Unnecessary statement
I take exception to Mac Horsburgh’s statement, “There is a fine line between being pro-Palestinian and anti-Jewish.” (A fine line, March 2). This was a volatile and unnecessary statement.
I have had and still have many Jewish friends that I care deeply for. The Oct. 7, 2023 attacks on Israel were horrific and incomprehensible. This has not prevented my anguish every time I have had to read about women and children being killed in Gaza.
I believe I am pro-Jewish and pro-Palestinian, and there is no fine line or confusion for me. I can easily view displays of the atrocities these two communities have had to endure and capably wish them both peace, security and happiness.
It is time we stopped drawing lines, both in our words and in the sand.
Thank you.
Steve Oetting
Winnipeg
Apples and oranges
I am writing in response to a letter to the editor from March 2 headlined “Bus service botched” by James Gosman.
I, too, am, in Mexico on the Caribbean coast in Puerto Morelos.
Here, the public transportation, the “Colectivos,” are abundant and cheap. They stop anywhere and everywhere if a person sticks out their arm.
The difference is, as I expect in Mazatlan as well, that people don’t have cars, which means public transportation is their only way of getting around. Even people who have cars I expect would never drive them to work, because there would be nowhere to park.
Also, in Mexico the population is concentrated in a much smaller area and can be serviced more efficiently. Suburbs don’t exist. I am positive there are many other differences that transit engineers could list but in my opinion, it just isn’t fair to compare.
Nancy McQuade
Winnipeg
Breaking news
Re: Poilievre calls for deeper ties with the U.K., Australia, New Zealand during visit to London, March 4
In trying to cast off his populist image by echoing policies already undertaken by federal Liberals, Pierre Poilievre manages instead to show the same shallowness as “axe the tax,” repeated ad nauseam during his failed election bid last year. His love affair with superficial sound bites is reflected here by the naive comment that “If you’re capable of doing a heart surgery in London, England, surely you can do one in London, Ontario.”
Apparently, Poilievre is unaware that heart transplants have been done at London, Ont.’s University Hospital since the early 1980s. Indeed, the hospital is known for several firsts in Canada, including the first heart-double-lung transplant in 1983. It is also known (by me) for saving the life of my younger brother who still lives in our hometown and suffered massive damage to his heart a few years ago.
Given this level of ignorance about health care in London, Ont., Poilievre would probably be shocked to learn that open-heart surgery has been done in Winnipeg since 1959. We can all take comfort knowing that cardiac health-care in Manitoba need not wait for Poilievre to work out a pact with the U.K.
Jim Clark
Winnipeg
A leader fades
The glow and honeymoon are over for Prime Minister Mark Carney. Many others, like Lloyd Axworthy, elected Liberals and UN officials reflect my conclusion. I supported Carney during the last election and since then was impressed with his pragmatic, calm and well-reasoned approach to issues domestic and international.
However he seems to have lost his ethical compass and his integrity when it comes to both making trade deals with India and endorsing Trump’s “slaughter of the innocent” including over 100 school children in Iran. Shame on him overlooking the research supporting the claim that senior Indian officials were involved in the murder of a Sikh Canadian! Double shame regarding him being complicit by endorsement of Trump whose actions have resulted in an expanding Middle East war, with serious worldwide economic and political dangerous implications.
Yesterday I learned that the Jewish prime minister of Israel was going to start the war against the Iranian Muslims, if Trump hadn’t. How do you deal with that, Mr. Carney?
The one-time global hero has had his halo severely tarnished. I threw out my Carney sign that I had delightfully displayed at election time and waved when I cheered at his rally at the Winnipeg Convention Centre.
Carney needs to learn that principles do “trump” pragmatism.
At least the interim NDP leader has some moral backbone. If you can’t sleep with a bedmate called integrity ,then you won’t have good dreams in the night or positive policies during the day.
John Wesley Oldham
Winnipeg
Vanishing limits
On the weekend, U.S. War Secretary, Pete Hegseth, gave a speech focused on the U.S./Israel attack on Iran. In it, he articulated the current U.S. philosophy of war with these words: “No stupid rules of engagement, no nation building quagmire, no democracy building exercise, no politically correct wars. We fight to win, and we don’t waste time or lives.”
This should be a warning to all nations of the world that the U.S. will use its massive military might with no justification whatsoever, other than self interest. It will go to war because it wants to, it can, and it affords gloating rights.
And what cynical justifications it does provide is hypothetical and far from compelling, such as, “We believed they were going to strike us first.” And, “Their leaders are the most evil the world has ever seen.”
And this is said while bombing a school in Minab that killed over 200 children and collaborating with a nation that has just killed 72,000 people in Gaza.
I have often been critical of the Just War Theory for not going far enough in its moral critique of war. But in the face of the current American self-righteousness, I beg for the return of the Just War Theory.
I fear that the current war rhetoric is pulling all of us into a nihilism that breeds moral impotence. And when this happens, limits vanish, public discourse suffers, and humanity is diminished.
Harry Huebner
Winnipeg
Timely words
Re: Manitobans will continue to spring forward, fall back, March 3, by Carol Sanders and Gabrielle Piché.
Time change and health care go hand in hand!
So what you are saying is, if we don’t spring forward, we won’t have as many hours of daylight?
Just pause for a second, it should only take a second, and think about what you’re saying.
The sun will still come up, and stay up the same length of time, whether the clocks spring forward or not. Changing the time, however, does mess with people’s physical and mental health.
Premier Wab Kinew said, “We only have so many hours in a day, and we are going to spend those hours on health care.” Well, sir, consider not changing the time as a part of health care.
Now would be the time to choose to keep the clock where it is. Ontario is always an hour ahead of us, Saskatchewan is the same as right now, if we want to be at the same time as at least one province, the time is now.
Side note: I was a farmer for 18 years in Saskatchewan, I did not get up or go to bed when the clock told me to.
Susan Oakley
Sanford
I have voted NDP consistently since Premier Ed Schreyer. My next vote will go to whichever party promises to quit changing clocks twice a year.
Don Doerksen
Winnipeg