Letters, Dec. 13

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/12/2022 (743 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

No simple solution

Re: Landfill pauses operations amid calls to search for slain women’s remains (Dec. 9)

I agree with Winnipeg Police Service Chief Danny Smyth that it would be too difficult to find the bodies of the women who were victims of an alleged serial killer. An expert in archaeology suggested that it would cost upwards of a million dollars to do this work and the workers would be exposed to asbestos and dangerous chemicals.

I suggest the province could provide memorial gardens near the landfills to provide a sacred space for families to visit.

It would be better to spend the million dollars on building safe, warm and sanitary housing for homeless and vulnerable people in Winnipeg.

These women were murdered because they were vulnerable. Let their memorial provide better living conditions for those who are still on the street.

Ruth Swan

Winnipeg

My source of this letter is an article from the Canadian Encyclopedia, from which I extensively quote.

“Between 1978 and 2001, at least 65 women disappeared from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Robert Picton, who operated a pig farm in nearby Port Coquitlam, was charged with murdering 26 of the women. He was convicted of six charges and sentenced to life in prison.

“The murders led to the largest serial killer investigation in Canadian history, and Picton’s farm became the largest crime scene in Canadian history. The case became a flash point in the wider issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Canada.

“In 2012, a provincial government inquiry in the case concluded that ‘blatant failures’ by police — including inept criminal investigative work, compounded by police and societal prejudice against sex trade workers and Indigenous women — led to a tragedy of epic proportions.”

In examining the pig farm, “investigators took 200,000 DNA samples and seized 600,000 exhibits. Archaeologists and forensic experts needed heavy equipment to sift through 383,000 cubic yards of soil in search of human remains. The cost of the investigation was estimated at nearly $70 million.”

As someone once said: if there is a will, there is a way.

Barry Elkin

Winnipeg

Unite the not-right?

Re: Manitoba NDP reaching out to Liberal voters as the only party that has the chance (Dec. 5)

I live in the Kirkfield Park riding and I agree with Laurel Daman. If progressive voters split their votes, instead of uniting behind the candidate with the best chance to beat the Progressive Conservative, we will likely end up with another Progressive Conservative MLA, elected by only a minority of constituents.

I have voted Liberal in federal elections, but in provincial elections the NDP candidate gets my vote. Provincially, in this community, the Liberals always end up a distant third.

As Daman said in your article, we need to come together to keep the Progressive Conservatives out and have an MLA who really cares about Kirkfield Park — someone who actually lives here! The Progressive Conservatives have held this riding for far too long, and at least two Progressive Conservative MLAs quit in the middle of a term. I’m fed up — this byelection is too important, and we can’t reward the Progressive Conservatives by throwing away votes to a third-place party.

My vote is with the NDP.

Dorothy Stephens

Winnipeg

Multifaceted approach needed

Re: Homeless, vulnerable and preyed upon: ‘it happens on the daily,’ woman says (Dec. 7)

A very complex set of problems requires multi-pronged solutions: housing, gender security, mental health and addictions concurrent counselling, guaranteed income security, financial literacy training, food budgeting, etc. These are but a few things required for multi-skilled outreach teams to ensure homelessness and violence are minimized.

Keep in mind that while there is likely more violence against women, there is such thing as violence against men (or any given gender for that matter).

David Albert Latta Newman

Winnipeg

Safer streets

Regarding “‘Not one easy solution’ amid deadly year on Winnipeg roads” (Dec. 8) with its grim news of traffic deaths in Winnipeg: while it may not be an “easy” solution, I believe a giant step in the right direction would be across-the-board lower speed limits. I was surprised the concept of “safer speeds” was not mentioned.

Other more progressive cities have gone to 30 km/h limits, and it’s a sensible approach for Winnipeg, too. Our city is flat and open, and drivers have a tendency to speed. We’ve got to slow it down to save lives.

Not only is it the most economical solution (we only need to change the signs!), I believe the city could save money, too. We wouldn’t need as much sand to help cars stop (it seems the city uses more and more every year and it’s hard on bicycle gears) and using less would be better for the environment and for cleanup in spring.

Cars and trucks have ruled the roads long enough. Let’s put the brakes on the harm they are doing, to people, and to the environment.

Sincerely,

Tim Brandt

Winnipeg

Highway traffic not a problem

Re: Reduce winter speed limits (Letters, Dec. 7)

I really wonder if Rennie Bodi has ever driven on a highway in the winter. Yes, sometimes they can be treacherous, but the majority of the time the roads are bare and in perfect condition.

As someone who drives a lot in the winter, I find them safer, as traffic is so much lighter. When conditions are “treacherous,” I find people drive to the conditions and slow down accordingly.

The last thing we need are more regulations shoved down our throats.

Ted Main

Winnipeg

Pedants hoist by their petard

Re: To err is human; to insert a terrible typo takes a journalist (Nov. 30) and Misusages badder than typos (Letters, Dec. 5)

I, too, enjoyed Jen Zoratti’s piece about embarrassing errors. As one who has shared drinks with many journalism instructors, I can verify that misspelling a name does result in an immediate failure on an assignment. Failure also results from not consulting a dictionary over questions of usage.

Oxford learner’s dictionary defines “near miss” as “a situation where an accident or disaster nearly happens”, which certainly seems to be the meaning Zoratti intended, rather than the convoluted interpretation made by Gary Hook. Hook’s letter is a clear failure.

Merriam-Webster has a clear explanation of the error on its website that should be required reading for any wanna-be pedant.

Les Hanson

Winnipeg

A little holiday fun, if you will.

Jen Zoratti’s Nov. 30 article apparently started this little back-and-forth bit of nonsense with a column in which she mentions, among other things, “near misses.” A letter then referenced that and talked about “misuses being badder than typos,” Dec. 5.

Now I see Tom Sherbrook of Gimli (“Right on target,” Letters, Dec. 8) has piled on the fun with: “A near miss” is, in fact, a miss; it is not a hit.”

He goes on: “It should also be noted that a ‘near miss’ could refer to a female in close approximation.”

Ahem. Isn’t it, “a ‘near miss’ could refer to a female in close proximity?”

LeeAnn Knutson

Winnipeg

Unbe-leaf-able prices

Why is The Leaf so expensive? Our tax dollars helped build this, but we cannot afford to go. I would like to take my 95-year-old mother for an hour, but that would cost us $30!

The old conservatory was free. I feel this is catering only to the wealthy.

Diane Poulin

Winnipeg