Letters, Sept. 29

Public servants and elections

We currently are in the midst of elections, mostly on the municipal level. Voters are reviewing policies and promises in anticipation of new programs and commitments that hopefully will enhance their daily life.

While those seeking political office live in anxiety during this time as they await their electoral fate, so too do many civil servants as election results will also determine their futures.

It is these civil servants who we rarely think of at election time.

They, together with the programs they are administrating, are in limbo.

Most electors do not even think of civil servants at election time. Nor need we — right?

I have never heard of someone noting that they are voting for a political candidate because they have a great staff. It is not how we are programmed to think.

Elections are for our society as a whole. They determine how we will move forward together until the next election. In reality, how we will live together.

Civil servants who do the majority of the program work are there to administer, day to day, what this political process has determined for our futures.

The downside of this democratic process is that many brilliant and dedicated civil servants will be cast aside in a few weeks, unless the victorious newly elected officials see them as assets to their policy goals.

So now at the advent of the largest, and often seen as the happiest, holiday season in Canada many civil servants face the prospect of losing their jobs and falling back onto some sort of employment assistance safety net. This raises anxiety within many families and leaves them with uncertain futures.

So my plea is for all of us as electors to walk alongside our civil servants at this time of year. Some of them will be in great stress.

Some we simply will never see again as they transition into distant communities.

And for you employers, now is a great time to look for talented employees who, through no fault of their own, will be cast aside.

Ken Reddig

Morden

More voices

Re: Is a better Winnipeg on the horizon?, Sept. 26

I appreciate the efforts by Free Press columnists to try and generate interest in what is shaping up to be a lacklustre city election.

Tom Brodbeck’s cut-to-the chase writing is needed on issues like municipal finance and Rebecca Chambers’ perspectives on the city’s dealings with less-advantaged communities are must-reads.

But here’s a cool idea: there are four Saturdays left before the week of Oct. 28.

Why not open your pages to people who don’t already have platforms to answer the same question the columnists wrestled with?

Publish a few columns each Saturday from Winnipeg’s voting Gen-Z cohort, a small-business owner, an artist, a bus operator — a few among the many others you could tap.

I’d love to see what issues — and ideas — a wider range of voices have to try and make Winnipeg a better city.

James Turner

Winnipeg

The blame game

Re: Tenants slam Alta.-based landlord, protest rent increases, Sept. 25

Premier Wab Kinew keeps blaming the Progressive Conservatives for holding up rent control legislation, but Kinew is evading his own government’s power to immediately pass the proposed amendment that would reduce rent increases due to capital renovations by 50per cent.

If the NDP had enacted this change in the spring, tenants in Wingspan and many other buildings would be facing half the above-guideline rent increase (AGI) and have a better chance of staying housed, while landlords would still be able to recuperate their costs over a longer period.

By failing to strengthen regulations for AGIs, Kinew has put many low-income households at risk of homelessness as landlords use the existing, unfair AGI process to push through unprecedented rent increases, while the NDP delay, shift blame, and acquiesce to landlords.

Kinew must address the precarity he has created and direct Yves Vandal at the Residential Tenancies Branch to freeze rents while tenants wait for a determination on a proposed AGI, and then follow through on his promise to bring in stronger rent control by immediately passing the proposed change that would actually make a difference!

Anny Chen

Winnipeg

Good work

I would like to commend Scott Forbes for his cogent, sensible, and well-documented article on Manitoba Hydro’s misguided, and some might say, incompetent approach to Manitoba’s hydro needs, and plans to fulfill them (Time for 21st century leadership at MB Hydro, Think Tank, Sept. 24).

His statement, “MB Hydro has argued that spending $3 billion on new methane (aka natural) gas generating stations is the best way to meet rising peak-load power demands, and oh, by the way, don’t worry about rising carbon emissions because we’ll hardly ever use them. Just stop and think about that. We’re going to spend (at minimum) $3 billion for something we don’t intend to use very much.” pulls back the curtain behind which Manitoba Hydro wizards are weaving their tale of innovation, preparedness, and responsible governance. A fish tale, indeed.

It is clear that as the unavoidable and necessary electrification of the economy proceeds, the proposed methane-gas power plants will be activated more and more in order to supply Manitoba’s electrical grids. A shocking reality that Professor Forbes points out is that: “ … more than 70 per cent of Manitoba’s energy use is still fossil-fuel based, mainly from using gas and diesel for transportation and methane gas for home and industrial heating.” Therefore, relying in the future on methane-gas generating stations will only increase reliance on fossil-based fuel, and increase the number of and extent of environmental catastrophes, the likes of which wrought enormous environmental and urban damage, and loss of life, around the world this summer.

With appropriate and convincing scientific and ecological data and examples, Professor Forbes details the reasons why clean energy is ever more important. In addition, he cites the examples of Québec Hydro and B.C. Hydro who are adding “ … grid-scale batteries to firm intermittent wind and solar power into reliable base-load power. Without this, the utilities only count ~15 per cent of wind power toward base load. With batteries in place, that rises to over 40 per cent.”

The necessary transition to clean energy is achieved through wind and solar energy, geothermal power, as well as grid-scale batteries.

Manitoba Hydro’s plan to rely on methane-gas power plants is an absurdity that neither Manitoba nor the planet can withstand. Manitoba Hydro fiddles with methane-gas generating stations while the need for clean-energy beckons to the world, urgently.

Kenneth Meadwell

Winnipeg

Time to reconsider

I have been reading a lot of information about changing to permanent daylight time or standard time.

I think many Manitobans were not aware of the benefits or drawbacks to this before a survey was sent to see what Manitobans wanted to do.

I think a formal information session of some type should be implemented before we make this change to give all Manitobans the information needed to make an informed decision about what time would be better to stick with, before making any changes official as the premier has already done.

It’s not too late to do this. More information is always better to make important decisions for everyone.

Ron Robert

Winnipeg