Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - February 23, 2014, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A10 OPINION A10 SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2014 Previous Polls: What was your favourite moment during Canada's golden day at the Olympics Thursday? Jennifer Jones' squad winning gold. Canada's women's hockey team winning gold. Both were equally thrilling. I wasn't cheering for Canada. I'm boycotting the Olympics, no matter how many gold medals Canada wins. Do you miss watching the Winnipeg Jets? Yes, I'm suffering withdrawal. Nah, watching the Olympics is way more fun. I think about them every day. But absence makes the heart grow fonder, right? Oh, the Jets are on break? I didn't notice. Who cares about hockey? Roll Up the Rim is back! Is the province issuing too many specialty licence plates? Yes, it's becoming hard to tell which province drivers are from. The more personalized plates, the better. Here's to governmentapproved self- expression! I'm all for anything that makes it easier to distinguish drivers who cut me off. What ever happened to good old bumper stickers? BLOG OF THE WEEK: THE VIEW FROM SEVEN P ITY the poor business traveller who needs to get from London to Monterrey, one of Mexico's most important commercial centres after Mexico City itself. Virtually every itinerary produced by a flight search engine requires connecting via the United States. The same rule normally applies if you're trying to get from Frankfurt to Guadalajara, or from Hong Kong to Mexico City - unless you fly via Europe, which is the long way around the world. That is bad news for many travellers these days. Not only has U. S. Customs and Border Protection become more demanding of travellers since 9/ 11, the agency is often accused of treating even vacationers as potential terrorists. It has also cut back on airport staffing due to budget cuts, resulting in complaints of missed connections and passengers needing two to four hours just to get out of the airport after their flight arrives, even if they have nothing to declare and everything else goes smoothly. Unlike many global air hubs, U. S. airports generally do not have international transit facilities that exempt passengers merely passing through the country from having to go through full customs and immigration checks. Instead, these passengers must be fully screened and formally admitted to the U. S. before immediately leaving again. If an airline offered a bypass that allowed travellers to get from Latin America to Europe or Asia - or vice versa - without having to go through all this hassle, it could get away with charging a premium, and profiting nicely from it. The same goes for airports and local border authorities, which would benefit from collecting the associated fees added to the ticket. Canada could very well become the main beneficiary of America's border problems. Our major airports have already been redesigned with express lanes to make sure connecting passengers make their flights. Facilities are also in place that allow passengers flying from Europe or Asia to the U. S. via Canada to go directly from their flight into a U. S. Customs and Border Protection screening facility right in the airport, without having to go through Canadian border formalities. These passengers can then disembark at their U. S. destination already having been cleared to enter the U. S., and be out of the airport and on their way within minutes instead of hours. Airports such as Toronto's and Montreal's have also set up dedicated international gates, which could be the first step to allowing passengers merely passing through Canada, between Latin America and Europe or Asia, to do so without needing to have their passport stamped or fill out a declaration form. Currently, any airline wishing to open up new regularly scheduled routes between Canada and Mexico must already be authorized to do so under a bilateral agreement that dates back to the 1960s, or make arrangements to have that agreement modified. Yet this new agreement just announced is not just about linking Canada with Mexico. Canada is very close to the direct line path between Mexico and both Europe and Asia. A Monterrey- London journey via Toronto, for example, barely adds less than two kilometres to the total journey; a Monterrey- Hong Kong journey via Vancouver is a fraction of a per cent longer than the straight line distance. Loosening up those restrictions could establish Canada as the best transfer point between Latin America and the vitally important European and Asian markets. That not only has the potential to be good for Canada's airlines and airports, it could also be good for the Canadian economy as well, by positioning ourselves as a logical place to do business if you need fairly easy access to Europe, Asia, Latin America or the U. S. Kevin McDougald writes the Winnipeg- based blog The View from Seven at theviewfromseven. wordpress. com. Twitter: @ kevinmcdougald By Kevin McDougald Tight U. S. border gives Canada a boost A TOTAL of 12,500 addresses in north Winnipeg will lose home mail delivery this fall, but not everyone is complaining about Canada Post's switch to community mailboxes. Community mailboxes have been all over Canada for over a decade already. The elderly have never once complained about them. The only people complaining about this switchover are the unionized postal workers, who've been living large off of the government teat for decades. Sorry kids, the gravy train is coming to its final stop. - 23539022 It is no big deal to walk a little bit to a community mailbox. We already walk a block or two when we wish to mail a letter. The exercise will do most of us good. I do understand that there are some people out there who are unable to get to a community box. Virtually all of them can have a neighbour, friend, or child pick up their mail at the box once or twice a week. There is not much urgent mail that must be dealt with immediately. - mr. spelchek I don't understand why the price of stamps has to go up so much if they are going to save all this money. And it might be easy for you to pop over and get your mail, but how about the people that have disabilities or are seniors? How easy is it going to be for them? Oh yeah, they need the exercise, right? - KK26 Great idea. I no longer get any of my bills in the mail anyways. My Canada Post " mail" mostly consists of a pizza delivery flyer. Great way to spend $ 28/ hr delivering pizza flyers. I'm all for community mailboxes everywhere. - EKResident I hated my community box when I went away. The first time I went away the thing jammed so full they had to hold back the mail and I had to pick it up at the post office in town. The second time we gave the key to the neighbour, who kept it emptied. Now that I am in a location with home delivery, have always had a neighbour empty it. - beekpr1 It's time to end Canada Post's monopoly and allow the private sector to compete. Perhaps a private company can deliver door- to- door and still make money... or simply reduce the days of delivery to make it lucrative. - J Haier Gonna hate this. Having to bundle up for the - 40 C walk to pick up the mail over unplowed sidewalks and roads will be a large pain in the a--. Other seasons will be OK. For seniors? This will be unbearable. People think seniors should be able to walk a block in the winter to get their mail, because they can still live in their own home. Not so! Many seniors have driveways plowed by hiring people; lawns mowed by hiring people. Grocery stores, most do deliveries... for a fee. Many seniors are on fixed incomes. Now they'll have to hire to get their mail. - Tyne59 How do seniors or people with disabilities get to the store to buy necessities? They'll get their mail the same way. Not to mention the fact that 95% of seniors are capable of walking a half a block down the street to get their mail. Same with people with disabilities. Do you think these people are all hermits that never leave their homes? - 23539022 It's about time. This, and many other public sector groups live on bloated incomes with lucrative benefits. They don't want to be on wage parity with the private sector, so cut jobs. I'm in. - ITGeek57 I like having a community mailbox. If you go away on holidays you don't have to worry about your mail - it stays locked up securely while you're gone; and it's really quite easy to pop over and get your mail when you get home from work. As well, it saves the grass in my front yard, as I don't have anyone walking over it to take shortcuts from one house to the next. - 23668507 Readers passionate about postal plan POLL How do you plan to enjoy Sunday's Olympic gold- medal men's hockey game? Vote online at winnipegfreepress. com 13% 27% 53% 2% 6% 28% 23% 9% 23% 17% 54% 21% 13% 13% A_ 10_ Feb- 23- 14_ FP_ 01. indd A10 2/ 22/ 14 6: 46: 09 PM ;