Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - February 24, 2014, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A10 EDITORIALS WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2014 Freedom of Trade Liberty of Religion Equality of Civil Rights A 8 COMMENT EDITOR: Gerald Flood 204- 697- 7269 gerald. flood@ freepress. mb. ca winnipegfreepress. com EDITORIAL T HE Urban Dictonary defines a " doubledouble" as a quintessentially " Canadian term used to describe how you take your coffee - two teaspoons of sugar and two creams." In Sochi Olympic terms, the definition might be expanded to mean two gold medals in two sports Canadians have embraced as quintessentially their own - curling and hockey - winning gold in both the men's and women's competitions. To be sure, Canada had much more to be proud of. Its athletes collected 25 medals - 10 gold, 10 silver and five bronze, one short of their high- water mark in Vancouver four years ago. It was enough hardware, however, to place third overall behind secondplace Norway ( 11- 5- 10) and first- place, host- nation Russia ( 13- 11- 9). Medals came everywhere for Canada - at the figure- skating venues, on the ski and snowboard slopes and on the icy chutes of the bobsled tracks. But it was on the rinks - the curling and hockey rinks - that Canada claimed its unique place in the pantheon of winter sports. It started with Manitoba's own rock stars, the Jennifer Jones rink, which won 11 straight games to secure gold and set a record that can only be equalled but never exceeded. The women's hockey team followed with an astonishing come- from- behind upset of the Americans in overtime. Ontario's Brad Jacobs rink, after a rocky start, found its form and defeated Britain in a rout for gold. Then, in the final medal event of the Games, Canada defeated Sweden 3- 0 to take gold undefeated with a performance that truly defined " team" spirit and completed the double- double Canadians had hoped to savour. And so ended the most expensive Olympics in history, a $ 50- billion extravaganza. During a spectacular closing ceremony, Dmitry Chernyshenko, head of the Sochi organizing committee, declared that the Games defined contemporary Russia. " This is the new face of Russia - our Russia," he said. But it's only one face. At his side was Russia's odious president, Vladimir Putin, the anti- gay crusader whose meddling in Ukrainian affairs even as the Games were going on made him complicit in the deaths of scores of people on the streets of Kyiv. Two faces for Russia - a double- single. Punishment toothless The article Expropriation in Shindico dispute ' unfortunate': Katz ( Feb. 20) states: " Administration officials who allowed a fire paramedic station to be built on land the city doesn't own could face disciplinary measures." The disciplinary measures belong at the top where it is deserved. Instead, the city's former CAO, Phil Sheegl, walked away with a hefty compensation package. MONICA SMITH Winnipeg Voting not a privilege Cal Paul writes: " What doesn't make sense in our election rules is allowing convicts to vote" ( Show ID to vote , Letters, Feb. 21). Imprisonment removes privileges; voting is not a privilege, it is both a right and a duty. What doesn't make sense in our election rules is the lack of a penalty for not voting. TIM SAYEAU Winnipeg Plenty of spin to Hydro plan In Cold weather boosts Hydro's bottom line ( Feb. 15), Bruce Owen, referring to the $ 34- billion expansion plan Manitoba Hydro is trying to push past the Public Utilities Board, writes: " The two dams and accompanying transmission lines have faced a barrage of criticism as being too expensive and based on faulty projections." In an increasingly familiar reaction to scrutiny of its plans, Hydro relies on the age- old strategy best encapsulated in the adage " argument weak, step up spin." Hydro recently tested its brand- new brochure entitled Seven Things You Should Know About Manitoba's Energy Future with its staff, which is now posted on Hydro's website. Hydro spokesperson Scott Powell states: " We welcome the ( PUB) review and we believe it is the best way to meet the needs going forward." He reveals that Hydro intends to mount a Twitter campaign " to drive people to it." Watch for it to also show up as a bill- stuffer. One could ask why, if Hydro is so confident in its plan, it finds it necessary to spend a fortune promoting it? GARLAND LALIBERTE Winnipeg Senate sensibility I agree with Peter Peech's view that, as an institution, the Senate lacks credibility ( Sack, don't stack, Senate , Letters, Feb. 19). There is plenty of precedent for abolition. With the exception of Saskatchewan and Alberta, every province has had ( and abolished) a senate at some point or another. Manitoba, for example, came into Confederation in 1870; alongside an elected legislature, it had an unelected upper chamber until 1876, when it was eliminated, deemed too expensive to maintain. Peech should be pleased to note that Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Nova Scotia have called for the abolition of the Senate. Opposition leader Thomas Mulcair has also strongly advocated for its abolition. Meanwhile, the Harper