Letters, Feb. 3

Providing complete care

Re: Too many wait too long: surgeon; Joint-surgery announcement adds insult to injury (Jan. 31)

While reasonable to praise or criticize health-care based on number of joint replacements and wait times, it ignores influences on demand that exert pressure on the medical system. The aging population certainly increases demand for hip replacements.

However, hip replacements for younger people in the 40-60 age range have also increased and add to demand, not only for a first surgery but also for a second replacement later in life, in part because their greater activity can reduce the lifespan of the initial operation.

Age also influences the significance of wait times. A delay of six months is more critical for an older person lacking mobility than someone younger functioning well day-to-day, but awaiting surgery to continue athletic activity. Detailed statistics would better convey the consequences of wait times, including suffering.

Prevention also deserves attention as some risk factors, like obesity or falls in the elderly, are amenable to intervention by training or behavioural approaches. Early in life, preventable practices that restrict hip mobility in infants, like tight swaddling, increase the prevalence of hip dysplasia and joint replacement in adulthood.

In short, the “system” should address multiple influences across the lifespan that affect eventual demand for joint replacement and indeed other medical conditions, including but not solely eventual outcomes like number of operations and delays in treatment.

Jim Clark

Winnipeg

On unions

Re: ‘Let the workers choose’: union criticizes construction contract (Jan. 29)

Just because it CLACs like a duck doesn’t mean it is one. And just because the Christian Labour Association of Canada it says it’s a union…

As a result, I think CLAC’s real concern is their current members will learn what a real union is and what it should be doing for its members.

Plus Thiessen’s saying, “(This) forces workers into a relationship with the union that they didn’t necessarily choose.” is a bit rich. Over 25 per cent of their locals are the result of employer voluntary recognition. That’s when an employer agrees to let CLAC represent the employees so there is no reason to have a labour board-involved certification vote, or give the employees a choice of who will represent them or if they want to be represented at all. They have no say in the process.

For example, let’s say I own Save On Foods, and as an employer I didn’t want to have to deal with UFCW, who represent a majority of grocery store employees in Manitoba. I would just gift my employees to CLAC and prevent UFCW from organizing them so I don’t have to deal with a real union. In this scenario, UFCW gets CLAC blocked by Save On Foods and my employees get the union I choose for them. Does anyone really believe if given the choice any employer would pick a union who would stand up to them and fight for higher wages and benefits?

As far as the claim that these are overarching standardized rules governing any company wanting to bid on the contracts … if you don’t like the rules, don’t bid on the contacts. No one is forcing you to. Yet these companies still are. So even with having to pay their workers a living wage with benefits, they must still be clearing enough in profits to make it worth their while.

The floodway expansion had a similar framework called a project labour agreement in place. And the owners of the companies made the same arguments back then. The floodway came in on time and more than $35 million under budget.

Imagine if a project labour sgreement had been in place for the police headquarters. So maybe this is a good thing for anything that costs over $50 million.

Brian Spencler

Winnipeg

Aligning the market to Canadian values

If the Americans want to swing their flaccid hubris on the world stage, Canada needs to show we will stand tall against it. Shut off all American imports before 2030. Transfer the factories that build Ford, GM and Stellantis vehicles to Toyota, Honda, Kia/Hyundai and Nissan ownership. Ban imports of Ford, GM, RAM, Dodge, Jeep, Chrysler, Buick and Lincoln.

“But what about the full-size truck range?” I hear folks ask. There are many alternatives, and we have no reason to be purchasing unoptimized and inefficient vehicles in the first place. No more should we be allowing American corporations to profit off the backs of Canadians.

If the Americans want our precious metals for their defence industry, they need to first get federal approval, as well as refine and share technology on Canadian soil. If they get caught lying about the use of our precious metals, we shut the tap off. There’s plenty of other nations that we could help out.

It’s high time we stopped being America’s punching bag; hit them where it hurts, and never look back. Check their phones, personal devices, and socials at border crossings, and develop a framework that makes it easy to deny them access.

If they so much as even joke about Canada being a 51st state, or that our prime minister is a “governor”; permanent ban. No entry, don’t collect $200; turn around and go home.

Arnell Brundy

Winnipeg

Selective memory

Minneapolis residents Renée Good and Alex Pretti were fatally shot by ICE and U.S. border patrol agents. President Donald Trump called Pretti an “agitator and, perhaps, insurrectionist.” Without evidence, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller labelled him a “domestic terrorist” and a “would-be assassin.”

Notably, a frame-by-frame analysis by CNN shows that shots six, seven, eight, nine and 10 were all fired while Pretti lay incapacitated on his back.

George Orwell, author of the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, observed that “atrocities are believed in or disbelieved in solely on grounds of political predilection. Everyone believes in the atrocities of the enemy and disbelieves in those of his own side, without ever bothering to examine the evidence.”

In fact, Trump’s Department of Justice filed a motion challenging a judge’s order that barred the destruction of evidence in the Pretti case.

I strongly encourage watching the 2025 documentary Orwell: 2+2=5. The film explores Orwell’s life and applies his ideas to recent events like actions by the Trump administration, Gaza, immigration, and the treatment of the Rohingya in Myanmar. His insights are timeless.

It’s crucial to recognize that selective memories of aggression have long been used to justify state violence.

How wonderful to see that Winnipeg cyclists held a memorial ride honouring Pretti. We owe a debt of thanks to those who document, protest, and refuse to look away. Without these activists, the truth of what happened to Alex Pretti and Renée Good might never have come to light.

Terry Hansen

Grafton, Wis.