Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 30, 2015, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A8 OUR VIEW �o YOUR SAY WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 2015 Freedom of Trade Liberty of Religion Equality of Civil Rights A 8 PERSPECTIVES AND POLITICS EDITOR: Shannon Sampert 204- 697- 7269 shannon. sampert@ freepress. mb. ca winnipegfreepress. com EDITORIAL LETTERS FP COMMENTS TWITTER VOL 143 NO 80 Winnipeg Free Press est 1872 / Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 2015 Winnipeg Free Press, a division of FP Canadian Newspapers Limited Partnership. Published seven days a week at 1355 Mountain Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba R2X 3B6, PH: 204- 697- 7000 Publisher / BOB COX Editor / PAUL SAMYN Associate Editor Engagement / JULIE CARL Associate Editor Enterprise / SCOTT GIBBONS Associate Editor Production / STEVE PONA Associate Editor Digital News / WENDY SAWATZKY Night Editor / STACEY THIDRICKSON Director Photo and Multimedia / MICHAEL APORIUS W What's your take? The Free Press wants to hear from you. Email: letters@ freepress. mb. ca Post: Letters to the Editor, 1355 Mountain Ave., Winnipeg, R2X 3B6 Please include your name, address and daytime phone number. Follow us on Twitter @ WFPEditorials For a how- to video on writing letters, visit winnipegfreepress. com SCAN PAGE TO LEARN HOW TO HAVE YOUR SAY . A laundry list of water woes After brown water, the unpreparedness to tackle frozen- pipe problems in a timely matter, and the failure of work crews to properly repair water leaks ( such as those on Laxdal Road), it really doesn't matter if the six positive samples were the result of sampling errors ( Boil water first, city advises , Jan. 28). With a new $ 300- million water- treatment facility, this points toward an even larger problem within the city's water department. The mayor should start by investigating the qualifications, knowledge and training of the workforce - from management down to, and including, labourers. KIM TRETHART Winnipeg �� Re: Shoppers stock up on water ( Jan. 28). After investing hundreds of millions of dollars in state- of- the- art water- treatment facilities, it seems tragically ironic that Winnipeggers are routinely subject to water- qualityrelated issues, including service disruptions ( extreme weather), temporary business closures, community health alerts, coliform bacteria, champagne- or root- beer- coloured tap water, and the myriad costs borne by the public, who have to find an alternative source of drinking water. Are Winnipeg residents fed up with this ongoing scenario? Indeed, they are boiling mad. DON WARKENTIN Winnipeg Stop stalling on urban reserves I agree with Mary Agnes Welch that there needs to be a concerted effort to develop a sustainable economic model for aboriginal people here in Winnipeg ( Urban reserves offer renaissance , Jan. 28). There's no better way to combat racism in Winnipeg than combating poverty, increasing independence and providing jobs, which the urban- reserve model has shown to be successful both here and in Saskatoon. Haven't we had enough stalling from the Conservatives ( and the Liberals, when they were in power) on this file? No more stalling - it's time to settle this and get on with real economic development. DAVID WELLER Winnipeg Battling mental- illness stigma I applaud Jen Zoratti for her courage in writing openly about depression ( A Happy Light just isn't enough , Jan. 29). We often hear from professionals that we need to dismantle the stigma associated with mental illness, and that is good. But when a " real person" tells her story, we sit up and take notice. We listen to someone who has suffered and knows what she's talking about - someone willing to be vulnerable to help herself and others. Thank you, Jen Zoratti. This is a conversation that needs to continue. MARY ANN LOEWEN Steinbach The terror of war and displacement Reading Oksana Bashuk Hepburn's column Ukrainians forgotten heroes of Auschwitz ( Jan. 28) reminds me of the horrific stories my dad told me about being taken from Ukraine at a young age to a concentration camp and forced into hard labour. Eventually, toward the end of the Second World War, he was forcibly transferred to Nazi Germany to work and live in a subhuman environment. Like many other eastern Europeans, my dad experienced the brutality and inhumane conduct imposed by the Third Reich. After the war, he became a displaced person, a person without a country, but found his place and furthered his life in Canada. Hepburn's column recalls similar events and occurrences that my father, one of the forgotten heroes, experienced before eventually devoting his life to Canada. PETER MANASTYRSKY Winnipeg Sanders for city's CAO job Re: Let's stop the revolving door that is the CAO's office ( Jan. 28). There's a person with considerable knowledge of municipal government and who has been attending city hall meetings for decades. David Sanders also spent many years working for the province, including in urban affairs. Mayor Brian Bowman needs a CAO - perhaps David Sanders is that needed " breath of fresh air." GEORGINA JAREMA Winnipeg Enough about Portage and Main Re: City eyes legal roadblocks to reopening intersection ( Jan. 27). What a colossal waste of time and money. There are so many more important things the city could be working on. GARY MCGIMPSEY Winnipeg Loonie's slide continues The Canadian dollar is now at a sixyear low. This has really slowed down my shopping on eBay and Amazon big- time. @ WillontheRadio Oil prices keep dropping. Canadian dollar keeps dropping. We must conclude the Canadian dollar is made of oil. @ Daddymakk Royal Canadian Mint issues special $ 25 coin at cost of $ 25. But with today's Canadian dollar, you should be able to get it for less than $ 20. @ patterballs Canadian dollar is below 80 cents US for the first time since 2009. Is the market being manipulated to attract foreign investment? @ ArminsWorld Even the Mexican peso has risen in value against the Canadian dollar this month. Something is awry. @ RhonaRaskin I'm glad that every article about the Canadian dollar helpfully includes a picture of a loonie, so that I know what a dollar looks like. @ Pigbog Winter's tough, icy grip Re: A Happy Light just isn't enough ( Jan. 29). Jen, I congratulate you for putting your personal feelings out there. I have suffered from depression for the better part of two decades. While my depression is not mainly connected to the seasons, January is always a tough time. It's perfectly normal to be afraid of mental- health struggles. I encourage you to seek professional help. Talking to your doctor may help alleviate much of your anxiety. Just making an appointment with your doctor will have the benefit of taking control and getting on top of your unhappy feelings. In the meantime, please don't beat yourself up. Be kind to yourself and, yes, talking can certainly help. - emcee51 �� This is a crummy city for winter. My wife and I went to Honolulu earlier this month, and it was sunny every day, even when there was volcano fog. We've been back here for almost two weeks and have had what seems like about six hours of sun. It seems like if the sun's out for an hour a day here in winter, we're lucky. Winters in Winnipeg are depressing, period. - ve4mm �� It's funny how light works. I've loved this winter - I feel happiest when it's cloudy and warm, and miserable when it's sunny and brutally cold. In the summer, I'm happiest when it's sunny and warm. Perhaps my moods are attached more to temperature than light. That might explain why I'm really happy when I'm in Florida. I wish I was there now. - LuckyBucky Water's costly lessons Re: ' Take a breath, boil some water' ( Jan. 29). Translation: take two minutes to boil the water before taking a chill pill. A major pain for businesses and health- related issues but a good opportunity to teach children how fortunate we are the other 360 days of the year. - No Worries �� Re: Going without the flow ( Jan. 29). Cost per thousand litres of boiled city water = 54 cents. Cost of bottled water from drink machine per thousand litres = $ 3,000. I'll boil my water, thanks. - BM �� @ BM: Exactly. The people who go out and buy all this bottled water are the fools from whom their money is easily parted. - Woofers �� It's a great day for collecting an environmental tax. - Slim G C ITY council on Wednesday acted like the proverbial three monkeys. They didn't want to hear, see or speak about a controversial development plan Mayor Brian Bowman has characterized as bordering on evil. In the end, the real scandal in this unholy mess was completely ignored. Not a word or question was uttered or asked, lest any of them be perceived as challenging the mayor's moral crusade. Some members of council who sat on former mayor Sam Katz's executive policy committee were fully aware CentreVenture was wrongly portrayed as a sinister entity that conducted deals behind the city's back under cover of night. They said nothing. Others worried the resolution passed Wednesday might scuttle the potential for a major redevelopment on vacant land between the RBC Convention Centre and the MTS Centre. They also remained mute. Instead, a resolution was unanimously passed that formally terminates a contractor's obligation to build a hotel near the convention centre, while CentreVenture was censured like the bad boy in the entire affair. It was ordered to look for expressions of interest for the site of the former Carlton Inn, located near the convention centre. CentreVenture was created in 1999 to operate under the principles of private- sector confidentiality, as opposed to the open standards of civic government. The mayor does not seem to understand this, even though, as a privacy lawyer, he should. Instead, he lambasted the development agency, which is managed by some of the city's leading citizens, as secretive and unaccountable. He was aware the city itself invited CentreVenture to help solve its problems around the convention centre, but the facts were obviously inconvenient. The only real scandal in this entire affair is there has never been a legal agreement between the convention centre and the contractor, Stuart Olson. And that's why the city was obliged to accept Stuart Olson's offer of $ 3.75 million against a $ 16- million obligation to build a hotel. The city and convention centre simply had no other option, but it had absolutely nothing to do with any action by CentreVenture. Instead of asking hard questions about why there was no legal agreement between Stuart Olson and the convention centre, however, the mayor merely said after council's meeting he hoped such a deal would be signed soon. This, after more than $ 100 million has been spent without a written contract. Mayor Bowman finds it easier to continue his uninformed campaign against CentreVenture, wrongly claiming there were two deals on the table for the site of the former Carlton Inn. In fact, Stuart Olson had only promised to build a hotel somewhere in the area. In any event, there was no legal agreement. CentreVenture was invited to help market the property after the contractor asked last year to be freed from its responsibilities. The agency then persuaded the owners of the MTS Centre, who were already planning to develop an adjacent surface- parking lot, to sign an option to do something with the site of the Carlton Inn, which was entirely within its mandate. Now, as a result of the mayor's rash and thoughtless action, helped by a compliant council, the city is at risk of a lawsuit that could tie up development on the site for years. True North's other option is to abandon the deal and leave the city to its own resources. It's a shambles, but one directly attributable to the mayor's self- appointment as the sheriff of city hall. It's too late to repair the damage, but Mr. Bowman should remove his badge and take a deep breath before someone else gets hurt in his campaign to rid city hall of the ghosts of the past. Mayor Bowman and the moral majority Three monkeys at city hall. A_ 10_ Jan- 30- 15_ FP_ 01. indd A8 1/ 29/ 15 7: 36: 54 PM ;