Letters, Feb. 27

Questionable advice

Re: 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.

Bill Allan, Winnipeg

Essentials for life

Re: Put fairness at centre of Manitoba budget (Think Tank, Feb. 26)

Thanks to Molly McCracken for her article in Thursday’s Free Press on the need to make our tax system fairer.

This is not altruism, it is an essential requirement for life in Manitoba. Every day we hear and read about social issues such as crime, homelessness, addictions and mental health. These scourges affect us all and we constantly have to deal with them, but ultimately they are symptoms of lack of both income and services. Maintaining a fair taxation system, along with the social services that it supports, is as fundamental to our society as physical infrastructure.

In the long run a fairer tax system will improve the well-being and security of the population and reduce the costs of dealing with the symptoms of poverty.

Jeremy Hull, Winnipeg

Disproportionate response

Re: “Poor play by Hellebuyck” (Letters, Feb. 26)

The reaction to Connor Hellebuyck going to the State of the Union address and accepting the highest honour given to a U.S. citizen is more than over the top.

He is, after all, a U.S. citizen. He lives and plays hockey Canada, He is raising his family here in Winnipeg. He supports his community and contributes to it.

He could have had a more lucrative contract on any other team, he is arguably the best goalie in the world, yet he chose to stay here. He gives it his all every game and has never made any statement or comments that should warrant the hateful and negative comments he is getting here in this paper and on social media.

Instead of making this political, can’t we just say well done, you deserve all the accolades accorded you, you worked hard and are still working hard to be the best.

Gilles Nicolas. Winnipeg

Internal issues

Re: Trump plays games with Canada’s sovereignty (Think Tank, Feb. 26)

Peter McKenna’s column calls Scott Bessent’s Jan. 23 podcast remark “unprecedented” interference in Canada’s sovereignty. Bessent simply called Alberta a “natural partner” for the U.S. — praising its resources, independent people, blocked pipelines, and rumours of a referendum where folks seek “sovereignty… what the U.S. has got.”

That’s blunt American commentary on frustrations long voiced in Alberta, not a sovereignty assault. The separatist push is homegrown, well before Bessent spoke.

McKenna contrasts this with Carter’s restraint during Quebec’s active crisis, but that’s apples to oranges — one was presidential caution in a real hot moment; the other is a treasury secretary’s casual quip on Ottawa-created gripes. Bessent spotlighted existing cracks, he didn’t create them. Let’s stick to facts: our sovereignty debates are internal first.

Lana Hunstad. Winnipeg

Carney’s trade mission

Every politician from every party agrees that Canada needs to diversify our trade to not be as reliant on the U.S. as they are no longer a reliable trading partner.

Prime Minister Mark Carney has been travelling the world almost non-stop working on trade deals while leveraging his reputation and past experiences as head of the Bank of Canada and Bank of England to help Canadian companies find other markets. All while critics mock him for it by implying that he’s on a world vacation on the taxpayer dime.

It’s no wonder Carney is far ahead of Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre in the polls for preferred prime minister and is pulling ahead in party support. The more he slips in the polls and loses MPs to the Liberals, the more Poilievre will double down on the far-right policies his base supports, as evidenced by his recent speech demonizing immigrants for getting health benefits in what amounts to a small problem that is getting smaller as Carney reduces the amount of immigration and refugees.

Poilievre still can’t bring himself to criticize U.S. President Donald Trump because a large amount of conservative supporters also are big Trump supporters, which is sad but also explains why he was emulating Trump’s tactics until it became a liability to do so and now he’s gone silent on the matter.

Canadians definitely made the right choice last election and for the sake of the country’s future will hopefully reward Carney with a majority next election and put the final nail in Poilievre’s political coffin.

Jason Sudyn, Winnipeg

A different view of Hellebuyck

Re: Hellebuyck faces tough save after fool’s gold-plated day with Trump (Feb. 26)

I am the first to admit that it was disappointing to see Connor Hellebuyck, our Jets hero, thrusting his arm high and chanting “U-S-A, U-S-A”, at President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address.

If we take some time to assess why that moment affected us the way it did, we may be less judgmental of Hellebuyck. America is like no other country in the world. Over the past 250 years it has grown into the most powerful nation, both economically and militarily. It is a country where children recite the Pledge of Allegiance every day and are taught about American exceptionalism. It is a place where one can start with nothing and fulfil “The American Dream” (even if having to do it on the backs of underpaid undocumented immigrants). It is a place where you are born a Republican or a Democrat and the other side is always the enemy. It is a country with a track record of implementing regime change to secure a better economic outcome with certain countries (Libya, Iraq, Iran, Venezuela, and a dozen other countries).

It is a country whose hubris has led them into decades-long unwinnable wars (Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan). It is a rich country where millions of people are unable to afford health care or housing.

Hellebucyk deserves respect and admiration. As an American, attending a State of the Union address, where he would receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, does not mean that he supports Trump’s oppressive regime.

It just means that he is passionately patriotic about America (like all Americans), despite its obvious shortcomings.

Wally Barton, Winnipeg