Letters, Aug. 1

A wildfire waiting to happen

As a cottage owner and seasonal resident at Falcon Lake, I am increasingly concerned about the risk of wildfire caused by trees and vegetation encroaching on electrical lines in the southeastern Whiteshell.

This is not a theoretical concern. The Whiteshell Provincial Park wildfire management strategy, prepared by Forsite Consultants and submitted to the Manitoba government in April 2021, identified Falcon Lake, Rennie and Pointe du Bois as the three communities most at risk of devastation from wildfire. The report warned of the potential for catastrophic events, including significant property damage and loss of life, particularly where evacuation routes could be compromised.

Despite that warning, power outages have become a regular occurrence at Falcon Lake. On July 29, the community experienced an outage lasting approximately 12 hours. In June, a tree fell onto a power line and started a fire that required the local fire department to respond. Fortunately, that incident was contained, but the next one may not be.

Trees and branches can be seen growing over, beside and through power lines in several areas around the lake, particularly along South Shore Road. During high winds and thunderstorms, this vegetation creates an obvious risk of further outages, damaged equipment and potentially catastrophic wildfire.

The outages are more than an inconvenience. They force local businesses — including the grocery store, gas station and golf course — to curtail or close their operations. They also disrupt refrigeration, water systems, communications and other essential services.

Falcon Lake is heavily forested and accommodates thousands of residents, cottagers and visitors during the summer. Evacuating the area during a fast-moving wildfire would be extremely difficult. The Trans-Canada Highway is effectively the community’s principal escape route, making prevention especially important.

Manitoba Hydro and Manitoba Parks should jointly conduct an immediate inspection of power lines and rights-of-way around Falcon Lake. Hazardous trees and encroaching vegetation must be removed, vulnerable electrical equipment assessed and a regular vegetation-management program established.

The province was warned about Falcon Lake’s exceptional wildfire exposure five years ago. Waiting until an electrical-line fire becomes an uncontrollable forest fire is not an acceptable strategy. The warning signs are already present. Authorities must act before a preventable incident results in catastrophic loss of property — or lives.

James Prokopanko, Falcon Lake

Foresight forsaken by Hydro leaders

Re: Critical analysis of Manitoba Hydro plans may be frustrating but it’s necessary (July 29)

I am sitting in my house sweating, having been without electric power for more than 15 hours.

This is the fourth time in the last three months my power has been out. How can I or any of my neighbours trust Allan Danroth, the president and CEO of Manitoba Hydro, and his team to properly plan the future of Manitoba Hydro when he and his staff can’t properly maintain my neighbourhood power grid?

Why hasn’t the faulty substation been replaced? Why haven’t the trees along the power lines been trimmed?

As a parent and grandparent deeply concerned about climate change and severe weather (which is already with us), I don’t hear Manitoba Hydro planning for a severe weather event such as an ice storm or 150 km/h winds that will take down all our power lines from the north.

Based on my research, renewables such as wind and solar are the cheapest source of electricity in the world, and getting cheaper. Combined with household and utility-sized batteries, they are the most reliable form of backup energy. California is developing solar and battery storage faster than anywhere else in the world. Both their utilities and people are way ahead of us.

Unfortunately, Mr. Danroth and his Hydro team seem to be very ill-informed about renewables. They seem stuck in the past. I suspect that is partly because of their many meetings with fossil fuel executives, who are not only selling them gas but also the fossil fuel industry’s lies that there is a sustainable and cost-effective future with oil and natural gas.

If they were up to date on current energy trends, they certainly would not have suggested gas turbines as backup power at an astronomical cost. I could say more about how poorly managed Manitoba Hydro is, but it is long past time for me to retreat to my daughter’s air conditioning.

Jim Lapp, Winnipeg

Kudos to Co-op

During our power outage on Thursday, I was driving past our Co-op on Vermillion Bay and noticed Winnipeg Harvest trucks parked by the entrance. I then watched staff loading carts full of food that would have spoiled due to the outage.

The staff worked tirelessly in the extreme heat. They loaded cart after cart of various food products — breads, meats and pre-made meals and sandwiches. I was happy to see they did not simply throw it away but donated it to a very worthy cause.

Just wanted to let them know this did not go unnoticed. Keep up the good work.

Craig Weger, Winnipeg

Let’s see how this works

Re: Drug site open house called off after media tipped off (July 30)

It’s at the same time so exciting to see (the supervised consumption site) get off the ground and so frustrating to see the province backing off time and time again.

I get it; this is a contentious issue, but it’s an issue whose main opponents, though not all, are reacting on an emotional level rather than a fact-based level. Most of what I hear in opposition to the site is exactly what the site is designed to alleviate. The obstinance is not aligned with the facts or the intent — this is commonly referred to as NIMBY-ism.

I think the opponents need to give the government some grace here. It was (earlier this week) that we heard the housing strategy for encampment residents is actually working (Progress, yes — but there’s still much to do, July 28).

The province has earned some leeway to see how this works and how our society will benefit. If certain people won’t give an inch, then it needs to start disregarding certain opinions and just proceed full ahead, something it should have already done.

Will Jones, Winnipeg

PM fiddles while bully struts

Re: Carney pushes back on calls to use energy as leverage in trade talks with U.S. (July 30)

We seem to have painted ourselves into a corner. Yes, trustworthiness is a noble sentiment and very Canadian. But we can’t really “fight back” or even show we have some clout in negotiations unless we are able to use meaningful levers such as oil, critical minerals, potash, and perhaps electricity.

These seem to be untouchables with regard to using them in some kind of retaliatory action, possibly quotas and/or export taxes. Provincial powers loom large here, with Alberta and Saskatchewan clearly stating resources such as oil and potash cannot not be put on the table. Canadians need to lock arms and stand up to the Americans, perhaps having to make some uncomfortable sacrifices. We can’t go into the ring with our hands tied behind our backs.

And while the prime minister prevaricates, Canada continues to be blackmailed into submission by an unhinged. unreasonable American president. And, as Ontario Premier Ford has said, the bully continues to steal our lunch money.

Robert Milan, Victoria