Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - February 02, 2015, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A8 OUR VIEW �o YOUR SAY WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 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 83 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 . Weighing child- care wage hike As part owner of a private Montessori preschool, I find myself asking how the province can entertain the prospect of asking taxpayers to fund salary increases to improve staff wages of workers at publicly funded childcare centres ( Centres want hike equal to child benefit , Jan. 28). This is a complete contradiction to what Susan Prentice states is essential to quality child care in her June 10, 2014 article Not- for- profit child care best investment . She writes " Social scientists consistently find a quality advantage in not- for- profit programs." If this is truly the case, how can Allyson Cruise- Scarpino justify more tax dollars for an increase in staff wages? As a private centre, we do not receive any funding from the province or other levels of government, nor do we cost the taxpayers additional funds for staff wage increases or rent. As leaders in excellence in earlychildhood education, we pay wages above the publicly funded sector. We offer a top- notch benefits package and a lower- than- required staff- to- child ratio to better focus on children's needs. We recognize the importance of having well- educated, accredited staff. The publicly funded sector can't have their cake and eat it, too. MEGAN TURNER Winnipeg Perspective on water important Thank you to Mary Agnes Welch for reminding us that we in Winnipeg have nothing to complain about - especially when one considers the First Nations homes without clean water, some for many years ( Our inconvenience, their way of life , Jan. 29). It is long past due for clean running water to be provided to all First Nations homes. IRENE GIESBRECHT Winnipeg Prison supposed to be tough Many of the same people who whine about tax increases want to use that money to make prisons less prison- like ( Abusive, unrestricted segregation of inmates , Editorial, Jan. 26). Perhaps they forget why people are there in the first place. They are not the victims; before one winds up in a Canadian jail, there are usually many honest citizens who have been victimized. If a few inmates can't handle the rigours of being incarcerated, is it incumbent on society to divert tax dollars from other programs to make them more comfortable? Prison is for those who prey on others. Many would argue that the only beneficiaries of restorative- justice programs are the people paid to listen to inmates - who will say just about anything to help them get out earlier. People who are in prison do not need more high- priced social workers to listen to them. They need to be made aware that victimizing others is why they are there and that society won't tolerate that. JACK SCOTT Winnipeg Falling behind on poverty Nelson Wiseman may be correct that in the long term, the NDP is Manitoba's natural governing party ( Is NDP Manitoba's natural governing party? , Jan. 29). But Wiseman is wrong when he describes the Doer- Selinger administration as having activist policies on issues such as poverty. They do have a poverty- reduction strategy in place, but it has not resulted in reductions in poverty as large as for Canada as a whole, and Manitoba has the highest child- poverty rate of any province. Interestingly, it is Conservative Leader Brian Pallister who has suggested a guaranteed income and supported raising welfare- rental allowances to 75 per cent of median market rent long before the NDP did. Wiseman thinks such policies resonate with women. But Manitoba women are too smart to confuse rhetoric with reality, and such ineffective policies will not likely continue to garner their support. SID FRANKEL Winnipeg Vibrant city centre needed Re: City eyes legal roadblocks to reopening intersection ( Jan 28). Travel to any of the world's great cities, and you'll quickly realize the importance placed upon vibrant city centres, where people take priority over vehicular traffic. That Portage and Main be opened to pedestrians is a no- brainer if, indeed, we're serious about breathing life back into the downtown. A bit of creativity is all that's required to pull it off. Places such as New York, San Francisco, London and Paris provide ample examples as to how it's done; we have no excuses to maintain the status quo. Given everything we've been dealing with as of late and the desire to be viewed as a city of acceptance and cultural harmony, let's create a " unity centre" and begin to think of Portage and Main as an opportunity far beyond the representation of being the coldest and windiest intersection on the planet. DAN DONAHUE Winnipeg Jets lose three straight If the Jets don't get any discipline into their game, the playoffs are going to continue to be a mirage. Stop blaming the refs and play the game. @ Big_ G_ 09 The Jets are still much better off being chased than being chasers, like the last few seasons. It's not all doom and gloom just yet. @ sliiiiip Objects in the rear- view mirror are much closer than they appear. # NHLJets @ arby_ 18 Our Jets are in a nosedive, but I still believe coach Paul Maurice can get them back on track. The first part of season was no fluke. @ rmj2day_ 88 So when does Zach Bogosian take up permanent residence on the end of the bench? Brutal. @ wafflewrecker9 So Byfuglien headlocked Jamie Benn with his knees and may or may not have tried to bite someone. Great guy, that Big Buff. @ nuclearcarly Axworthy angry Re: Axworthy quits in frustration ( Jan. 31). Axworthy is a model mover and shaker who knows how to get things done. I didn't always agree with his empire- building at the University of Winnipeg, but there's no doubting he's an expert at facilitating change by sidestepping the