Letters, Oct. 6

High road not so easy

Re: Khan should’ve taken high road: Goertzen (Oct. 3)

Politics is a tough game. Just ask former provincial Liberal leader Dougald Lamont. He got thrown under the bus by a prominent Manitoba/Canadian Liberal who advised people to vote NDP in the last provincial election.

As Lamont said when he lost the election, he is “human” and what happened to him “hurt.” Khan is also human. It is easy to criticize him for not taking the “high road.”

Is secrecy always the answer when you are hurt, abused and betrayed? What happened to accountability and transparency? Do they only apply when the truth doesn’t hurt anyone, or when its avoidance is convenient for those who like to get out the knives and use them to harm decent people?

Mac Horsburgh

Winnipeg

Careful what you wish for

Re: A spiritual vision will help anchor a healthy civic outlook (Oct. 3)

This is a surprisingly “rosy” image of the intersection of politics and religion, given how religious nationalism is undermining hard-won tolerance on controversial issues worldwide. Just south of us, President Donald Trump’s Republicans have succeeded at implementing policies long sought by conservative Christians, notably undermining women’s right to medical care deemed sinful by religious teachings.

Religion clearly operates in other countries where authoritarian leaders undermine democracy and further a religious agenda despite being nominally secular nations. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s conservative AKP party in Turkey promotes faith-based schooling, has removed Darwin from science textbooks and restricts people’s liberties, again due to incompatibility with religious text.

Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the right-wing BJP party in India advances a Hindu agenda incompatible with a secular country of diverse peoples and religions. Hinduism comes in for special protection, for example, by efforts to criminalize conversion and discourage inter-faith marriage, while adherents of other religions are portrayed as threats to the nation.

Comprised of people from different faiths or no faith, countries such as Canada can only survive if we demonstrate a degree of tolerance for one another, which requires moderation of faith-based values that would promote conflict. Happily, the people of faith described here demonstrate the needed moderation, but are perhaps naive about the negative consequences of infusing fanatic religion into politics. As demonstrated in too many countries at present, that combination leads to friction and undermines social cohesion.

Jim Clark

Winnipeg

Grin and bear it

Re: “Time and health” (Letters, Oct. 1)

After reading yet another letter decrying the switch to permanent daylight time, I feel the need to comment. For much of my work life of almost 40 years, I worked shifts — two weeks days, two weeks evenings and often two weeks midnights. Hundreds of thousands still do.

Where is the outrage about disrupted circadian rhythms for these people? What about their health and well-being? The simple fact is people adjust and life goes on.

Randy Rasmussen

Winnipeg

Walk the talk, Mr. Mayor

Re: Gillingham talks trash, pledges big bin boost (Oct. 2)

Perhaps you can call me jaded; or maybe a better word would be cynical.

I appreciate that all candidates offer promises and pledges during an election campaign. What I struggle with is when they come from an incumbent, such as Mayor Gillingham, who has had four years in office to do what is now being pledged on a go-forward basis.

Let’s clean up the city … What? Did he just wake up and see the embarrassment that is Main Street? And how about “basic customer service”? If the city has not already been providing it, what exactly has it been doing? How is it that it takes an election to “think that we have the capacity’’?

Now that I am on my horse, I absolutely agree with his statement that “(T)he way our properties look really reflects how we feel about ourselves.”

However, if he truly believes it, then residents should not have to be constantly calling or emailing 311 or their respective councillors when there are issues with both city-owned and privately-owned properties.

This is about taking responsibility and delivering on accountabilities, which includes both walking the talk and bylaw enforcement.

Debbie Ristimaki

Winnipeg

Teachers need leverage

Re: Thank Manitoba’s teachers by investing in students (Think Tank, Oct. 5)

The writer laments the lack of resources and the large class sizes that teachers face. Teachers have operated on bended knee for decades with regard to gaining meaningful change in these critical areas of learning. Teachers need a bargaining tool that will directly address these concerns. One tool Manitoba teachers do not have is the right to strike.

Along with Prince Edward Island we are the only two provinces in Canada that do not have this right.

Currently, class size and composition cannot be taken to arbitration for resolution, which is the final stage of all or any contract disputes.

The Manitoba Teachers’ Society, along with the general teaching population, has resisted pressing for the right to strike.

If teachers and students want these critical issues, class size and underfunding addressed, the right to strike is a necessity. It’s one of the best ways to bring pressure on governments to bring about significant improvement for teaching and student success.

Robert Milan

Victoria.

Rent control legislation overdue

Re: Tenants slam Alberta landlord, protest rent increases (Sept. 26)

I have to wonder how the province contends it is making headway on the housing front while an Alberta-based landlord (Wingspan Properties) is buying up apartment blocks and applying huge rental increases — adding to the affordability problem and setting the stage for more unhoused.

With rental increases ranging from 54 to 125 per cent, according to the article, some renters will no longer be able to afford their rent.

While renovations are cited as the reason for the increases (which some tenants call cosmetic), renters will have to pay exorbitant hikes before they can appeal the increases with the Residential Tenancies Branch (RTB). Increases of that magnitude could displace people as they wait for the RTB to decide on whether rents can be frozen while the “above guideline” rent increases are being challenged.

The article states the premier said the Opposition is holding up rent control legislation. The Opposition said the government has failed to introduce meaningful affordability legislation. While government and Opposition “play politics”, they might want to consider they are playing with people’s lives. Some renters could be one pay cheque away from becoming homeless. I think we can agree Winnipeg does not need more people living on the street.

Donna Minkus

Winnipeg