Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - December 22, 2007, Winnipeg, Manitoba Cheese Fondue in India re East indians ill serve dec. 20. I understand Bavy Gills disappointment but perhaps she will agree that it would be equally since she talks about Equality difficult for me a Swiss citizen to plan a wedding in a mid sized town in India Complete with cheese Fondue and of course with cowbells and yodelling in the background. Daniel Metraux Boston thin on information re you Are where you eat study show dec. 19. The article about the University of Albertas obesity map like the map itself is thin on information about the eating habits of canadians and other lifestyle factors that contribute to healthy weights. The average household in Canada spends just $ 11.27 per week at a Quick service restaurant or less than eight per cent of the family is food budget according to statistics Canada. That $ 11.27 could go towards a Coffee a soup and salad a slice of pizza or any one of the wide Range of menu choices that Quick service restaurants offer to meet the dietary needs and preferences of their customers. The causes of obesity Are Multi faceted and Complex. Simplistic studies that dish out a dubious but headline grabbing correlation while at the same time cautioning that no conclusions can be drawn from the correlation do Little to Advance the Issue. Jill Holroyd Canadian restaurant and Foo services association Toronto bad for environment re Mcfadyen will tour province to Stop Power line dec. 18. Provincial opposition Leader Hugh Mcfadyen opposes the plan to build the dipole Iii transmission line Down the provinces Western flank favouring the cheaper plan to build it on the East Side of Lake Winnipeg claiming it is the More responsible option and will leave a legacy of a better province not a province saddled in debt. What Mcfadyen fails to account for is the Long term environmental and by Extension economic damage the line will cause if it is allowed to Cut through Manitoba ass on of a kind 100,000 Square Kilometre boreal Forest located on the East Side of Lake Winnipeg. Mcfad yens heart is in the right place to protect the future of Manitoba hers just not thinking far enough into the future. Tim Hoover Winnipeg protect biological diversity i am sincerely alarmed by the apparent Lack of concern for environmental issues shown by Hugh Mcfadyen in Manitoba. Has Mcfadyen turned a Blind Eye to the destruction of natural areas around the world while we have the Means to still protect some areas from Over Hunting forestry practices mining the damage of recreational activities and other industries that opening that area up would entail. This is not pandering to american and Canadian environmental lobbies by avoiding Eastern Manitoba. This is being responsible for our future and allowing Manitoban and canadians in general have something to be proud of. He says so i think its up to our generation those younger than us to fight to ensure that the legacy thatus left to us is a legacy of a better province not a province saddled in debt. A better province in the future is not measured by Money alone. What about biological diversity mature forests that support the threatened Woodland Caribou Pristine wilderness when the majority of the boreal Forest is currently or in the process of being used for Industry. As a member of the demographic that could be labelled As the future of this province a future without these natural wonders looks rather Bleak. Mcfadyen is getting out of touch with the younger generations Point of View where issues like the environment Are valued highly. Mcfad yens time and Money would be better spent promoting alternative forms of Energy such As solar or wind and Public education to reduce our Energy consumption rather than focusing solely on Money and debt. He might also reconsider his costly trip around Manitoba to promote his environmental hazardous ideas if debt is such an Issue for him. I encourage Mcfadyen to reconsider his priorities and Start thinking about the future in terms of More than Money. Jaimee Dupont Winnipeg thread in football Field Banff National Park is a designated Enesco world heritage site along with 851 other properties so it is not exactly an exclusive club. Banff has several roads including a four Lane Highway Power transmission lines and a transcontinental railway running through it. It also has a Large and Busy town. The East Side of Lake Winnipeg could have a transmission line and a Road to give a few isolated communities a bit More Independence and self sufficiency. Insofar As environmental impacts think of a thread on a football Field. And Gary doer where is the objective study comparing the