government has asked the courts for an opinion on how to handle changes to the Senate, while Justin Trudeau doesn't want to get rid of it, but rather reform it in some way. LEN EVANS Brandon Water- guzzling greens Graham Lane's article When the heavens don't open ( Feb. 19) should be a wake- up call to all who read it. Water shortage will be the next crisis - as it already is in many other parts of the world. While I applaud the decision of Lane's fellow condo owners to forego lawns in favour of xeriscaping, this measure will unfortunately not make much of a difference. Lane touches on a real culprit, albeit briefly: golf courses. There is a grand total of 80 of these water- guzzling features in and around Palm Springs. SIMONE H�BERT ALLARD Winnipeg Taxpayers fund projects It would appear that Conservative MP Shelly Glover is upset that neither she nor Stephen Harper have been given their due credit for future infrastructure spending in Manitoba ( Glover touts infrastructure funding , Feb. 15). What Glover fails to understand is that neither she nor any other politician in Ottawa or Manitoba funds these projects - the taxpayer does. Glover could spend her time more effectively being focused on how she accounts for her election- expense spending and from whom she receives election donations. DON HALLIGAN Winnipeg City zoned out On the day my street was to be plowed at some point between 7 p. m. and 7 a. m., I came home at 10 p. m. to find many cars still parked on the street. At 2 a. m., I looked outside to see the plows running along in front of my house and a number of cars still parked. The next day, I walked a block to get my vehicle and saw all the cars with clear windshields, unticketed. This is the third time cars on my street should have been towed ( but weren't) because of the snow parking ban. What's the point of running a " know your zone" campaign if there aren't repercussions to ignoring the ban? Almost the entire curb lane on my street is unplowed due to parked cars. I often see complaints that snow clearing is over budget; if the city enforced the parking rules, it would help generate revenue from the fines and would reduce the number of times a road had to be plowed. JOSH KNAZAN Winnipeg Look beyond physicians Re: Doctor didn't act alone: clinic ( Feb. 20). I suspect the cost for a physician to leave their practice to provide home care is significantly higher than similar actions by a nurse practitioner or physician assistant. With our limited financial resources, perhaps we should embrace innovations that move us away from outdated practices. Perhaps the economics of quality care should be more than just physician- focused and physician- centred. IAN JONES 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 Re: Manitoba's golden girls , Feb. 21. Jennifer Jones has accomplished an amazing feat: undefeated and winning the women's curling gold medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics. It seems a no- brainer to rename the St. Vital Curling Rink the Jennifer Jones Curling Rink in honour of this history- making team. RETHA FUNK Winnipeg Rename rink after Jones Jennifer Jones reacts after winning the Olympic gold medal in women's curling. I N the wake of an international test of 15- year- old students, some Manitobans were quick to remind critics that, given a high rate of child poverty, socio- economic status must have played a role in Manitoba's dismal showing. Right and wrong. Recent analysis of the Programme for International Student Assessment results showed that, generally, children of parents with higher- income jobs did better at the math tests than those of parents in lower- skilled jobs. That overview holds true for Manitoba. PISA's breakdown, however, also shows that all Manitoba students fell behind markedly, regardless of their parents' employment class, compared to most other Canadian students. The discrepancy was stark in comparisons with Asian countries where children of parents in " elementary occupations" outscored all Manitoba's 15- year- olds. The dismal cross- the- board results for students in this province indicate income cannot be used to explain the alarming results, nor the fact that Manitoba has seen its rank slide over a decade of assessment. While socioeconomic status does make a difference, Manitoba's real problem is systemic. A hint of this was revealed earlier in the fact the PISA assessment showed a slide in performance across the strata - there were many fewer students managing a high score, many more who had slipped into the lowest performer category. Education Minister James Allum is right to expect more of our public schools and in his belief that this is not about money and budgets. The provincial government has made a step in the right direction in demanding that teachers focus on basic arithmetic skills in primary grades and in requiring higher math skills be taught to all high school students. Socio- economic status can indicate which children need more help, but it cannot be a scapegoat for a system that is shown to be failing all students. Doesn't add up Make that a doubledouble A_ 10_ Feb- 24- 14_ FP_ 01. indd A10 2/ 23/ 14 5: 43: 01 PM ;