Letters,

This is the new abnormal

I’m sure we all have read with concern articles about “new” events we are having to deal with. Very specifically: more in number, and intensity, wildfires and the smoke that comes with them; flooding, as we have seen this summer; the hottest days on record and potential for heat domes; more tornadoes; drought conditions affecting forests, crops, even lowering the water table.

We are also informed to expect these events to happen on a regular basis — every summer!

What I take issue with is the phrase “new normal.” These events are not normal, period. They are abnormal. The word “normal” somehow implies that what is happening is all right; it is OK. That we just have to get used to them.

The use of fossil fuels has directly caused our climate (Earth’s balance) to change, full stop.

And let’s be very clear, when I say fossil fuels, it means the gasoline you put in your car, the diesel farmers use in their tractors, the natural gas and coal we use to generate electricity, the natural gas we use to heat our homes.

Saying “new normal” implies there is nothing we can do to correct what’s happening. Nothing could be further from the truth. We can take what appear to be our climate enemies — wind, water, sunlight, and use these gifts from Mother Earth to generate enough renewable energy to more than meet our energy (electricity) needs — even on our coldest nights.

What we are witnessing and directly experiencing now is not normal.

Can we now all unite and demand changes that will allow Mother Earth to heal? And thus regain the balance?

Scott Blyth

Brandon

A distinctly Canadian path forward

Re: Discretion the better part of valour (Letters, July 8)

I echo the sentiments presented therein, in particular the apt characterization of the current president of the United States and the portrayal of just how our sovereignty is threatened. I also applaud the call for calm and pragmatism.

To that end, Canada needs stable trading partners and supply lines based on mutual respect with like-minded countries. It is the way of the future; the way forward. Not an option anymore, but an increasing necessity.

Trump or no Trump, the U.S. has shown its reactionary nature, its inability and disinterest in combatting extremism within its own borders and lack of governance in following its own constitution. The opportunity for change is in the offing as it seems the U.S. is increasingly unstable.

In economic terms alone, Canada can no longer afford to hitch its wagon to a declining and critically flawed asset. What was once seen as merely obnoxious rhetoric coming out of the U.S. — the veiled threats — has become toxic and extant. Hoist the sails and move forward apace, fuelled by the winds of change to a brighter more self- reliant, self-funded and self-protected future.

As for following the recommendation of Lynn Silver, do so calmly and with pragmatism, by all means, but do so with the sense of urgency that is required.

For there is no shelter from a storm, no safe- haven from a “sociopathic adult” in the form of a president who can only be stopped by being disenfranchised from power and influence.

This all needs to be done in a distinctly Canadian way, of course.

John MacKinnon

Winnipeg

Make the rich pay

Re: Pipelines must be paid for by oil companies (July 9)

Taxpayers, please rise up and protest this misuse of our tax dollars!

Scott Forbes has laid out the facts and we are going to be the losers if we let this go ahead, financially and environmentally.

It makes me wonder how many of the power brokers of the Carney government have their hands in the pockets of the gas and oil industry to go along with this. Whether you are truly concerned about our environment or not, do not further subsidize the fossil fuel industry — the corporate welfare policy that has gone on for decades.

This is a polluting industry that harms our air, soil and water for the benefit of a few and to the detriment of the vast majority of us. For Prime Minister Mark Carney to give us the impression in the memorandum of understanding with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith that private industry would pay for it and then have a (former Goldman Sachs banker) minister of energy imply the reverse is insulting.

We know Trump is lying when he says they don’t need anything from Canada because “our” oil and gas industry is mostly owned by American companies. Want to know why there are never enough dollars to support health care? This will be an infinite money pit that takes the financial resources needed to make us an equitable society.

I urge fellow Canadians to let your MPs, the minister of energy and the prime minister know that if they continue on this path of betrayal, we will not vote for them in the next election.

Gary McGimpsey

Winnipeg

Don’t cede control

Re: Manitoba needs clean, publicly owned data centres (July 10)

Bang on. We should be investing more in publicly-owned Crown corporations, not privatizing more. Data centres will become increasingly important as we rely on AI more and more.

Do we want those profits to go out of country? Do we want our Canadian data controlled out of country?

No on both counts.

Harold Welch

Selkirk

Don’t blame employees for earnings

Re: One month nets CEO nearly $1M (July 4); Ex-CAO’s pay adds insult to injury (July 6)

I was a senior civil servant in the Manitoba government for many years. I was very well paid and there were many benefits. It is from this perspective that I write.

Of course, employer-employee arrangements have to account for specific circumstances. Therefore some remuneration packages are going to be more lucrative than others. But there must be boundaries, especially in the public sector, which is spending other people’s money, which they have no individual choice about providing.

For public sector organizations (i.e., governments, Crown corporations, agencies and authorities) to do the things they are supposed to do in an effective manner, they need the trust and support of the tax-paying public. Employer-employee remuneration arrangements seen to be excessive can, for obvious reasons, undermine this needed trust and support.

In my view, the primary responsibility for this resides with those making the remuneration offer (the employers), not with those accepting the offer (the employees).

How many of us would not accept an overly generous offer from a potential employer?

Gerald Farthing

Winnipeg

What did America expect?

Britain and the United States overthrew the government of Iran in 1953, after it nationalized its oil industry.

Iran’s nascent democracy was replaced by a monarchy under Shah Mohammad Raza Pahlavi, who ruled for 26 years with the support of his dreaded secret police, SAVAK, which was responsible for the brutal torture of thousands of Iranians.

When Iranians overthrew the Shah in 1979, America immediately armed and assisted its proxy — Iraq, led by Saddam Hussein — in an eight-year war against Iran which claimed the lives of 500,000 Iranians.

Since that time, the U.S. has imposed crippling sanctions on Iran, assassinated dozens of scientists, military and political leaders, bombed its cities and, most recently, carried out a decapitation strike which killed Ayatollah Khamenei and several members of his family.

As funeral crowds chanted “Death to the United States,” many in the collective West appeared genuinely shocked.

Historical amnesia had led them to expect a thank you card.

Mike Ward

Duncan, B.C.