Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - July 25, 2013, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A13 V ANCOUVER - Popular depictions of seniors, of whom I am one, often fail to reflect dramatically changing demographic and economic realities. Seniors are portrayed as surviving on fixed incomes with shrinking purchasing power, living in poorly heated apartments and eating endless macaroni and cheese dinners, sometimes without the cheese. While this portrayal of a vulnerable population captures the unfortunate circumstances of too many seniors, it also masks a very different larger reality. Yes, seniors have relatively low incomes, but income should not be confused with wealth. Seniors who are mortgage free, who own their own homes, vehicles and in some cases vacation properties, are doing just fine. Nor are their incomes necessarily fixed. Today's seniors, but likely not tomorrow's seniors, often enjoy private and public pensions indexed to the cost of living. Moreover, potentially higher interest rates will play out quite differently among those with no mortgages and substantial investments than they will among their younger compatriots. The mismatch between cultural portrayals and economic reality has important political consequences. It allows seniors to wrap themselves in the flag of outdated stereotypes while obscuring their substantial political clout. And, when it comes to resources, seniors are well- equipped to defend their interests in the political arena. They have the numbers, money, contacts, professional expertise and time needed for political engagement. They also vote at a much higher rate than do younger Canadians who are preoccupied employment and family concerns. Although the political warriors of our time are commonly portrayed as 20- somethings immersed in the new world of social media, they are no match for the grandmother on the beach in Mexico, armed with the latest tablet ( electronic, not medicinal), ample disposable wealth to support her causes, 850 friends on Facebook and the email addresses of federal, provincial and municipal leaders at the ready on her phone. To use a phrase currently in vogue, today's pensioner is not your mother's pensioner. Thus, while political leaders appear to worry incessantly about how to attract the elusive youth vote, they are always looking over their shoulder at the larger and more easily mobilized grey electorate. Lingering cultural portrayals of seniors from previous times make it difficult for younger generations to press the argument that if there is truly a generation at risk, it is their generation that needs all the help it can get. Youth who are audacious enough to promote their own interests, who are struggling with the challenges of young families, a difficult housing market and a very uncertain economy are dismissed as unappreciative and ungrateful. As the senior population grows, as the infamous baby boomers begin to queue up for public benefits, we need to re- examine the financial benefits we confer too often on no longer poor pensioners. My concern here is not with the myriad benefits that accrue to seniors from the private sector - everything from reduced movies tickets and discounts at the neighbourhood liquor store to early- bird specials at restaurants. Private companies should do what they want to pursue customers, although it is interesting to note seniors are the only demographic singled out for special treatment. My concern lies with public benefits available to all seniors regardless of their financial standing. Income supports for seniors - transit passes, reduced property taxes in many jurisdictions, lower taxes for investment income than for employment income - are walled off from vigorous policy debate. The health- care costs for an aging population are largely borne by those generations who are still working. To a modest degree, these benefits shift the tax burden from wealthy seniors to struggling young families. Our policy stance toward seniors is based on laudable compassion that too often ignores radically transformed demographic and economic realities. Fortunately, there is a silver lining to this rather gloomy analysis, one that may forestall looming generational conflict. If the grandmothers discussed above are well- equipped to defend their own interests in the political realm, just watch if the interests of their children and particularly grandchildren are threatened. The best line of defence for Generations X, Y and Z may well be the grandmothers on the beach in Mexico, tablets powered up and chequebooks at the ready. Troy Media columnist Dr. Roger Gibbins is the former president and CEO of the Canada West Foundation. - troymedia. com Winnipeg Free Press Thursday, July 25, 2013 A 13 POLL �� TODAY'S QUESTION What do you think about QB Justin Goltz starting for the Bombers on Friday? �� Vote online at winnipegfreepress. com �� PREVIOUS QUESTION What name should William and Catherine give to their royal baby? Winnipeg Free Press est 1872 / Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 VOL 141 NO 249 2013 Winnipeg Free Press, a division of FP Canadian Newspapers Limited Partnership. Published seven days a week at 1355 Mountain Ave., Winnipeg, Manitoba R2X 3B6, PH: 204- 697- 7000 BOB COX / Publisher PAUL SAMYN / Editor JULIE CARL / Deputy Editor ROGER GIBBINS Pity not the typical pensioner B RANDON - Reeve Reg Atkinson of the RM of Cornwallis is concerned about the City of Brandon's proposed flood- protection plan. " We have three properties that will be severely affected by this," he says. " This plan puts three families in jeopardy, and not just their livelihoods. Their lives." Unveiled to city council by city staff two weeks ago, the plan calls for the construction of new dikes along portions of the