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Winnipeg Free Press

Letters, Aug. 11

Opinion Budgets and belt-tightening Re: NDP's balanced-budget dreams hit by fiscal reality, June 27 and NDP, living in fiscal fantasy world, must face reality, Aug. 6 After laying out the challenges of balancing the budget anytime soon, the first opinion piece ends with the following advice: 'Being honest with Manitobans about the province's fiscal challenges is the best policy right now.' After noting that the current and projected deficits are a result of a structural imbalance, the second opinion piece states: 'You don't close a gap of that size in two years without serious belt-tightening or significant tax increases.' I couldn't agree more, we should expect the government to be honest and forthright about the fiscal challenges we are facing. And yes, let's have a discussion about how much of each — belt-tightening and tax increases — should be done to address the problem rather than kicking the can down the road and saddling future generations with excessive debt and interest payments. As a starting point, I suggest we begin with a discussion regarding the following propositions. First, the least well-off among us should not be subject to any further belt-tightening. Second, the tax decreases brought in by the former government were ill-advised, as was the decision to retain them by the current government. And as we are doing this, let's remind ourselves of the extent of child poverty and homelessness in this province, and that both the personal income tax top rate and the retail sales tax rate in Manitoba are the third-owest in the country. So yes, let us all be as honest as possible, have the discussion, and then do what needs to be and should be done. Gerald Farthing Winnipeg Emissions and disagreement There are many points to disagree with in Robert Parsons' article What do we do now regarding emissions, Aug. 7, but I will only deal with two of his statements. Parsons dismisses ground source heat pumps as an alternative to natural gas as unaffordable. He mentions community loops and neighbourhood systems as a way to implement them but quickly dismisses the idea. Not so fast, Mr. Parsons. Natural gas is primarily methane and is a potent source of greenhouse gas emissions both in its extraction and in its consumption. Heat pumps are largely benign as far as greenhouse gas production. District heating is in widespread use in European countries. What we need in Manitoba is a mandate for Manitoba Hydro to install ground source heat pumps and district heating in all new developments and to have homeowners pay it off gradually on their Hydro bills. It can be sold as a positive as it will save them money over time while benefiting the planet. Parsons likewise dismisses solar energy as a source of electricity for the province in favour of gas turbines. This argument is even more unconvincing, as it is widely known that solar energy production is now the least expensive alternative for electricity generation. Some 600 gw of solar were installed worldwide last year (Manitoba's entire capacity is about 6 gw). When combined with large scale battery storage, solar has gas beaten on all counts, particularly in friendliness to the planet. Parsons ends his opinion piece by saying that we need to be realistic and think things through. Doing what is good for our children and grandchildren is the height of thinking things through. Joe Leven Winnipeg Nuclear nightmares Re: The little-known dangers we live with, Think Tank, July 30 To accompany this very timely article and the mentioned Annie Jacobsen book Nuclear War: A Scenario would be the Eric Schlosser non-fiction book and PBS documentary of the same name Command – and Control about the real accidental explosive self-destruction in September 1980 of a Titan 2 missile and its silo in Arkansas and the subsequent search for the nuclear warhead (found in a ditch unexploded), and the 700-1,000 known accidents since. And the 1957 fiction book On the Beach by Nevil Shute about MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) by accident (made into a movie of the same name starring Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner) foretelling the possible self-annihilation of the human race well before the real 16-28 Oct. 1962 Kennedy/ Kruschev Cuban Missile Crisis nuclear standoff. Only a matter of time before hubris gets us all, and remember that the Orange Menace now has the nuclear codes, as do Netanyahu and Putin (with International Criminal Court warrants out for their arrest), and North Korea, Pakistan and India; all involved in wars and standoffs as we speak. The Sword of Damocles. Andy Maxwell Winnipeg Respecting elders The editorial Seniors deserve decent care home food, Aug. 7, builds on John Longhurst's article Driven by faith, frustrated by funding, which was on the front page on Aug. 5. Both articles have a common theme. In the world of 'trickle down funding,' not much money is trickling down from the regional health authorities to the folks who are trying to make ends meet operating personal care homes (PCHs). Our provincial government was elected to fix health care. There have been no notable improvements and some areas are likely worse than before. Meanwhile, the health authorities are shorting the funding of elder care to fund other areas, meaning that they are driving the one area of health care that was sort of functioning into a desperate situation. In John Longhurst's article, there is much discussion on the trade-offs that faith-based PCH's make in providing decent food to those in their care. Just imagine the choices that are being made in the for-profit PCH's, where return on investment is the guiding principle! Many families visit loved ones regularly to help in feeding, to provide companionship and in some cases help with care. This is laudable but it shouldn't be the de facto fallback to adequate funding. Some families due to geography or other limitations cannot do this. Who feeds them? Who makes sure they get their meds? Who makes sure that their undergarments are clean? Wab Kinew comes from a culture with a tradition of respecting its elders. It's time to walk the walk, Premier Kinew. Tom Pearson Winnipeg Doing something Another article in the Free Press again chronicles choking smoke in Manitoba and across Canada. Given that, according to the current U.S. administration, climate change is a hoax, we're not likely to see the reduction of vehicle speed limits on their highways as we did during the oil 'crisis' of the 1997's. Canada and much of the rest of the world are on board with the idea that something needs to be done about climate change. The lack of infrastructure for electric vehicles and the high cost of their purchase makes the shift to electric cars a challenge and yes, there are some issues related to the batteries that power them. That said, every driver on every highway is capable of reducing their speed to the 90 km/h that we maintained when we were so concerned about running out of oil. Running out of oil is one thing. Running out of time is a much bigger problem. George Bednarczyk Winnipeg