Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - February 03, 2015, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A6 OUR VIEW �o YOUR SAY WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015 Freedom of Trade Liberty of Religion Equality of Civil Rights A 6 PERSPECTIVES AND POLITICS EDITOR: Shannon Sampert 204- 697- 7269 shannon. sampert@ freepress. mb. ca winnipegfreepress. com EDITORIAL LETTERS FP COMMENTS TWITTER VOL 143 NO 84 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 . Chief biding his time Re: Chief's neutral approach to NDP war may be best bet ( Feb. 2). This article increases my respect for Chief. His is the wisest course for a fairly junior minister. Let the titans battle it out. There are no principles at stake here, just electoral- strategy differences. Refusing to be pushed around by the premier and his supporters is also a good sign of some backbone. He is controlling his role, not others. - dehall �� I presume the scenario is that the next ( or current) leader will lead the NDP to defeat in the coming general election. How long can that leader continue in the role afterwards, even if they have been newly appointed? Chief should wait for the current dust- up to die down and then run for leadership and learn to lead his group in opposition. I think opposition leadership is a good platform to make one's self known to the electorate as to what your style and substance is. - AH2 �� " Chief has put himself in a position where he can't be blamed for making a bad situation worse." In other words, a perfect Teflon politician. Way to go, Kevin. - hefty J �� When there's no good decision to be made, sometimes the best decision is to play by the rules and wait. - kachina �� The time to endorse is when the field gets down to two - then it's all politics and the time to use whatever options he has to the best ability. - no sense Bowman's first 100 days Re: Bowman holds phone chat with Winnipeggers ( Feb. 2). I don't envy him in this job - it's been a very tough 100 days, but he has done well. I wonder how many times he looked back and thought, " Why on earth did I want to be mayor?" - TakeItEasy �� I voted for him by default and had a brief period of voter's remorse on election night. He has done more to win me over in the past 100 days than he did during the election campaign. Looks Like Judy Wasylycia- Leis gave us a good mayor after all. - Norm Peterson �� Although he wasn't my first choice for mayor, I must say, so far so good. - Striker �� An eventful 100 days. I give Bowman et al a solid B grade. Good work by the mayor and council in very trying circumstances. - a_ p �� Is there a reason for keeping the shortlist for CAO confidential? - JustWondering On water and human rights Maybe Winnipeg's boil- water advisory was a good thing ( The essential liquid , Jan. 31). We have been reminded that the excellent water supply we take for granted comes with an outrageous price - paid not by us, but by the Shoal Lake 40 First Nation. Mayor Brian Bowman and Chief Erwin Redsky need to talk, and it needs to be with the understanding on the part of Winnipeggers that we owe Chief Redsky and his people big time. I hope we may yet drink our tap water with a clear conscience. HARTLEY STINSON Winnipeg No more business as usual The person that wrote the editorial castigating Mayor Bowman for calling CentreVenture to task should be ashamed of themselves ( Mayor Bowman and the moral majority , Editorial, Jan. 30). CentreVenture and the Longboat Development Corporation are not business rookies. What they have done is wrong and wouldn't even be acceptable as a rookie mistake. To criticize the mayor because he called them to task is incredibly naive. According to the editorial writer, we might lose all the development at Carlton Street by asking for it to be done right, then suggests the mayor should just let this looseness continue. Sure, then we can get plenty of development - like the police headquarters and fire halls. JIM FLOOD Winnipeg ' Ghetto' was not Poland's While Steven Leyden Cochrane correctly highlights the major themes of the exhibit The Face of the Ghetto , which documents the life and eventual destruction of the German- established ghetto in Lodz, also known as Litzmannstadt, the author's references to " Poland's Litzmannstadt Ghetto" and to " life in the Polish ghetto" call his understanding of the historical context of the exhibit into question ( Facing the unthinkable , Jan. 29). There were no " Polish ghettos" in occupied Polish territories. All of the ghettos in which Jewish populations were confined and ultimately destroyed were established and controlled by the occupying Nazi German forces. Poland as a state ceased to exist in September 1939. The German Reich chose to annex vast territories, including the city of Lodz, which