A cheque for some, a tax for others

Re: Manitoba renters to start getting quarterly cheques from the government (May 8)

I can’t help wondering who they hoped to benefit when someone came up with this ridiculous idea. Many of us look forward to our tax refund as a “mini lottery.”

We have a cheque to use for replacing an appliance or a piece of furniture. Or it may be used to buy the kids new bikes. A monthly cheque is too easily absorbed in buying overly expensive daily necessities. It’s rare that we could set aside that amount for a special purchase. If we don’t have it we can’t spend it.

Greed in Manitoba

Re: War spikes inflation to tops in Canada (May 20)

I disagree that the U.S./Israel/Iran war is the cause of Manitoba’s inflation rate jumping to new heights. Had the war been responsible, the inflation rate would have been more or less the same across Canada.

I acknowledge that the war has grossly affected supply line chains by hindering movement of goods, and the interruption in the flow of oil to international markets has affected fuel and transportation costs, but this is equally true across Canada. Manitoba has not been more affected than other areas. No, the cause is not so complex or nuanced. Our inflation rate is through the stratosphere because of corporate greed exploiting our vulnerabilities.

On personal accountability

Re: “How we got here” (Letters, May 14)

Like James Paskaruk, I am a “Gen-X kid.” Like him, I grew up in the 1970s riding my bike everywhere, and not seeing the issues that we see in Winnipeg today. However, despite this common background, we have very different views of the reasons for these problems.

Mr. Paskaruk seems to pin the blame on an increase in capitalism since our childhood, as though somehow the ongoing quest for a more economically prosperous life is the source of societal decline. However, if we look at the reality of how Winnipeg (and Canada) evolved since the 1970s, and what has changed in that time, it paints a very different picture.

On transit funding

Re: Province must resume role in transit funding (Editorial, May 12)

The editorial provides an excellent, fact-based rationale for the restoration of the Manitoba-Winnipeg agreement on 50/50 cost sharing of transit operating costs.

Instead of trying to ease traffic congestion by enabling the City of Winnipeg to go deeper in debt through adding more lanes it cannot afford to maintain, the province could move toward several important goals, at a much lower cost. These include improving affordability and availability, increasing transportation equity, and better care for the environment through more efficient use of fossil fuels (and, eventually, an electrified fleet).

Overreach by school

Re: School ditches Mother’s Day (May 7)

Mother Ashley Dolphin is correct when she asks “Where is the line? What is next?” Diversity and inclusion do not imply bending over backwards to do away with long established traditions and practices of the country the diverse groups come to live in. On the other hand, once one chooses to make another country one’s home, adapting to and adopting the practices in place should be fair expectations.

In this instance, Mother’s Day is not a religious occasion specific to one culture or another. All cultures have mothers. The newcomer schoolchildren should take pleasure in participating in treating their mothers to handmade treats. This practice has in fact been in place for decades and there have been no complaints or disrespect.

Vision problem

As storm clouds darken on our horizon, we are in desperate need of a vision for the city and the province that we can support, uplift our spirits, give us a sense of purpose and goals and invigorate the community. But our political class can’t seem to focus on the core issues facing our community. Housing for the homeless isn’t a grand strategy, it’s a fundamental obligation.

We need vision and leadership. I’m afraid the mayor’s enthusiasm for a new 7-11 and the province’s musing about increasing taxes are a big miss. “Make no little plans.” The alternative is a continuing slow drift to social instability and irrelevance.

Harold Westdal

Poilievre’s uses

Prime Minister Mark Carney may want Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre to stay on as Opposition leader but not for the reasons that the predictably smug Liberal crowd think.

It is the Opposition leader’s ideas that Carney draws from in order to govern successfully.

From the elimination of the carbon tax last year to the removal of the federal excise tax on gasoline, he can thank Pierre for those ideas.

The naked truth

Re: Donald in Wonderland — apologies to Lewis Carroll (Letters, April 11)

David McLaughlin’s take on the classic children’s story is entertaining, well written and captures the essence of some of the strange recent events from a land not so far away.

On a related topic, famous author Hans Christian Andersen spun the tale of The Emperor’s New Clothes nearly 300 years ago. Aside from the symbolism in its title, it goes without saying that its lessons about collective ignorance, blind faith, honesty and the “naked truth” continue to be relevant.

