Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - August 02, 2013, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A10 EDITORIALS WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, FRIDAY, AUGUST 2, 2013 Freedom of Trade Liberty of Religion Equality of Civil Rights A 10 COMMENT EDITOR: Gerald Flood 204- 697- 7269 gerald. flood@ freepress. mb. ca winnipegfreepress. com EDITORIAL M OST condos in the Exchange District have a space for one car, but parking remains a significant challenge to encouraging people to abandon the suburbs and move downtown. Some Exchange residents have complained about losing their on- street parking passes, but only a few of them had no other parking options. As with people in the suburbs, they wanted the right to park on the street, or invite friends and relatives to their homes with the promise of available parking. They will still be able to park for free on the street overnight, but their options will be fewer and farther from their homes. It will also cost them $ 100 per month for a permit, compared to just $ 25 a year now, but that's life in the big city. The Exchange District is bustling with activity day and night, but on- street parking must be shared between residents and businesses that depend on parking turnover to draw customers. The balance will never be perfect, but it must be as fair as possible to all. The city, however, has not done its part to ease the problem. When the Civic Centre parkade adjacent to city hall closed one year ago because of structural problems, 450 stalls were lost to civic workers and the general community, which compounded the congestion. City council has no plan yet to rebuild the parkade, but the recent complaints should be enough to get the issue back on the agenda. The fact the Winnipeg Police Service is moving to another location is not an excuse to do nothing. The province should also reconsider its opposition to building a parkade in co- operation with the city in the East Exchange until a new condo complex goes up nearby. The parkade is needed now, even if developers aren't ready to construct another condo immediately. The Winnipeg Parking Authority is looking at developing parking co- ops where stalls could be shared by different users, a good idea that is long overdue. The city, meanwhile, should reconsider a plan to hand out cash incentives to condo buyers, and invest that money in the amenities that make up a vibrant downtown neighbourhood - good lighting, safety, public art and parking. There is a better way Your July 31 story Phoenix inquiry ends testimony, adjourns reports that the Aboriginal Council of Winnipeg wants to establish an aboriginal education authority and an aboriginal school division, so as to break the cycle of aboriginal children in care. As as a summer educational administrator, I know of another way. This July, there was a summer- school collaboration between the non- profit Canadian Educational Development Agency's Pathways to Education program and the Winnipeg School Division. For three weeks, 17 students, most of them aboriginal, attended Children of the Earth School. Class sizes were deliberately kept small; the teachers were either aboriginal or M�tis. CEDA ( which is headquartered a block away from the school) provided an army of support workers who gave in- class assistance, after- school tutoring and pickups for students who needed rides or encouragement to get to school. CEDA also paid for all student registration costs as well as the salaries of the teachers. The results were extraordinary. Only one student dropped out while 15 either were there every day or missed once. Every student received their credit or credits, as six students took two courses ( six hours a day). The average of the marks was 77 per cent. I want to make the aboriginal council, and other interested parties, aware that there is a successful model to emulate. Aboriginal education does not need to go it alone. TOM SHERBROOK Gimli The definition of art Re: Art shatters our way of thinking ( July 31). The question isn't really whether art is controversial or not - in many cases it's whether it is art or not. Most people would deny that a crucifix in a jar of urine is art but not really be able to explain why. There's a very simple operational definition that solves the problem: Art is an attempt to convey a message using talents not available to most of the viewers. Anybody can place a crucifix in a jar. Anyone can spill blood on the floor and clean it up. Anyone can paint three stripes of colour on a canvas. So, by definition, none of these is art. We need another collective noun for them and keep the word " art" for those things that it really applies to. PETER LACEY Winnipeg Crime reporting a waste Surely Gordon Sinclair Jr. can't be falling for the claim that the crime rate in Winnipeg is falling ( Police taking it on the chin for the downtown, July 27)? We have read over and over again that fewer people are reporting crime because they feel it is a waste of time. If the police find the time to actually attend a call and make an arrest, the further likelihood of the courts handing down a stiff ( or any) sentence has become increasingly remote. If the public has a jaded view of the legal system, their reasons are well- founded. AL YAKIMCHUK Winnipeg Exposing a contradiction Gordon Sinclair Jr.' s July 30 column, At U of W, the end justifies the means ?, regarding the Eco- Kids program at the University of Winnipeg aptly exposes a central contradiction in the sponsorship initiatives undertaken by this institution. Increasingly, the " ends justify the means" mentality is being applied to sponsorship programs where there is far