Letters, Sept. 15

Opinion

Don’t overlook Kirk’s views

Re: Shooting tears a new rift in the United States (Editorial, Sept. 12)

Let me be clear. I don’t condone gun or any violence nor gain any pleasure out of anyone killed, any more than I condone the views of Charlie Kirk who was just killed at his own event. We should all be horrified and sympathetic.

However, I don’t think we should disregard the fact that Kirk was strongly against gun reform and even debated it at his events, including this one. Having sympathy for this horrific killing doesn’t eliminate that fact, any more than the fact that he was also known for his incendiary, often racist and sexist, comments at his events.

In fact, he never shied away from his bigotry, racism, misogynist, supremacist, intolerant, exclusion and stereotyping, seemingly getting much satisfaction from spurring up the hate and anger on both sides of the equation. His death shouldn’t give the green light to overlook his blatant attacks and harm he has done to vulnerable people; just like we shouldn’t be denying the fact that gun violence is accelerating at an atrocious speed.

Charlie Kirk spent years on his own massive platform to many audiences, aiding and promoting an already-built empire of hate in the U.S. He’s not someone I would be glorifying and praising whether dead or alive. His death doesn’t make me change my view of him. Some may be inclined to say I’m just another who is making it political.

Yes, but taking a political stance on this doesn’t mean I don’t care about a life taken. Quite the contrary. Indeed it is political, given the continued gun violence and indeed I do care, or I wouldn’t have written this.

Darcia Albrechtsen

Winnipeg

New system doesn’t work

At the Sept. 11 public works committee meeting, Coun. Russ Wyatt said he had never before received such heated complaints about Winnipeg’s new bus system — and suggested that the city “might as well just blow it up and go back to the old plan and admit that we got it wrong.”

I share that frustration. As a fairly frequent rider, I’ve experienced the same unnecessary inconveniences. Where I once could take the No. 18 or 32 down Main Street or the No. 38 down Salter from Seven Oaks — with less than three minutes of walking to reach the University of Winnipeg — I now have a 10-minute walk and at least one transfer, no matter which buses I take.

This alone would be disruptive, but the supposed trade-off was reliability. We were told the new “spine and feeder” system would have plenty of buses running frequently and on time — especially the major spine routes. In practice, it hasn’t. On just my first few rides this month, several buses were late, including the FX2 on Main Street (a spine route) which arrived nine minutes behind schedule earlier this week.

Coun. Wyatt is right: the city needs to cut its losses, admit this system has failed, and return to the drawing board. The “small tweaks” promised for December will not fix the fundamental flaws. Winnipeg Transit must act before winter and restore a system that actually works for the people who depend on it.

Kenneth Ingram

Winnipeg

Glad to see transit changes

I like the new bus routes, and I’m glad Winnipeg Transit is making some changes.

But getting angry at Winnipeg Transit avoids the real problem: people in cars. It’s a vicious circle — Winnipeg Transit is underfunded so the service is not as good as it should be, and that means less people take the bus, and the service deteriorates further.

If more people took the bus (as they do in other cities in Canada) the service would improve. Safety would also improve.

So the next time you’re waiting too long for a bus, don’t get angry at Winnipeg Transit, get angry at the drivers zipping by who made the decision not to support better transit in our city, and that it’s OK to pollute the air and damage the environment.

Barb Hunt

Winnipeg

Community centres greatly important

Re: Proposed funding hike aims to boost community centres (Sept. 11)

I am fully in support of additional funding. I was involved in establishing a community centre during the mid ’60s together with three other couples who as parents lived in the northwest area of Winnipeg. We realized how important it was to give our young boys and girls a safe, supervised place to channel their energies.

Community centres play an important role for growing boys and girls and volunteers who help to run these facilities are very important. We experienced that in our community centre when some parents who took full advantage of the activities that were 99 per cent run by volunteers and not paid city employees, but that impression seemed to be lost on some parents.

Dora Rosenbaum

Winnipeg

No bonds for brutality

Canada’s reputation in the world has been built not merely upon our prosperity, but upon our steadfast commitment to peace, justice, and the rule of law. Over the decades, we have sought to be an honest broker — a nation that can speak to all sides, and be heard with respect.

It is in that spirit that we must address the Government of Canada’s role in facilitating the sale of foreign sovereign bonds, specifically those issued by Israel.

At present, the government of Israel stands accused before the International Criminal Court of grave breaches of international humanitarian law. While these charges remain to be adjudicated, they are of such seriousness that our continued role in hosting and promoting the sale of these bonds risks being interpreted as an endorsement of the policies and actions under scrutiny.

Canada cannot, in good conscience, appear to lend the machinery of our state to the financing of a government whose conduct is the subject of credible allegations of violating the very principles we have pledged to uphold. To do so would weaken our moral authority, compromise our ability to act as a fair mediator in the cause of peace, and place us at odds with the international rule of law to which we are bound.

This is not a question of hostility toward a people, nor of abandoning our friendships. It is a question of ensuring that our financial and political actions are consistent with our values — that we do not, even inadvertently, contribute to the perpetuation of conflict or the erosion of human rights.

Therefore, the prudent and principled course is to cease the Government of Canada’s role in hosting the sale of these bonds, while continuing to engage all parties in the search for a just and lasting peace.

In doing so, we affirm that Canada’s word, and Canada’s conscience, remain aligned. Our role in the world is not to stand idly by when the rule of law is tested, nor to confuse friendship with blind endorsement. By stepping back from hosting these sales, we do not abandon our friends; we affirm that Canada’s friendship is worth having precisely because it is anchored in justice.

Anne Thompson

Winnipeg