environmental and socioeconomic impacts and benefits of the East Side versus West Side options in my experience this is the proper Way that important decisions Are made. Robert Foster Winnipeg Winnipeg ugly Boring i agree with much that Nicholas Hirst writes in his piece Winnipeg lacks heart a dec. 20. As they say there Are lies damned lies and statistics. These recent positive statistics in the Economy and immigration dont show any real Progress since nothing has really changed. Winnipeg is still an ugly Boring and a walkable City Manitoba is an overtaxed province that is difficult to invest in. If Manitoban want More than ephemeral positive signs then changes some of which will be unpopular Are in order. Hirst then offers a wish list of improvements though it unfortunately comes across As a desperate plea falling on deaf ears. The importance of revitalizing downtown Winnipeg and providing incentives for development have been discussed for Well Over a decade and frankly its really sad that were still talking about them in the future tense. Heres my advice Nicholas dont waste your Ink trying to convince people like Gary doer hers already had two full terms to do something. Hell gladly support Glamour projects like the its Centre but when it comes to real change like the ones you have suggested you can forget about it. Who will i dont think youll find anyone at City Hall or at the legislature who will. You might have to go looking in another province. Hopefully Manitoba can prove me wrong. But ism sceptical. Lee Haber Montreal surveillance cameras work i would like to congratulate the Winnipeg police service for the Quick capture of the alleged sexual predator in the Alexander Arlington area with the Aid of a surveillance camera or two. I seem to recall several years ago that when the police were lobbying to have some of these cameras installed in the Osborne Village area to keep an Eye on drug dealings that were purported to being done that quite a few people were up in arms about invasion of privacy. Some of these people i also seem to remember were members of City Council. I wonder if these people have had a change of heart. Larry d. Klassen Winnipeg Stop the bandwagon c Ity coun. Justin Swan Del has become the latest rider on the ban the bag bandwagon. Or. Swan dells motion presented to City Council on wednesday seeks ways to eliminate the plastic shopping bag. That Means the Issue is headed now to the Public works committee which should sidestep the a word measure the potential unintended consequences of enforced elimination of plastic shopping bags and look to the possibilities that education and technology hold. If City Hall were to ban plastic shopping bags the Likely alternative is paper. Some Consumers might be sufficiently organized and eco conscious enough to remember to always have a cloth bag on hand. Others need no ban and have already adopted a practice of bringing plastic bins on regular grocery trips. But most everyone has had to nip into a store on the Way Home from work or while out on an errand to grab a couple of items. And if one of those items is fresh meat As pointed out by one conservationist plastic undoubtedly is the bag of Choice. Plastic is popular because it is Light and durable. It is also reusable which Means Many households do not have to buy plastic garbage bags they ave got lots already. Further retailers and manufacturers claim that replacing plastic with paper carries greater environmental costs chewing up Trees and expending More Energy in the paper manufacturing process. Surely Felling forests for consumer convenience has fallen out of favour. There is Good reason to look at Means of reducing the use of the ubiquitous shopping bag. As pressure mounts on the bag Industry and retailers the investment in and Market for new generations of biodegradable and compos Tible plastic expands. One manufacturer claims that after being buried its biodegradable bags rot much faster than the first generation of Bio bags which did not break Down completely scattering Little plastic pieces of itself and break Down into organic Carbon injected by Micro organisms. Once such bag is said to be made out of cornstarch from non Gmo Corn. Which is not to say that our future is in plastics but merely to note that ingenuity can produce a better solution. Or. Swan Del is fed up with plastic bags because a stretch of his Ward includes a piece of Waverley Street where plastic bags and other detritus blow about with abandon littering the sides of the Road. Plastic bags Are an eyesore. Replacing plastic with paper does not make for a cure for litter and May be worse for the environment. What the Public works committee should do is what