less net benefit to students or the surrounding community. What Sinclair fails to investigate is the driving force behind this cycle. Currently and chronically, the U of W receives far less public funding per student than other Manitoba universities. This makes it increasingly difficult for it to provide relevant services to an ever- growing and diverse population of students, employees and community members. The U of W's continued commitment to community and increasing access to postsecondary education has had an undeniably positive impact. However, the unique needs of this downtown campus and its students are often neglected in the absence of a funding formula and increases to funding that do not correspond with increases in enrolment. While the NDP government has done much to improve the funding of post- secondary institutions since taking office in 1999, it has not taken steps to address the gap that has led to this culture of ends justifying the means at the U of W. MEGAN FULTZ University of Winnipeg Students' Association Wake up and smell the debt Re: Ticking debt bomb ( July 31). Although Colin Craig, Prairie director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, warns Manitobans that our $ 28.5- billion debt is rising by $ 6.5 million a day, our finance minister tells us that things are not in as bad as they seem, suggesting that the ratio of debt to gross domestic product under NDP rule has fallen. Wake up, Manitobans, and demand a stop to this huge daily loss. As a start, cancelling the Bipole III eastern route and changing it to the west side would save $ 1 billion of unnecessary spending. ISSIE OIRING Winnipeg Front- page annoyance As a longtime daily subscriber, I am becoming increasingly annoyed when I pick up my morning paper and, instead of front- page headlines, I see a lottery advertisement. It immediately goes into my recycle bin. I have nothing against the lotteries, but they should be raising funds for their cause, not paying for expensive advertising. I have stopped supporting any of the lotteries that you have showcased because my money is not going where I want it to go. GERTIE CHIPKA Winnipeg HAVE YOUR SAY: The Free Press welcomes letters from readers. Include the author's name, address and telephone number. Letters may be edited. Letters to the Editor, 1355 Mountain Avenue, Winnipeg, R2X 3B6. Fax 204- 697- 7412. Email letters@ freepress. mb. ca Letters represent the opinions of their writers and do not reflect the opinions of the Winnipeg Free Press or its staff. �� LETTER OF THE DAY The Muslim Brotherhood demonstrations that Gwynne Dyer refers to in his July 30 column, Worse than a crime in Egypt , were not that peaceful. The demonstrators used deadly weapons and a few security officers were killed by gunshots. As well, allies of the Muslim Brotherhood are killing Egyptian soldiers in lawless Sinai in the last several months. I don't think the police or army in Canada or the U. S. would react differently if they were being shot at or killed. Dyer's assertion that the simplest plan would be to just wait out the protesters could not work there because the Muslim Brotherhood refused any reconciliatory gesture by the interim government. Instead, they demanded that the ousted president must be reinstated before any talks would take place. Those demands are not realistic; they belong only in dreams. As an Egyptian- Canadian with close family members in Egypt, I strongly object to Dyer's reference to the masses who went to Tahrir Square as " political idiots." They are more informed than most people think. They have based their decision on the political and economic climate in which they have lived the last 12 months and after all the promises that got the president elected were not fulfilled. AB FRIEG Winnipeg Demonstrators used deadly force Supporters of ousted Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi rally in Cairo on July 29. A S protests rise over a Russian law passed in June that tramples gay rights, calls for a boycott of the Sochi Olympic Games next winter are growing. But not everyone agrees, nor should they. Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird properly is in the latter camp. While condemning the new Russian law, which makes it an offence to circulate information about homosexuality where young people might see it, Mr. Baird on Thursday also called on Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to give unequivocal assurances all athletes and visitors to the Games will be free from legal recrimination should they choose to express in Russia their views about the state's growing intolerance toward homosexuals. His words came as Russia's sport minister warned that any foreigners who transgressed the law - ambiguously phrased so as to catch up what might be the wearing of a lapel pin, the waving of a rainbow emblazoned flag or holding a sign - would feel the force of the law. With assurances visitors will have freedom to make such simple expressions, a boycott of the Games would be the wrong response, something many gay and human rights groups agree on - they know the value of a world event. Russia will be saturated by media attention, tourists and global TV viewership, opportunities to train a deserved light on its growing intolerance. Those fighting for equality in Russia can use that support. All Russians, too, will have cause to ponder what kind of Russia they want: one that respects basic human dignity, or a cynical throwback to the days when selfinterested masses gave a ruling elite licence to make scapegoats of those too easily demonized. Plug the parking mania Boycott wrong A_ 10_ Aug- 02- 13_ FP_ 01. indd A10 8/ 1/ 13 7: 55: 30 PM ;