Letters, April 11

Opinion

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This article was published 10/04/2022 (893 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

More camping spots needed

Re: Online bookings ruin camping (Letters, April 7)

I read with great empathy Howard Doerksen’s letter recalling when spontaneous “find a spot, pay at the park” camping trips were possible, as opposed to the current requirement of making Manitoba campground reservations through a Texas company months in advance.

The fact is we no longer have enough camping facilities and parks to serve our growing population. Our parks and protected natural spaces provide much-needed physical and mental health benefits through their recreational and rejuvenating opportunities. Nonetheless, we’ve seen dramatic cuts to operational capacities and improvements.

To add insult to injury, the province’s response to the exploding visitation to our natural spaces during the pandemic saw almost no expansion to park services. And while our communities still struggle financially during COVID-19, campsite fees became three times higher at St. Ambroise Provincial Park after a private company was awarded a 21-year contract to manage what used to be a public service.

To make matters even worse, the Manitoba Protected Areas Initiative is progressing at the speed of a sloth, despite its mandate of securing adequate protection of our landscapes. Manitoba grew its parks and protected spaces by more than 20,000 square kilometres from 2010 to 2015. Since then, a meager 177 square kilometres has been added to the network.

As Manitoba’s executive director of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, I will have eager eyes on this week’s provincial budget. We’ll see if our government has heard the message from almost 2,500 Manitobans who have called on them to invest more in camping and recreation opportunities while greatly accelerating the sleepy pace of the Manitoba Protected Areas Initiative.

Ron Thiessen

Winnipeg

Rural care homes desperate

Re: Manitoba commits $15M to fight COVID in care homes (April 7).

Words fail me. Personal care homes (PCHs) don’t need another specialized level of bureaucracy and staff. They need front-line boots on the ground and operating budgets that reflect today’s realities.

If, in fact, there has not been an increase in funding for 10 years, excluding additional pandemic funding, that means that if a PCH was operating on a $5 million budget in 2012, it should be operating on a $6 million budget today. An additional $1 million in funding for a PCH is an elusive dream.

The news is full of the inflationary increases in food costs. How is a PCH supposed to address that in the face of 10-year-old budgets? I can tell you from personal experience: not well.

In some rural areas, it is impossible to find people to fully staff PCHs. And I am sorry, agency staff are not the answer. When I visit my centenarian mother once a day to assist with her meal, I see overworked and stressed nurses and a shortage of aides.

Last Tuesday night, for example, there was one nurse, who was on a double shift, and seven aides in an 80-bed PCH. A normal complement is two to three nurses and 14 to 16 aides.

More bureaucracy is not going to keep infection out of PCHs. There needs to be some out-of-the-box thinking, in particular for rural PCHs. If nothing else, reallocate the money for those nearly 300 infection control-related jobs to operating budgets for PCHs.

Unfortunately, I am not holding my breath in anticipation of great change for elder care in Tuesday’s budget.

Dawn Harris

Rural Manitoba

Budget’s hit on banks alarming

Re: Ottawa raising taxes on big banks and life insurance companies (April 8)

I used to think my money was safe in my bank but, after the Liberals’ budget, not any more. Taxing banks is ludicrous; those profits belong to Canadians who worked hard to put money away for their retirement. I am fed up with this Liberal government’s mismanagement of our economy, and not fond of the NDP either.

When are Canadians who vote for these two parties going to wake up? The scary part is we are stuck with these morons for another three years.

Wayne Neumann

Winnipeg

Open fourth-jab eligibility

Re: Stop hiding COVID-19 data (Letters, April 9)

The PC government has decided residents of Manitoba have to look after themselves when it comes to COVID-19, and now it seems Dr. Brent Roussin has thrown up his hands and come in line with the government’s thinking. I want to know why the fourth vaccination eligibility is not open to everyone who wants one.

It seems ludicrous that a working teacher cannot get a fourth jab. Is it the availability of the vaccine, or does it come down to money again?

Premier Heather Stephensen said for us to look after ourselves. Well, then, step out of the way and allow us to do it.

Will Franklin

Winnipeg

Stop whining, start helping

Re: Leave ice drains to city (Letters, March 16)

I am tired of Winnipeggers whining about sidewalk clearing, lane clearing and street drain clearing. Oh yes, and taxes going up.

Maybe if we all pitched in doing some of the aforementioned clearing ourselves, the city would get some relief. In my area, residents clear the drains in front of their home, clear the sidewalks and help out their neighbours.

Stop complaining, and pitch in for a change. The city will be busy enough picking up all the garbage left along the sidewalks and streets, with plastic bags and masks galore.

Dan Herzog

Winnipeg

Speed reductions are cash grab

Re: Four areas eyed for lower speed limits (March 31)

I see the City of Winnipeg is ready to start lowering speed limits in some areas to 30 km/h. They are even planning to spend $333,732 to implement this idea. It is being sold as a safety issue, but we all know the real reason is revenue.

If safety was the issue, we would have had flashing yellow lights in school zones a long time ago. Instead, years after being offered the flashing lights in school zones for free, the city is still dragging its feet.

They are pushing the lower limits through quickly because it will mean more tickets and more revenue from unnecessary speed reductions.

David Peter

Winnipeg

How to fight city hall

Tired of City of Winnipeg project cost overruns, delays and scandals? Tired of poor project management and risk-management practices, poor service delivery and value-for-money oversight? Tired of endless street construction delays, poor street cleaning and snow clearing, park and boulevard maintenance?

Tired of poor bus service, environmentally unsustainable waste collection and the pumping of millions of gallons of “diluted” sewage into the Red and Assiniboine rivers? Tired of never-ending internal administration and external consultant studies, reports and excuses on issues already satisfactorily dealt with in other municipal jurisdictions? Tired of non-responsive 311 service calls and city councillors who seem unable to or incapable of resolving issues facing the constituents they represent?

Solutions to many of these issues lay well at hand come the City of Winnipeg civic election on Oct. 26. First, make the effort to get out and vote. Second, do not vote for any incumbent city councillor, particularly if it is one who has already served two or more terms. They have had their chance to serve us on the big ongoing issues facing this city, and they have failed.

James Russell

Winnipeg