Letters,

LRT is the answer

Re: Anything seems possible now (Editorial, July 4)

The Free Press editorial is absolutely correct, traffic “did not gridlock” at the intersection of Portage and Main.

I happen to be old enough that I can remember driving across Portage and Main both before and after the underground concourse was opened. It made no practical difference.

So it is no surprise that removing the barricades would also mean no traffic change. Nobody added or removed any of the traffic lanes. Each lane could carry the same 800 cars per hour as it did before. But close just one or more of those lanes for construction and suddenly a “crisis” can occur.

Now can we please fix a more important problem: Winnipeg Transit. It is fiddling while Rome is burning.

Ottawa was exactly the same size as Winnipeg — 580,000 people — in 1984, when it started its famous BRT (bus rapid transit) freeways. Yet in only 30 years, 2015, Ottawa eventually became completely gridlocked. So it replaced its BRT with an eight-mile long LRT (light-rail transit) for $2.1 billion (of which $750 million was for a downtown, two-mile subway tunnel).

In 20 years, Winnipeg may also need to scrap its BRT out of necessity. It is much more efficient to build a light-rail train in the first place than to overbuild BRT freeways the way Ottawa did. This gives Winnipeg better options. We just have to learn from Ottawa’s mistakes.

The real problem with Transit is that Winnipeg is too fixated on spending a billion dollars to widen a mile of Kenaston Boulevard from four lanes to six lanes to do much else. For about the same cost, Calgary is looking at building a subway tunnel under its downtown to increase its transit capacity.

The fact is that historically cities tend to get congested when their population approaches half a million people. The congestion tends to happen in tandem with both cars and buses. The only cure for all of this congestion is trains. Some of the largest cities in the world have proven this fact again and again.

Winnipeg is the largest city in Canada without a proper urban train system of any type. Congestion is inexorably getting worse as the population continues to grow. Winnipeg Transit’s “master plan” is just another “something for nothing” scheme that has inevitably failed in the way such schemes usually do.

Ed Innes

Winnipeg

Discretion the better part of valour

Re: Whatever happened to Canada standing up to the U.S.? (Think Tank, July 6)

I agree with Mr. McKenna that the current situation with the Gordie Howe International Bridge is unprecedented, and I remember the situations that Mr. McKenna outlined.

There is one aspect of the current situation which is extraordinarily significant and was missing from the historic situations. As a result of that, the current situation is beyond pride, self-worth, or backbone; as Canadians have demonstrated recently, we and our prime minister have an ample supply of all three. The current situation threatens our sovereignty.

Presidents Kennedy, Reagan and Clinton did indeed try to push Prime Ministers Diefenbaker, Trudeau and Chrétien. But none of Kennedy, Reagan nor Clinton were four-year-olds, with abundant power, in the body of an ageing, completely sociopathic adult.

As difficult as it is, calm and pragmatism are the best tools our current Prime Minister has.

Lynn Silver

Winnipeg

Public service transparency required

The recent revelation that former City of Winnipeg chief administrative officer Michael Jack continued to receive substantial compensation from the city after his resignation, while simultaneously earning a salary as a provincial deputy minister, raises serious concerns about transparency and accountability in the use of taxpayer dollars.

While there may be contractual or legal explanations for these payments, taxpayers deserve more than vague references to compensation policies. Hundreds of thousands of public dollars were spent, and citizens have a right to know why these payments were made, under what agreements they were authorized, and who approved them.

The issue is not merely whether the payments were technically permissible. The larger question is whether they reflect responsible stewardship of public funds.

At a time when residents face rising property taxes, infrastructure challenges, and increasing costs of living, public confidence is undermined when government officials appear to receive benefits ordinary taxpayers could never expect.

The response from city officials so far has done little to address these concerns. Refusing to provide a clear explanation only fuels public skepticism and erodes trust in civic institutions.

With Winnipeg’s civic election approaching, candidates should be prepared to answer difficult questions about executive compensation, severance arrangements, transparency, and financial accountability. Voters deserve to know what safeguards will be implemented to prevent similar situations in the future and how elected officials intend to ensure that taxpayer dollars are managed responsibly.

Public trust is earned through openness, not silence. Winnipeg taxpayers deserve straightforward answers, and they should demand them before casting their ballots.

Yog Rahi Gupta

Winnipeg

Bread and circuses while the planet burns

Re: It’s not the weather — it’s the climate (Think Tank, July 6)

Gwynne Dyer’s article concerning climate change is scary but accurate. His articles always resonate with truthful concerns, even though they might not be headline news.

They should be, though, as our very survival hangs in the balance. Watching the news tonight, though, the big story seemed to be Trump interfering with FIFA decisions.

Talk about Nero fiddling while Rome literally burns.

Marie Carrington

Winnipeg

Inquiry calls self-serving

Re: Poilievre asks Parliament to probe B.C. ‘condo bailout’ (June 29)

To paraphrase Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre’s repeated calls for hearings and inquiries:

“To save the Conservative party the cost of paid advertising, I insist that Canadian taxpayers contribute millions of dollars to provide public platforms on which I can whine about and criticize the Liberal government.”

And here I naively thought we elected and paid MPs to debate issues in Parliament.

Jim Clark

Winnipeg

Drug crackdown makes sense

Re: Police begin massive 10-day drug sweep (June 26)

I think it is about time to crack down on public use of illegal drugs or any drugs in Winnipeg.

It has never been legal (in my lifetime) to consume alcohol in public places that are not licensed. Alcohol is a legal substance but will be confiscated and the consumer charged if they are consuming it in an undesignated place.

So, why do some think this is a bad thing to do because it forces users into hiding? Just as we don’t want our kids to see alcoholics (or anyone) drinking in our streets, we definitely do not want them to witness illicit drug use on the street.

Linda Friesen

Winnipeg