Unacceptable situation
Re: Busy signal for 911 callers during outage (May 14)
Thank you for your article. Finally we get to the bottom of this problem. The thinning out of reliable people. Where did our MTS go?
What angered us the most about the situation was that we were receiving emails from family and friends who were trying to reach us on our land line. Yes, we still have a land line because experience with cell service is not always reliable here in the southeastern portion of the province.
The message they were getting was ”The number you have dialed has been disconnected and is no longer in service. Please check the number and try your call again.” What were people to think when “trying to call again” and again? We did not have a dial tone on our land line for over a week. So what were we to think? Are land lines being phased out? This situation is unacceptable.
Luckily we use another company as our internet service provider for our emails. It is a Canadian company serving rural clients for over 30 years and has an excellent customer service in French and English 24-7.
Georges Beaudry
Dominion City
Dealing with difficult people
Re: Judge quashes Alberta separation referendum petition (May 14)
There is a joke about Canadians being too polite to have four-way stops on their streets. “ You go, no you go, no you go.” We are polite, we are patient but at some point we have to stand up and say enough is enough. The existing laws only make what these separatists are trying to accomplish illegal if they advocate for using force to carry it out.
I accept that making it illegal for an individual to publicly advocate for separation would violate their Charter rights but I also think that taking it to the next level and organizing for that purpose should be made illegal. Going to a foreign country to request support and financing to assist in separating should not only be included in the treason laws, but should be considered shameful by the rest of the country.
The whole movement reminds me of the querulous uncle at the family gathering who you only tolerate because he is your uncle and a member of your family, but again, at some point he becomes intolerable and has to be dealt with.
Stan Tataryn
Winnipeg
Churchill project means many things
Re: Churchill project not worth the risk (Think Tank, May 12)
Deveryn Ross presents a remarkably small vision for Canada’s North at precisely the moment the world is looking to Canada for critical minerals, energy, and reliable trade routes.
I write as president and CEO of the Arctic Gateway Group. The last two years have shown Canadians the status quo is no longer an option. The Port of Churchill is operating today, with growing exports, increasing freight volumes, and rising international interest from major world ports like Antwerp-Bruges, which see an opportunity in Northern Manitoba to connect Western Canadian resources to Europe.
Permafrost and icebreaking are challenges other northern nations have successfully overcome for decades. Canadians are innovative, smart, and capable. Our country already manages infrastructure across permafrost, and we have significant icebreaking expertise.
If other Arctic nations can operate rail, roads, and ports in these conditions, so can we.
Most importantly, Churchill is not just about trade. It’s about strengthening Canada’s Arctic security, diversifying our economy, and advancing Indigenous economic reconciliation through an ownership model rooted in northern and Indigenous communities.
Chris Avery
Winnipeg
Change where it needs to happen
Re: Health, social crises worsen despite NDP’s undeniable efforts to address them (May 11)
Dan Lett ends this column with a suggestion that it is time to change the change the NDP has been focused on. I disagree. The change needs to happen elsewhere to allow a stronger foundation for anything anyone wants to build to help address human suffering.
In Manitoba, along with other provinces, that means pushing back against the federal government and its position on controlled substances. Manitoba can’t afford the costs of enforcing federal laws that are the main driver of drug addiction and homelessness connected to it.
Why is it a main driver? Because people engaged in illegal activities are criminals and society does not support using resources to support criminals. And this turns every discussion on the topic of illegal drug addiction into a moral versus ethical debate. One we spend so much time on we have hardly any energy left for actual action anything on the very topics we are debating.
On top of this we have a crest of a tidal wave curling down on us in the form of an aging population of baby boomers. An unprecedented spike in the birth rate following the Second World War.
It is going to crush our healthcare system and stretch multiple social services and supports beyond what they were ever designed for. If we can’t figure out a better solution between supporting seniors and supporting those with addiction and related mental health issues before then, the weight the system can bear is going to decide for us whose lives are more valuable. Who gets the care they need and who doesn’t. Who lives and who dies. Because there won’t be room for everyone who needs care. Critical or otherwise.
Where should we start then? I’d say stop the debate and look at the reality. A clean pharmaceutical drug supply provided by the government to those dealing with addiction to cut out the street drugs and take the pressure off of first responders is a good place to start. The costs of providing replacements for street drugs weighed against the savings in the services currently needed it fighting the fallout from them should be more than enough.
The positive impacts on an addict’s life of being able to focus on anything more than just how they will get their next fix should be a major benefit to the wraparound approach to social services the NDP is implementing and also help the housing first initiative.
The time reallocated in services from publicly funded to not for profit then means they will be able to focus on the other areas Lett mentioned in his article such as mental health (which unfortunately is more often then not mistaken for something related to drug use) and those living rough not by their choice. And the time saved in our ERs and hospitals by significantly reducing the use of street drugs can’t be stressed enough.
But in order to do any of the above you have to stop seeing people as the situation they are in and start seeing them as the people we can help if we can just get over ourselves and do what needs to be done.
Fund the unpopular even if it means taking a hit in the polls, and tell the feds we aren’t decriminalizing or legalizing anything by offering a clean solution, and that it sure would be helpful if they could change the laws that do more harm than help and cost the provinces more than they can afford to enforce.
Whatever we do it can’t be the same thing we have been doing. It has to be a big swing and a big change. Because turning a blind eye isn’t an option to an issue that is everywhere you look.
Brian Spencler
Winnipeg