Letters, Aug. 28

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.

I wonder now if Manitoba Hydro has considered building a methane-fired generating station adjacent to (or on) the Brady site to use that freely available, locally-sourced methane as fuel for its supplemental electrical production, rather than using Alberta’s natural gas in Brandon.

Just a thought.

Bob Martin

Winnipeg

Election reform to help health care

Re: “Real investment required” (Letters, Aug. 27)

“Real investment required” is a misleading title.

A better title is “Winner-takes-all elections fail to bring politicians together to build consensus on common ground.”

Health-care fixes will not survive a winner-takes-all election that gives winner-takes-all wrecking-ball power.

Both governing parties reject electoral reforms that take away their short-sighted, short-term, winner-takes-all power.

As Manitobans, without a vote that counts, we merely foot the bill for the rebuilding and destroying of our health-care system through election cycles.

Our politicians choose their political self-interest over finding enduring consensus on health care. A vote that counts would bring them together on common ground. Instead, winner-takes-all toxicity prevails in our legislature and politics.

Winner-takes-all elections sideline and ignore voters so politicians can act with impunity, breaking and rebuilding health care.

Sheri Oberman

Winnipeg

Better cycling infrastructure would help

Re: Man hit by e-scooter faces long recovery (Aug. 25)

As a longtime Blue Bomber season-ticket holder, my heart goes out to the individual who was badly hurt (last month) in a collision with an e-scooter. Much has been made recently and no doubt will be in the future about the need to regulate this technology, which has validity.

However, as a person who cycles to almost every Bomber game, I must also point out the City of Winnipeg’s horrendous mismanagement of the cycling and pedestrian experience on the way to Blue Bomber games.

For years now, bike rides to games have been a confusing, frustrating, and often dangerous experience. Each game brings unwelcome new surprises. Long-standing bike routes are closed without notice or warnings up-trail; bike paths are patchy and incomplete, ending abruptly in ditches and gravel pits; existing bike paths are shuttered for construction randomly, with no detours.

Accordingly, cyclists, scooters and pedestrians are crammed onto narrow sidewalks as thousands try to arrive and leave simultaneously.

None of this is the fault of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. The club’s investments in things like the bike valet service (and the volunteers who make it a reality) have made the game-day experience fast and convenient — when you are at Princess Auto Stadium.

Sadly, in spite of Bomber games being one of the most popular cycling destinations for Winnipeggers, many are put in grave danger and turned off — to say nothing of the folks on foot who are put in danger.

This is all made more frustrating by the fact the people who choose to walk and cycle (and take transit) to games are a vital ingredient to making game day a success, preventing an even more serious traffic nightmare.

It’s long past time for the City of Winnipeg to get its act together and provide the basic separated paths, infrastructure and, when necessary, properly marked detours — to keep everybody safe.

Ryan Palmquist

Winnipeg

Share the band

Thank you to the two rows of folks from Winnipeg behind us at the Guess Who concert in Victoria on Aug. 25. You knew all the words and danced when the reserved folks of Victoria held back … thereby “allowing” me to get up.

What a hoot! Clearly you’re proud of your homegrown rockers. Come back any time!

Maureen Jackson

Victoria, B.C.

Warm welcome warranted

Re: Blue Bombers give would-be boo birds marching orders (Aug. 26)

Of course we should be angry at Donald Trump for destroying what has been a friendship between two nations that was the envy of the world, but to boo university students in a marching band from North Dakota is going too far.

If we used the metric of booing anyone who we think voted for an unpopular leader, Western Canadians should boo the citizens of Ontario and Quebec, who always get to decide on who our next prime minister will be.

Look carefully and you might see how interconnected we really are with our U.S. friends.

In my case, my American grandfather and father-in-law both moved to Canada to raise families. Our granddaughter married a young man from Fargo this summer. Several of our friends are married to Americans who relocated to Canada. Our favourite sports teams, the Bombers, Jets and the Goldeyes, have a mix of Canadian and American players. Should we boo Zach Collaros, Willie Jefferson or Kyle Connor for being American?

Let’s give the University of North Dakota’s marching band a roaring Canadian welcome and show them that we checked our politics at the door.

They will take that wonderful experience back home with them and share it with friends and family … the experience of how a classy nation behaves, despite the seeds of discontent being sown by their president.

Wally Barton

Winnipeg

An American apology

As a U.S. citizen, I’d like to apologize for Donald Trump. I never voted for him. He is everything I find utterly repugnant in a human being. He has become an embarrassment to this country. From what I see on the CBC, it has become clear that Trump has caused a great deal of animosity among Canadians toward the United States. For that I am truly remorseful.

I love Canada and the Canadian people. I’ve visited your magnificent country many times, and I hope to be back in October. And if I identify myself as a U.S. citizen, please don’t hold it against me. I’m embarrassed enough as it is.

Charles H. Anziulewicz

Charleston, W.Va.

Gimli’s hidden gem

Re: Corner store cornerstone (Aug. 24)

Thank you to Aaron Epp for his article about H.P. Tergesen & Sons General Market, our hidden gem. I shopped there many times when I needed something made in Canada, locally unique and different.

I wish to bring special attention to the number of children’s books I would find in the store (usually by Manitoba/Canadian authors), which Mr. Epp did not mention in his article. Hopefully, Tergesen is still continuing this important department.

Dora Rosenbaum

Winnipeg