them and projecting blame onto the victim.

It is an age-old story which sadly is being repeated in a Brandon school. Hopefully, Brandon school officials will see bullying for what it really is: mean-spirited behaviour that has no place in our schools.

Mac Horsburgh

Winnipeg

Grocery profits don’t add up

Re: Province’s grocery study offers little price relief (June 24)

For all the listed reasons why governments can’t control grocery prices, I couldn’t help but ask why — if supermarkets are putting up prices due to outside forces — have their profits gone through the roof?

Gee, could it be that they’re using outside forces as an excuse to raise prices way beyond any increase in cost to them? How do they explain the extra hundreds of millions in yearly profit?

The idea of competition among supermarket chains is laughable. Why are governments so scared to put a wealth tax on them? It seems like the only way to do it.

Ian McGlade

Winnipeg

Fossil fuel’s grip on government

Canada’s climate commitments are being quietly dismantled from the inside out, due to the fossil fuel industry’s grip on our government.

In 2023 alone, fossil fuel lobbyists held at least 1,255 meetings with federal officials, an average of nearly five every single business day! This continuous access gives them undue influence over the policies meant to regulate them.

The industry’s defense is always economic, citing the energy sector’s nine per cent contribution to our GDP. However, this leverage is used to extort public funds.

Despite promises to end fossil fuel handouts, our government continues to funnel billions in subsidies, tax breaks, and public financing into oil and gas infrastructure. Instead of funding a rapid, just transition to renewables, taxpayer dollars are keeping aging fossil fuel giants on life support.

The result is clear: critical climate policies, from the oil and gas emissions cap to clean electricity regulations, are consistently delayed, weakened, or riddled with loopholes. While oil sands executives post record profits, they plow that capital into further extraction rather than genuine emissions reduction.

We cannot solve the climate crisis while allowing its main perpetrators to dictate the rules. It is time for our government to close the revolving door between oil executives and public office, reject fossil fuel money, and prioritize the future of Canadians over corporate balance sheets.

Please reach out to your elected officials and demand that they stop using our taxpayer dollars to support this planet killing industry.

Ron Sadler

Winnipeg

School taxes rise

Given our property taxes are due June 30, it was time for me to take a closer look at the big bill year-over-year. My municipal taxes are up about 3.5 per cent, which seems reasonable given inflation and increasing demands for city services. However, my school taxes net after the credit advance are up a whopping 10.2 per cent!

I am a strong supporter of education and realize our province simply does not have the financial resources to properly fund our schools, which requires a significant tax increase.

My real beef is the underhanded method with which our Manitoba government sneaks in a large tax increase in the guise of city property taxes, as though our city is to blame. Education is the responsibility of the province, and I am fundamentally opposed to attaching any education tax to municipal property. which is the principal tax revenue source for our city.

In my opinion, school taxes should be entirely removed from property taxes, convoluted provincial funding of municipalities (e.g., transit) should be eliminated, and municipal property taxes raised to fully reflect city operating costs.

In this manner we would gain better transparency of spending responsibilities between the two levels of government.

Bill Speers

Winnipeg