typical bureaucratic snafus. The NDP could certainly learn a few things from him, but they're so out of touch and focused on their own navel- gazing that this episode will simply rank as another missed opportunity for meaningful development. - abhidharma �� Of course the provincial NDP government is a little slow in putting together a serious development plan for the Port of Churchill. Not enough votes up there for them to care enough to actually do something, but just enough to appear to be interested. It's called the appearance of activity. - Waynefd �� As an MP for Winnipeg South Centre, Lloyd got my vote every time. One of the greatest, hardest- working, humanitarian parliamentarians Canada and Manitoba have ever had. More shame on the NDP for putting optics ahead of substance. - TheBigChill �� Lloyd has served both in the provincial legislature and Canada's Parliament. He has never been premier or prime minister, but he has done more for Manitoba than any premier and likely more for Canada than most any prime minister. Thank you, Lloyd. - Shellfish Jets in a slump Re: Long time since Jets dropped three straight ( Jan. 31). Giving up 15 goals in three games - what happened to the new " tough on defence" Jets? They've got to get back to a defensive game. Mathieu Perreault has become a target for a lot of cheap shots in the last few games. Notwithstanding that they take too many penalties, the team needs to send a message that they aren't going to stand for that. Not taking care of Daniel Carcillo might have turned out to be a mistake. - kwikstep �� Frustrating to watch undisciplined hockey. Hutchinson was brutal tonight, the penalty kill nonexistent, and the Jets got little help from the black- and- white stripes. And they're 0- 3 with Thorburn on the third line. Hello, Mr. Maurice, enough already. - dsrattops �� Maybe they've got a bit complacent with the return of their injured players. They're got to get that desperate mindset back. - Rodney 2 A PRIVATE member's bill that in part asks for the return of the long- form census goes to a vote in the House of Commons Wednesday. It's likely to be defeated, and so as Canadians, we will have to be content with the federal government making policy decisions without independent information from a credible source. For that, we should be outraged. Despite good advice, the Harper government did away with the long- form census in 2010 and replaced it with a voluntary national household survey ( NHS). The reason? Well, then- industry minister Tony Clement suggested it was because of privacy concerns - Canadians had expressed worry about providing private information and being threatened with jail time for failing to fill out the census forms. Certainly a survey done by the Privacy Commissioner of Canada ( note the irony) released last week suggests half of the Canadians surveyed said they don't understand what governments and businesses do with the information they collect. When the decision was made in 2010 to get rid of the mandatory census, many Canadians were under the erroneous impression their individual private information was provided to Statistics Canada. More than anything, this suggests the federal government should have hunkered down and explained this to Canadians. But it did not. Instead, it moved without consultation and killed the long- form census. Chief statistician Munir Sheikh resigned over it with a public rebuke of the Harper government's insistence the NHS would provide the same level of information. It is interesting to note last week's survey also found 78 per cent of Canadians said they are concerned about how personal information found online may be used in the context of government surveillance, and 57 per cent said they were uncomfortable with the government being able to access information from telecommunications companies without a warrant. These concerns are part and parcel of an erosion of Canadian's privacy brought to you by the Harper government. So on one hand, the Conservatives limit the ability of a government agency to provide excellent data for public- policy formation on the grounds of privacy. On the other, the Conservatives are exploiting Canadians' fears about terrorist attacks in light of the Ottawa shootings last October to give more power to other government organizations such as CSIS and the police that strip us of our privacy. More irony. But this is why you should care. Policy analysts, city planners, academics, journalists, researchers and business groups all rely on information provided by Statistics Canada. The Canadian Medical Association, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, the Council of Canadians and Democracy Watch are but a few of the organizations that want the long- form census returned. They, like other Canadians, say the voluntary replacement does not provide as rigorous methodology or longitudinal analysis as the long form did. In other words, the information could be suspect. In 2006 when the last long- form census was conducted, 94 per cent of households completed the survey, while the average NHS response rate was 68.9 per cent, and there are concerns those who did respond are not representative of the Canadian population. That's why Liberal MP Ted Hsu has made a bill calling for the return of the long- form census his personal campaign, tabling the private member's bill in November, despite the odds it will never become law. The NDP is also on board. But the Conservatives will use their majority to defeat it. Mr. Hsu says the Conservatives are really happy when they are left alone - something they value more than evidence- based policy, and who can blame them? After all, if you cut off the supply of information, you can't be criticized for failing to act. If you can say you're saving money by doing so, you may even get re- elected. Harper's double standard on privacy A_ 08_ Feb- 02- 15_ FP_ 01. indd A8 2/ 1/ 15 5: 03: 51 PM ;