Letters, Oct. 5

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/10/2022 (814 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

What work is worth $634,301?

Re: Dr. Brent Roussin rewarded with 47 per cent raise during pandemic (Oct. 4)

Manitoba’s chief public health officer, Dr. Brent Roussin, earned $634,301 between April 2021 and March 2022, and apparently he had time to also work at a clinic where he earned an additional $220,626. That means he earned $854,927?

These figures are far beyond my comprehension. What do you do with that kind of money?

Although I was initially impressed with Roussin’s handling of the media and all, I cannot comprehend how one has that kind of job and still has time and energy to earn another $220,626 on the side.

We now know at least one of the recipients of the money former premier Brian Pallister saved during the slashing of health care.

It crushes me when I see something like that and I know people who cannot get on social assistance. I need help but cannot find it, maybe because, as the story also reports, the previous provincial psychiatrist earned $893,863 so there is not enough money for mental-health services.

Val Kellberg
Winnipeg

 

Dr. Brent Roussin is paid $634,301. The lowest salary for a Winnipeg Jets player is $750,000. Who is overpaid?

Allan Jakilazek
Winnipeg

 

Re: Woman with ALS chose assisted suicide after failure to get more home care from province (Oct. 4)

How ironic that on the front page of Tuesday’s Free Press are two stories, one of an unfortunate Manitoba woman who was forced to take her own life because the heartless PC government would not provide more than $2,300 biweekly for her home care, and the other of Dr. Brent Roussin pulling in $634,301 in the last year for his role in “guiding” Manitoba through the pandemic.

Of course, we all know that as the pandemic wore on, Roussin did less and less, ultimately backing off completely and letting Manitobans sink or swim on their own.

Joe Leven
Winnipeg

 

‘Unmarked graves’ unproven

Re: Mayor proud of work on reconciliation, human rights (Sept. 30)

Mayor Brian Bowman stated the “unmarked graves” of residential school children have been found at the site of former Indian Residential Schools.

We have followed since its inception these allegations of residential school children buried outside the schools. To our knowledge, not one body has yet been exhumed, let alone truthfully proven to have been a residential school attendee.

We would very much appreciate knowing where Bowman got this information that we have not been able to locate. Also, would it not be prudent for the Winnipeg Free Press to check the validity and truthfulness of statements made by politicians before printing them?

Al Perin
Winnipeg

 

Ease liquor-store security

Re: Liquor buyers deserve better (Letters, Oct. 3)

I totally agree with Karen Zoppa’s opinion that security procedures at Manitoba Liquor Marts, where customers are required to line up and produce identification, are “an overbearing program that penalizes honest customers.”

It is time for the MLL to stop this ridiculous requirement for a single line and photo identification in order to be able to buy liquor.

I am well known at my MLL store and should not be treated like criminal. A little help at the checkout would also be appreciated.

Bruno Zimmer
Winnipeg

 

As Karen Zoppa correctly points out, the extraordinarily high percentage of regular honest customers are being subjected to unnecessary delays and a demeaning identification process because of the actions of a few thugs in the past year or two. Surely there are better ways than this for the liquor commission to protect its stock and its employees, such as, for example, enhanced physical or other controls.

Randy MacPherson
Winnipeg

 

Extreme weather is warning

Re: Going green has high cost (Letters, Oct. 3)

Writing from Copenhagen, Peter Kaufmann notes Denmark consumers are paying high costs for that country’s “green” measures on energy pricing, such as $2.80-a-litre gasoline.

How incredibly tone deaf. What was he thinking when he wrote “our way of life may be at stake” if we implement more efforts to create a green economy?

Was he thinking of the 68 people who died, the millions of people living with hardships, the, 2.6 million homes and businesses without electricity, or the tens of billions of dollars it will cost to clean up after hurricane Ian tore through Florida and other areas last week?

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called it a 500-year flood event. Hardly.

Given Kaufmann’s concerns for our current economy, we better get used to a lot more of these exceptional weather events.

Brent Corrigan
Winnipeg

 

Lions Place essential to many

Re: Affordable seniors’ housing must be priority (Opinion, Sept. 29)

Lions Club members have been involved with worthy Winnipeg projects for more than 100 years, such as the Institute for the Blind, Seeing Eye Dog program and Lions Housing. While their membership has been reduced in recent years, these programs are forefront. My parents were members for 49 years and involved in fundraising.

My late dad, Jim McFee, a chartered accountant, was the financial adviser in the building of the Lions Manor on Sherbrook Street in about 1962-63, when the club secured government-subsidized funding to aid seniors in the area. Many seniors were living in a variety of residences with poor dietary methods and no proper medications available. They were alone in their plight with little or no income.

Canvassing of the neighbourhood brought many applicants for the “umbrella” of the new social housing. Many wanted to remain in smaller houses, which were obtained and refurbished to meet these needs. But citywide interest occurred and soon Lions Place was planned and built to accommodate hundreds of people. The tower was added to the Lions Manor to care for “special needs” of some individuals.

What happens now with government subsidies cut and the building in need of upkeep? Will a private developer demand removal of residents to places unknown? Will higher rents take all their income?

Somehow, this madness of “profit” must stop.

Harry F. McFee
Winnipeg

 

Rebuild teepees elsewhere

Re: Police halt attempt to expand legislature encampment (Oct. 4)

Kudos to whoever ordered Winnipeg police to stop the construction of a third teepee in front of our Manitoba legislature.

My only question: why did they not finish the job and remove the two existing illegal teepees while they were at it? Weren’t these structures ordered removed months ago?

To continue to allow these unlawful teepees to stand on our legislative grounds is an affront to the large majority of Manitobans who want our province to provide us with law and order which is equal for all.

As a conciliatory gesture to the Indigenous groups involved in this encampment, I suggest the teepees be dismantled and rebuilt in another spot which is mutually acceptable to everyone.

Of course, that would mean there would need to be give and take on both sides, which in these times is much easier said than done.

Cal Paul
Winnipeg

 

Surveying Lake Agassiz

Re: Lake Agassiz’s muddy legacy (Oct. 3)

J.H. Campbell’s letter regarding road construction comparisons does a fine job of enlightening us as to why we can expect worse roads in Manitoba than in North Dakota, as our roadways are constructed on the soft base of prehistoric Lake Agassiz. The most interesting inference that can be made from his line of thought is that the edge of Lake Agassiz coincides exactly with the U.S.-Canada border.

Who knew?

Peter G. Hiebert
Winnipeg