Health-care help coming

Re: NDP can’t unclog ERs without giving community care a boost (Aug.29)

Excellent article by Tom Brodbeck explaining the problems in our emergency rooms and the related bottleneck in the overall health-care system.

Several key points were made, including not enough capacity outside hospitals to move people no longer needing acute care to an alternative level of care (care homes, assisted living, home care or some other community support). This blockage results in ERs with people waiting for ward beds, and other ER attendees having long waits to see a doctor. Not acceptable. I agree wholeheartedly.

A trade and tariff take

My take on the Canada/U.S. trade negotiation breakdown is that the Americans simply overplayed their hand. They added last-minute items and wording in an effort to jam us into a one-sided deal, expecting we would avert new tariffs at any price.

Now we see the U.S. Trade Representative, (Jamieson) Greer, pleading it was Canada that came forth with new requests. It is hard to believe, given (the Trump administration’s) propensity to stretch the truth and outright lie.

Trump needs a win on a trade deal with Canada more than we do, given U.S. mid-term elections are coming up in a couple of months. Inflation in the U.S. is already higher due to increased oil prices from Trump’s war on Iran and his tariffs create additional upward price pressures.

Lake fever

Re: Lake Ontario ‘then, now and always’ (Aug. 28)

Some people are stupid and uninformed and uneducated about history, as well as lacking in empathy and respect for other cultures, especially Indigenous cultures and their rich histories.

If all of the above are true for some of the American public and for Donald Trump — then you go ahead and call it Lake America!

Use Brady methane as fuel?

Re: Plan for city to sell landfill gas backed up (Aug 25); Aren’t there other power options? (Think Tank, Aug, 26)

It strikes me that there may be a way to solve both the city’s methane problem at the Brady landfill and Manitoba Hydro’s need for affordable fuel for a gas-fired back-up generator at the same time. It might even have some environmental advantages.

Years (decades?) ago, I heard there was a study done to pipe the Brady landfill methane to the University of Manitoba to burn in its central boilers to help heat the campus. I think that at the time it was not deemed economical, due to the cost of the underground pipes that would be needed between Brady and the U of M campus.

Real investment required

Re: Condition critical (Aug. 22)

Manitoba’s hospital crisis is often blamed on the aging population, bed shortages and staffing challenges. But these are symptoms, not causes. The facts show the situation has deteriorated far beyond what demographic change alone can explain.

At the Health Sciences Centre, all 58 treatment beds are routinely full, with another dozen ambulance patients lined up in hallways under the care of a single nurse. Thirty to 40 people wait in the ER for hours — many for 10 to 20 hours — before seeing a physician because “there’s no place for them to go.” Patients are deteriorating while they wait. The 90th-percentile wait time hit 12.3 hours in June — triple pre-pandemic levels. Manitoba now has among the highest ER wait times in Canada.

Time to be resolute

Re: “Life during wartime” (Letters, Aug. 25)

Kudos to Brent Corrigan for his perfectly penned letter about how he will be responding to the Trump government’s economic war against Canada.

To support Canadian sovereignty and businesses, we should all be actively redirecting our money away from U.S. products, services and travel, and toward Canadian alternatives.

Smart to walk away

Re: Canada declines to ratify trade deal (Aug. 22)

Let the finger pointing begin!

The article states that “Canada and the U.S. were unable to put the final touches on a trade deal.”

The forgotten specialists

The Manitoba government’s recent announcement of 4,724 net new health care workers left out a profession that is critical to the health of Manitobans — clinical psychologists.

Clinical psychologists and clinical health psychology residents play an essential role in our health-care system, working alongside our physicians and allied health colleagues to provide psychological services in both mental health and behavioural health medicine to Manitobans across their lifespan.

Clinical psychologists specialize in the assessment, treatment and diagnosis of complex mental health disorders, neurodevelopmental conditions and physical health conditions. They can be found within hospitals, outpatient clinics and primary care settings throughout the province.

Foster system must be better

Re: Paralyzed foster girl has system under a microscope (Aug. 18)

Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine’s assertion that “you can’t train people not to be violent” should concern everyone who cares about the safety of children in Manitoba’s child welfare system.

Of course, no training program can guarantee that an individual will never harm a child. But framing these tragedies as the actions of a few “abominable” people risks absolving the system of its responsibility to prevent harm.