conservation minister Stan Struthers committed to do when being hounded by the bandwagon ers take a Good look at the alternatives which include Public education and working with Industry and retailers to promote reduction. Gem in the rough Birks jewellers the venerable dealer in precious stones and wares is about to abandon the apparent safety and Comfort of Polo Park shopping Centre for the seeming uncertainty and ambiguity of life in downtown Winnipeg. In some ways the company is decision underscores one of the myths about the downtown namely that it is a land of Opportunity waiting to be discovered while contradicting the other popular Shibboleth that it is a Barren wasteland of crime and desolation a place to be avoided at All costs. In fact like All myths there is truth and falsehood in both views of Winnipeg Gas proud but beleaguered downtown. In some respects Birks never seemed at Home in an Ordinary shopping Centre because its goods Appeal mainly to those with the deepest pockets. But then Winnipeg does not have a Rodeo drive shopping District like los Angeles so where else could it go the company settled on a heritage building at the Corner of Lombard Avenue and main Street Kitty Corner from the three main office towers at Portage and main. With hundreds of Well heeled executives As Neighbours and High end guests from the Fairmont hotel to Bank on it seems like the Ideal spot. The Birks move signals that the City and its development Agency Centre venture should consider a strategy to attract destination shops to the downtown. Destination stores Are retail outlets that offer such unique products and services that it really does not matter where they locate traffic will follow. Toad Hall the wonderful toy store in the Exchange District and Mountain equipment Coop on Portage Avenue Are Good examples of the build it and they will come Power of destination stores. Whats needed of course is a critical mass of such shops not a scattering of them. Birks decision to open a store in the downtown is an important Symbol at a time when the area is suffering from a series of bad headlines. For example the trendy Empire cabaret just across the Street from Birks new Home was forced to close its doors last november because of a series of violent crimes. The incidents tended to exaggerate the crime problem but they nonetheless captured the attention of Many people who claim they Are afraid to travel in the downtown at night. Perception As they say is reality. Downtown Winnipeg is not a land of milk and Honey but it has the ingredients to be much More successful and appealing than it is. Nor is the area a cesspool of violence although crime does happen As it does in downtown everywhere. There is value in the downtown. It just has to be discovered. Bob Cox / publisher Margo Goodhand / editor Patrick Flynn / Deputy editor Winnipeg free press est 1872 / Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 vol 136 no 43 � 2007 Winnipeg free press a division of up Canadian newspapers limited partnership published seven Days a week at 1355 Mountain Avenue Winnipeg Manitoba r2x 3b6, pm 697 7000 a member of the Manitoba press Council the free press welcomes letters from readers. They must include the authors name address and Telephone number. Letters May be edited. Letters to the editor 1355 Mountain Avenue Winnipeg r2x 3b6. Fax 697 7412. E mail letters free press. My. Ca letters represent the opinions of their writers and do not reflect the opinions of the Winnipeg free press or its staff. H ave y our s a Winnipeg free press poll to Days question vote online at wow. Winnipeg repress. Com yes 85% / no 15% / total 823 previous question Are you willing to Trade a Greener Lawn for should Manitoba follow que Becks Lead a cleaner Lake Winnipeg and make Snow tires mandatory Freedom of Trade Liberty of religion e editorials Equality of civil rights a 14 w Winnipeg f ree p rests saturday december 22, 2007 comment editor Gerald flood 697 7269 Gerald. Flood free press. My. Ca Winnipeg repress. Com stupid stupid stupid regarding the three panel picture of the extended cab four wheel drive truck breaking through the ice dec 19. Your caption reads Down Down gone. I believe you missed the Point entirely. The caption should have read stupid stupid stupid. One must ask what is a grown person thinking in driving a vehicle with an estimated curb weight of 2,436 kilograms onto newly minted ice any school aged child knows its not Safe to walk on this ice let alone drive an oversized truck. One can Only Hope Pic is not subsidizing this Type of irresponsible behaviour by providing insurance. Lets Hope theress a stupidity clause Michael Bennett Winnipeg letter of the Day submitted photo ;