7 minute read
2:01 AM CDT
Say what you’ll do
I must say that I agree with what Laura Reimer wrote (What do we elect a school trustee to do?, Think Tank, Sept. 12).
I would add, though, that school trustees and school board candidates also have a responsibility to clearly state where they stand on issues in order for people to come out and vote in school board elections.
Simply putting out very generic campaign material (“I’ll work hard on your behalf”; “I live in the area”; “education is important”; and so on …) is insufficient to generate interest or to motivate taxpayers/voters to go out and support candidate X.
Al Vigier
5 minute read
2:00 AM CDT
I run a company that builds software to read documents and fill out forms. When I look at Winnipeg, I see a lot of potential customers. I also think the city should be asking some fairly uncomfortable questions about what companies like mine are selling.
Winnipeg has spent decades building an economy that does not depend on any one industry. Insurance, agriculture, transportation, aerospace, manufacturing, government, health care. That mix has served it well. A bad year for one employer does not necessarily become a bad year for the whole city.
But there is another way to look at that economy: what people actually do when they arrive at work.
Great-West Lifeco, Wawanesa, IGM Financial and Manitoba Public Insurance are all headquartered in Winnipeg. There are provincial departments, Shared Health and businesses handling the freight moving through CentrePort. Their purposes are different. A surprising amount of their paperwork follows the same routine.