911 action essential

The latest revelations about repeated 911 service outages in Manitoba should alarm every Manitoban. When someone dials 911, they should never have to wonder whether their call will actually reach an emergency operator. Lives can depend on those few seconds.

Manitobans need answers — and, more importantly, action.

Bell Canada says its existing systems and contingency plans are designed to protect 911 service, while pointing to the transition to next-generation 911 technology by 2027 as the long-term solution.

Old-fashioned news

I scrolled through the comment section of the online news story, my eyes darting through differing opinions until I landed on one that caught my attention. I felt my shoulders tense and my breath quicken as I read the fiery thoughts of a stranger.

Surely, there must be a better way to read the news?

I thought back to the ’90s. Every morning, my mother would open the front door to retrieve the Winnipeg Free Press. I would jump at the Arts section until I found the comics and giggle while I ate my cereal. My parents absorbed the news while getting ready for their day, and eventually the newspaper found its way to the top of the paper pile in the garage. The next morning, the cycle would repeat itself.

In support of real engineering

Jerry Storie’s op-ed Take advantage of hydroelectric potential and Laura Cameron’s op-ed Lasting legacy or pining for a pipe dream, both in the Free Press Aug. 17, provide quite different perspectives on what should be done to provide reliable power to Manitoba residents in the future.

Mr. Storie advocates construction of more hydroelectric projects rather than new natural gas generated capacity to offset looming power shortages. He argues that these hydroelectric projects will benefit Manitoba for the next century, and observes there will be significant increases in the demand for electricity in upcoming years. He is not wrong in any of these observations. However, hydroelectric developments are very capital intensive and have long lead development periods. Natural gas generation can be brought on line far more quickly with less investment. And perhaps Mr. Storie’s minimization of the environmental impacts of these developments deserves more scrutiny. Any First Nations impacted by development deserve to be consulted and participate in any benefits. Having said this, Mr. Storie is a former minister responsible for Manitoba Hydro, and thus has a fairly deep understanding of the issues at hand.

Laura Cameron advocates against construction of the LNG pipeline and terminal at Churchill, citing “the technical challenges of building a pipeline over thawing permafrost; the prohibitive cost of ice-breaking tankers that move LNG through the Arctic; and a forecasted global oversupply of LNG and uncertain long-term export markets.” These would all be persuasive arguments if Ms Cameron possessed any credentials indicating an expertise in engineering or economics. She does not. The balance of Ms Cameron’s op-ed focuses on ways for Manitoba to reduce its carbon footprint while taking a few shots at the proposed LNG pipeline to B.C. Her opposition to the pipeline to Churchill is almost a Trojan horse.

Be statesmanlike, Pierre

Re: Canadians have moved on, Poilievre hasn’t (Aug. 7); Poilievre’s trade bluster a desperate bid for attention (Aug. 12)

If I were Pierre Poilievre, I wouldn’t be just thinking about becoming the next prime minister. I’d be thinking about legacy in larger terms — meaning how would I ultimately want to be remembered.

And I would want to be remembered as the politician who, even if not having achieved the ultimate goal of becoming prime minister, left the political world as a respected statesman. As such, with respect to trade and the relationship with the United States, I would be guided by the following maxim found in Tom Brodbeck’s Aug. 12 column: The goal should be to maximize Canada’s leverage while reducing its vulnerability.

Where is the love?

Re: The true costs of your pet — for everyone (Think Tank, Aug. 7)

Before I put Jerry Storie’s mean-spirited diatribe at the bottom of the cage of my precious lovebirds, Harry and Sally, they need to tell him that not only do pet birds add joy and song to a household, they also represent love for all in the pet kingdom.

Yes, pets cost money but they’re still cheaper than kids. Pets earn their keep just by being the lovable creatures they are. Even those with behaviour problems deserve our care.

Clarification

A letter to the editor in the Aug. 6 edition of the Free Press, headlined Defining context, indicated that the federal auditor-general criticized the Canadian Museum for Human Rights for having had deficiencies in managing its exhibitions, saying, “without rigorous systems and practices to ensure accuracy and balance … errors and bias could be introduced to exhibits which could adversely affect the corporation’s reputation and be costly to correct after the fact.” The report in question was done in 2017 and released publicly in 2018. At the time, the museum agreed with the findings and listed a series of steps it would take to address the issue.

ERs should be used as intended

Re: Steinbach ER under siege by frustrated Winnipeggers (Aug. 5)