Many problems with statue’s relocation

Re: Final resting place set in stone (April 10)

While the city and Manitoba Metis Federation celebrate their victory in having the famous statue of Captain Wynn Bagnall moved from the corner of Portage and Main to Brookside Cemetery, what has been lost for the public? First an educational opportunity to daily remind the people of Winnipeg, what war has cost us in the past.

Moved from the most visible location in the city to a location where few people will ever see it defeats the original intention for this monument. The statue was made for the living, not the dead!

Tipping point

Re: Trump warns ‘A whole civilization will die tonight’ if a deal with Iran isn’t reached (April 7)

Chilling words indeed. That’s U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to Iran. A number of scenarios become apparent because of this threat: Trump will back down and extend his threat, as usual.

Or, Trump will order his military generals to carry out his orders and follow through with his threat. What happens if Trump’s generals disobey his command, refuse to murder innocent Iranian civilians and refuse to commit “war crimes”? Does Trump fire these generals and get other generals to do his bidding?

Safety delayed

The opinion piece Putting the cart before the planning horse” (Think Tank, March 18) is an excellent case study on the bumpy ride of a project designed to protect all citizens regardless of their modes of transport. Despite the best professional advice of Winnipeg’s public service, politicians have again put the proverbial stick in the spokes of the Wellington Crescent bike lane pilot project, sending it crashing to the curb.

Public calls for a safer Wellington date back about two decades, many referring to the city’s own policy documents and neighbourhood plans that cite a better walk/bike environment as a critical component of a vibrant Osborne Village. I frequently use Wellington by car, on foot and, until a transit bus driver imprudently changed lanes and nearly hit me, on my bike.

Ironically, the same day the above-mentioned op-ed appeared, a serious two-vehicle collision occurred at the intersection with Gertrude Avenue. This is where one of the pilot project’s key safety interventions, the closure of a dangerously angled slip lane, would have been in place had the project been implemented as planned last summer.

Your choice…

After reading your piece on March 10 (Two-thirds of Manitobans using AI, but a lot aren’t happy about it, survey reveals), I am a little confused.

Are people aware that use of ChatGPT and other generative AI to replace search engines is not (yet) mandatory?

In other words, if you are aware of how untrustworthy this technology is, how much damage it does to the environment, how it is sucking up all our resources and making RAM unaffordable, how it harms working people in the Global South and vulnerable people everywhere, and how it is being used by authoritarians to create a public that does not know how to think critically … you know, you can just stop using it.

Chaos in the Middle East

Once again the Middle East is descending into widespread violence. At these times, it is hard not to reflect on what might have been.

In 1953 the CIA orchestrated the overthrow of Mohammad Mossadegh, the elected Prime Minister of Iran. His efforts to exert control over the Iranian oil industry had angered a British oil company. Someone in Washington whispered “communist” and the rest was history.

Mossadegh went to prison. Iran ended up with the dictatorship of the pro-Western shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, for 26 years. He would be overthrown in 1979, but dictators are seldom defeated by Sunday school teachers. What emerged was just a more ruthless dictatorship.

Don’t pursue data centres

Re: Data centres and Manitoba: a cautionary tale (Feb. 27)

Joel Trenaman hit the nail on the head with this critique of AI data centres.

It’s still unclear how serious the proposal by Consensus Core and Jet.AI to build a gigantic data centre in the RM of Ritchot actually is; the latter is a penny stock company purporting to specialize in “private jet charter artificial intelligence” (and also happens to have two former senior pilots for the Israeli Air Force on its board). But they are certainly lobbying the provincial government heavily to try to make it happen.

Questionable adviceRe: City report recommends reducing residential speed limit to 40 km/h (Feb. 25)

Although I may agree that a reduced speed limit on side streets in residential neighborhoods to 40 km/h would be appropriate, I question Jino Distasio’s conclusion that the average speed driven on residential streets is 36 km/h telling us the speed limit is too high.

He is apparently an expert in urban studies, but he certainly isn’t an expert in mathematics. If you leave one end of your street from a dead stop and get up to 50 km/h at some point and then come to a dead stop at the end of your street at the stop sign, your average speed will certainly be less than 50km/ h.

I hope our city council isn’t relying on this expert’s advice and can see through the errors in the conclusion, but I’m not holding out hope.