Time to press leaders to act quickly

Winnipeg Free Press

3 days ago

Opinion
When I first sat down to write this, the Air Quality Index (AQI) was 259. Think of the most polluted place anywhere in the world, and we were worse. Even Toronto was less than half.
Looking at a world literally on fire, I have to confess that my first thought was not 'let's build a pipeline.' Nor to spend money on any other project that supports fossil fuel consumption (and thus adds to the fire). No doubt this is one of many reasons why I am not prime minister of Canada, or premier of Manitoba, or mayor of Winnipeg.
Apparently, taking the oath of office somehow erodes your ecological understanding (or, in Mark Carney's case, his 'values'), blinding you to common-sense reasoning about the state of the Earth and its creatures. Nor does even the fate of your own children and grandchildren seem to matter any more. Because of the foolish choices made by politicians, those young people will soon have to live in a world where AQI 259 is the norm.
Going forward, our two seasons in Manitoba will not be winter and construction, but winter and smoke. The vast northern boreal forests will continue to burn as long as there is dry wood and a spark – warming winters, hotter summers, increasing drought and lightning create a perfect (fire) storm.
Now, because Premier Wab Kinew offered a pipeline to Churchill as a good idea for northern Manitoba, he has apparently been called a 'climate change denier,' prompting others to rise to his defence. He has also eagerly lined up with the federal government, whose 'big ideas' always seem to mean more pipelines, cross-country to Alberta, and little else.
There is no point to me slinging mud here, however. I would just say that climate change denial is, as climate change denial does.
Two years into his term – halfway to the next election – Kinew has (incredibly) made ecological action even less of a priority than former PC premier Brian Pallister. Granted, much of what Pallister attempted was pointless, even perverse. But however laughable that 2017 'Climate and Green Plan' was, in all its multi-pillared splendor, Kinew has not even attempted anything better on his own.
So, I hope Kinew will be honest, talking to the climate refugees from our north, telling them that he has done (and intends to do) nothing to change their situation. They will likely be back, again and again, until they give up and just stay in the south.
While Kinew and his crew are more politically savvy than their predecessors in government (not a high bar to clear!), there are still limits to how far they can go on a smile and shoeshine. Along with ecological inaction, critical issues in health care remain much as they were, and new concerns have come to light.
It took a Free Press article to expose the shocking fact that personal care homes are receiving the same budgets for feeding their residents now as they did in 2009. Where are the whistle-blowers? Or do we, as a society, value our elders so little, that no one objected?
There always seems to be money for road construction, or sports events, or local hoorah of some kind, to distract voters from the important issues. 'Bread and circuses' (panem et circenses) has been a political maxim since ancient Rome – feed and distract the masses, and you can do what you want the rest of the time. Except, here in Manitoba, our leaders seem to think they need more bread than our elders.
Wednesdays
A weekly dispatch from the head of the Free Press newsroom.
I looked up the difference between MLA salaries in 2009 and 2025. They are receiving more than 20 per cent higher base salary today. To quickly solve the problem, I think we should roll back their salaries (and those of senior management in the WHRA and Shared Health) to 2009 levels. Then, take that extra money to improve the food at personal care homes, until our political leaders can figure out another way to pay the bill.
Looking at Winnipeg, Mayor Scott Gillingham was elected, it seems, by those who wanted nothing much to change. He has delivered on that expectation, but in a world on fire, doing nothing is almost as bad as starting another one. We could be working toward an accessible, climate resilient and sustainable city, but that would require foresight totally missing right now in City Hall, which is myopically focused on wasting money we don't have on yet more road construction.
From the first shovel to its opening, the Winnipeg Floodway took six years and was bigger than the Suez Canal. Want a big project? How about one that has been talked about for too long? Move the rail lines outside the city, put in an LRT and rework transit to provide electric bus service to neighbourhoods. The local economy would boom, emissions from transportation would plummet, quality of life for everyone would improve – and so would the air.
Do it in six years. Or less.
Peter Denton writes from his floodway-protected home in rural Manitoba.