Assiniboine River, along with the improvement of existing dikes, drainage outlets and wastewatercollection systems. While allowing for the flooding of First Street North in floods of greater than one- in- 100- year severity, the plan also contemplates increasing the elevation of PTH 110, Brandon's eastern access route, so it can also act as a dike. Work is slated to begin on that dike in a few weeks. It is the plan to raise PTH 110 and the lack of communication that bothers Atkinson. " Nobody from the city or the province ever talked to us about that, even though raising 110 will direct water into the RM and put those three properties in jeopardy," he says. " They still haven't contacted us." He empathizes with Brandon's desire to protect itself from the threat of future flooding, but argues Cornwallis should have been involved in the formulation of the plan and Brandon's protection should not come at the expense of Cornwallis property owners. " I want the city to agree in advance to compensate these property owners for any harm they might suffer because of this plan," he says. " It's the fair thing to do." The city has not responded to Atkinson's concerns and has not made any offer to the affected property owners. The issue of the plan's impact on Cornwallis is just the latest in a series of issues that have delayed efforts to provide Brandon with improved flood protection. In 2006, then- premier Gary Doer promised to work with the city to provide one- in- 100- year protection. City council was never told about Doer's promise, however, and the protection was not delivered. During the height of the 2011 flood, Premier Greg Selinger promised one- in- 300- year flood protection for Brandon. Five months later, Manitoba Infrastructure and Transportation officials briefed city councillors on planned flood- protection measures and it was projected they would be completed before the spring of 2013. In December 2011, Selinger told the Brandon Sun, " We are moving ahead with one- in- 300- year flood protection. The tenders are out on that." In reality, no tenders had been issued at that time, and the engineering drawings had not even been completed. Senior provincial officials presented those drawings to Brandon city council in May of last year, but the city assumed control of the project two months later. With that handingoff of responsibility came a revised plan and a revised completion date of the fall of 2013. It was later changed to the fall of 2014. The new plan pushes the completion date back even further, to the fall of 2015, but there could be further delays if modifications are required in order to address the concerns identified by Atkinson. It means Brandon will continue to have worse than one- in- 100- year flood protection until at least the spring of 2016, exposing city businesses and homeowners to the ongoing threat of millions of dollars in flood- related losses. Why is it proving so difficult for Brandon to get the flood protection it was promised? The province had a plan in place, complete with drawings, to deliver one- in- 300- year protection by the spring of 2013. It had committed $ 20 million to the project. It should have insisted on proceeding with that plan. Instead, for reasons that have still not been adequately explained, the province abandoned control of the project and the result is a strategy that fails to provide one- in- 300- year protection for the entire city, that allows for the flooding of a provincial highway and part of Cornwallis, and won't be completed for at least another two years. This is a situation that required leadership from the Selinger government, and still does. It needs to ensure the protection promised for all of Brandon is delivered without causing downstream harm to Cornwallis. Deveryn Ross is a political commentator living in Brandon. deverynrossletters@ gmail. com DEVERYN ROSS Brandon's flood plan springs a leak L AKE Manitoba has swollen to dangerously high levels yet again and residents around the lake are wondering why. Rising water levels in spring are no surprise, but what is surprising is most of this rise is due to an extended operation of Portage Diversion for what appear to be gratuitous reasons. The Portage Diversion is part of a flood- protection system for the lower Assiniboine River including Winnipeg. It diverts water north from the Assiniboine into Lake Manitoba and was a primary cause of that lake's floods of 2011 and 2012. The combined artificial and natural inflows overwhelmed the existing outlet capacity and the lake rose to record levels. The use of the Portage Diversion in 2011 averted a major disaster on the lower Assiniboine - one that could have flooded hundreds of square kilometres of the floodplain, although Winnipeg itself would have been little affected. There is an obvious reason to open the diversion when the Assiniboine overflows its banks. But that was not the case this year. The Assiniboine River can safely carry 18,000 cubic feet per second east of Portage la Prairie. This summer, the peak flow on the Assiniboine was just 14,000 cfs. Except for a short opening to prevent ice jamming on the lower Assiniboine, there was no good reason to divert water into Lake Manitoba this year. But the Diversion was run for 68 days in two openings, during which time about 600,000 acre feet of Assiniboine water was dumped into Lake Manitoba. This artificial input caused the lake to rise about an extra 17 centimetres and placed the residents around the lake at risk yet again. The capacity of the Assiniboine channel without its dikes is about 14,000 cfs. That means there was little risk of overland flooding or seepage through dikes on the lower Assiniboine this year. The major reason the diversion was opened was to prevent basement flooding inside Winnipeg. High