Keeping exes close is down to more than generosity

The Manitoba government recently held public forums to discuss regulations for Bill 51, the Public Sector Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity Governance Act. I was able to participate in the meeting in Brandon and there was also a session in Winnipeg.

I was a bit fired up, ready to rail about data centres and phone terms and conditions and generally give it to big tech. The discussion, however, was focused on what the public sector responses should be regarding cybersecurity, data and privacy protections, and AI usage in government.

With all the recent attention on social media bans, the harms of AI, misinformation and the like, I was somewhat disappointed that these would not be tackled directly in this meeting. Those issues may be discussed at future forums.

At this event, as focus groups developed responses, the discussion between private companies and public governance kept getting mixed in, pointing out the reliance of government services on private companies in running their digital operations. As government operations become more dependent on digital infrastructure and towards AI agency and control, rethinking how technology is implemented may be crucial to our democracy.

I add my voice to Erna Buffie’s Think Tank piece “Democracy is a civic election issue” (Aug. 13) by asserting that democracy is a public education issue. Put another way, this fall’s municipal and school board elections are a test of public education — educating democratic citizens who appreciate our democratic inheritance enough to take responsibility for renewing it.

Voter turnouts for elections in Canada are abysmal. Where there should be 100 per cent participation, it often approaches 50 per cent federally and provincially, 25 per cent in local elections. The explanations given seem insufficient and unsatisfying, as are the reasons given by those who decide not to bother.

Some say they feel disempowered and alienated from the political process, feeling they have no say in governmental decisions which rule their lives.

Others appear resigned to the fact that, if they were to speak, they would simply be passed over or ignored, choosing not to vote because their votes, like their voices, make no difference and count for nothing. Still others say they’re too busy or just don’t care.

Feminist activist Susana Chávez Castillo from Ciudad Juárez — who was strangled to death in 2011 — coined the phrase: “Not one woman less, not one more death.”

But murders of women and girls in Mexico have continued unabated. In fact, they have been on the rise in recent years. The lion’s share of these women are Indigenous or mixed race, poor and unskilled labourers and migrant factory workers who are viewed as worthless, subhuman and, ultimately, disposable.

In May, 23 year-old Valeria Marquez, a noted Mexican influencer, was shot and killed while livestreaming on TikTok. Days later, Yesenia Lara Gutiérrez, a candidate for mayor in Veracruz state, was also fatally shot (along with three others) as she livestreamed a campaign event.

Not surprisingly, the Mexican government does a poor job of collecting data on the precise number of women murdered every year. An undated report by Mexico’s National Institute of Statistics and Geography states that 22,482 women were murdered during the years of 2007-2016, which translates into a violent death of an adult woman or young girl every four hours.

DEAR MISS LONELYHEARTS: My girlfriend is a sweet and generous woman of 37, but the trouble is she has close ex-boyfriends she’s still friends with, and she even lends them money for stuff like car repairs. That drives me nuts. She says they always pay her back. Like that’s the point! Last night when I expressed my frustration about this, she called it petty jealousy.

Then she smiled and said her days of listening to men like me tell her what to do are long over. Ha! She’s Catholic and doesn’t even go to confession anymore, so I guess she thinks the priests are below her.

So, why do I keep hanging around this girl? Well, she’s far and away the most generous lover I’ve ever met — sometimes three times a night. You don’t meet women like her more than once in a lifetime.

How can I cope with the fact she gives too much of her self to past boyfriends and it makes me feel jealous.