water levels on the Red River inside the city cause storm sewers to backup during rainstorms. There was also a transient risk of some back- flooding of agricultural lands on the floodplain - but then, it is a floodplain. This unnecessary use of the Portage Diversion compounds the massive environmental damage from its past use, and has postponed recovery from the Lake Manitoba flood another year. The Lake Manitoba- Lake St. Martin Regulation Review recommended the operating range for the lake be dropped 15 centimetres to a maximum of 247 metres for a five- year period. Yet, in 2013 the lake has gone higher, not lower, due largely to the operation of the Portage Diversion. It now sits higher than 248 metres, more than 30 centimetres above the new recommended maximum. I have spoken to many of the victims of the floods of 2011 and 2012 and have yet to hear one say we should not have used the Portage Diversion in 2011. We all understand doing so prevented catastrophic flooding elsewhere. Those on Lake Manitoba, Lake St. Martin and the Dauphin River paid a heavy price, but it was a necessary price. But there is much angst and considerable anger among those same people when the Portage Diversion is opened for an extended period for cosmetic reasons, as it was this summer. I am both a Winnipeg resident and a property owner on Lake Manitoba. If I can take the liberty of expressing the sentiments of the latter, it can be summarized as this: suck it up, Winnipeg. Every time the Portage Diversion is opened there are heavy human and environmental costs. So if high water levels on the Red are contributing to basement flooding in Winnipeg, then open the Red River Floodway and lower the water levels through the city. If your antiquated storm sewer system leaves you vulnerable to basement flooding, then tell your mayor and city councillor it is long past time to get that fixed. If you don't have a backwater valve and reliable sump pump, then get them. If those don't work, you can get insurance for basement flooding. This is somewhat ironic. Those who live on a floodplain can get flood insurance: the residents of Lake Manitoba, who do not live on a floodplain, cannot get insurance for overland flooding. Go figure. Each time the diversion is opened Lake Manitoba receives a massive load of sediment ( bad) and phosphorus ( worse). Phosphorus is fuel for algae blooms. Lake Manitoba is shallow and in the summer it is warm, the perfect recipe for the same type of eutrophication that has turned Lake Winnipeg into the so- called sickest lake in the world. The last thing Lake Manitoba needs is more phosphorus. In the aftermath of the flood, there has been a massive infestation of purple loosestrife on Lake Manitoba. It is an exotic invasive plant that squeezes out native vegetation and wildlife. Present at low levels before the flood, its seeds were spread far and wide during the deluge. Judging from the sea of purple along the shores of Lake Manitoba this year, we have lost the battle against it. Flooding around the lake in 2011 and 2012 rendered much of the land unusable for ranchers and farmers, not just for the duration of the flood, but also for years after. The recovery from flooding cannot begin until water levels are lowered. High lake levels have increased soil salinity, sometimes dramatically. Saline soils are ideal habitat for invasive plants and reduce the quality of forage for livestock and, importantly, erode the economic returns for the landowners. The flood of 2011 and 2012 was financially crippling for many who made their living from their land. Those who barely hung on through the flood now face further challenges from continued high water levels. Those high water levels stemming from use of the diversion threaten two of Manitoba's critically endangered species. The Piping Plover built its nests along the sandy shores of the big lakes, and Lake Manitoba was one of the last nesting locations in the province. The flood and continued high water have obliterated this nesting habitat. Manitoba's iconic fish, the Lake Sturgeon, was once abundant in the Red and Assiniboine Rivers. But overfishing and habitat alteration decimated these populations. In recent years, efforts have been made to reintroduce sturgeon into the upper Assiniboine. But when you divert half or more of the water of the Assiniboine River into Lake Manitoba for extended periods, it is pretty obvious where the baby sturgeon will end up. Lake Manitoba, too warm and too shallow for sturgeon, is a death trap for this endangered species. Were the Portage Diversion to be built today, it would need to pass a much more stringent environmental review than it did in the 1960s. Given the ecological damage that accrues every time it is used, it is not certain it would pass muster. There is no question we must continue to use the Portage Diversion to avert major flood damage during Assiniboine floods. That is not at issue. But the operating policy for when the Assiniboine is not overflowing its banks needs alteration to reflect both the environmental damage and human toll that is exacted each time it is opened. There is an obvious forum for this long overdue review: Manitoba's Clean Environment Commission. Let's get started. Scott Forbes is an ecologist at the University of Winnipeg and conducts research on fish and wildlife. Portage Diversion review overdue Flooding Lake Manitoba to spare Winnipeg basements is unnecessary, outdated SCOTT FORBES MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Water spills from Portage Diversion into Lake Manitoba during flood fight in May 2011. George 1,155 ( 19%) James 1,303 ( 21%) Henry 330 ( 5%) Michael 746 ( 12%) Arthur 580 ( 9%) Phillip 411 ( 7%) None of the above 1,712 ( 27%) A_ 13_ Jul- 25- 13_ FP_ 01. indd A13 7/ 24/ 13 7: 44: 41 PM ;