they renamed " Litzmannstadt." The German ghetto of Litzmannstadt was created shortly after - a German- controlled prison- city with a Germanappointed self- government comprised of Jewish inmates who chose to collaborate with German state authorities. Calling this prison- city " Poland's ghetto" is harmful, inaccurate and insulting. The museum's exhibit clearly illustrates the Nazi origins and German Reich context of the Litzmannstadt ghetto. We invite the public to see this collection of documents and photographs taken by Litzmannstadt inmates and German authorities. GRAZYNA GALEZOWSKI President, Canadian Polish Congress, Manitoba branch An intersection solution I couldn't agree more with letter- writer Dan Donahue that great cities have great city centres, and that reopening Portage and Main is key to recreating that kind of downtown here in Winnipeg ( Vibrant city centre needed , Letters, Feb. 2). The reintroduction of pedestrians to Portage and Main can be done with minimal disruption to vehicular traffic, and with minimal cost. The problem of pedestrian traffic and heavy left- and right- turning traffic has been painlessly addressed in other cities, including Toronto. Into each sequence of lights at the intersection, insert a 30- second light where all vehicular traffic stops and pedestrians may cross the intersection in any direction - including diagonally. Vehicles and pedestrians would never occupy the roadway at the same time. DAVE HARRON Winnipeg Sanders above city's CAO job I agree with letter- writer Georgina Jarema that David Sanders would be a very good candidate for the city's CAO ( Sanders for city's CAO job , Letters, Jan. 30). However, Sanders is over- qualified. The city set too low a bar for qualifications based on our last permanentposition CAO. GARY MCGIMPSEY Winnipeg Reserve conditions deserve outrage Successive federal governments have had an easy ride in their neglect of reserves ( Manitoba reserves the worst in Canada , Jan. 30). The simple reason: insufficient outrage on the part of mainstream Canadians. LENORE BERSCHEID Winnipeg No shadow on Groundhog Day Looks like Manitoba Merv didn't see his shadow, which means I don't have to make groundhog stew... oh, and it also means early spring. @ hebegb204 So apparently, Manitoba's official groundhog, Manitoba Merv, is actually a golf- club head cover. @ 98PercentChimp Growing up on the Prairies, I never understood the excitement around Groundhog Day. In Manitoba, even six more weeks of winter was a fantasy. @ jeremyw Matthews super in Super Bowl By the fourth quarter, I was rooting for Seattle just so we could all spend today talking about Chris Matthews. Unreal. @ JamesBradySBN It figures the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, the team that cut Chris Matthews, can't even escape looking bad at the Super Bowl. @ perreaux A FTER 100 days in office, Mayor Brian Bowman has demonstrated some of the characteristics that have defined great mayors in the past. He is passionate and intense, comfortable in front of the cameras and a natural political performer. He's also exhibited some less- flattering qualities. He's prone to gaffes and sometimes speaks before thinking or acquiring all the facts. It's too early to say if these are rookie mistakes or evidence of political calculation. His intense and emotional response to a magazine article's description of Winnipeg as Canada's most racist city immediately transformed him into a national sensation, a rock- star mayor. It seemed like the whole country was proud of his pledge to combat racism. The mayor took centre stage again when officials warned the city's water supply might be tainted. The risk to human health was low, but he issued a city- wide boil- water advisory for the first time in Winnipeg's history. His status rose even higher for some Winnipeggers who admired his decisiveness, although others had doubts about whether he went too far. Mayor Bowman was too quick to criticize the city's snow- clearing efforts following a major snowfall and was apparently unaware 80 per cent of the work is conducted by the private sector under the direction of rules set by the city. And as Free Press reporter Bartley Kives outlined in a report today, his angry criticism of CentreVenture over a downtown development needs further scrutiny. Mayor Bowman created the impression the proposed development was mishandled by CentreVenture in a climate of secrecy, even though it later surfaced officials in his office had been briefed on the details. The mayor, meanwhile, said Monday restoring trust in civic government remains his most important and most difficult objective over the next four years. Quoting John F. Kennedy, he said he wasn't sure it would ever be achieved, " but let us begin." Trust in all levels of government has been declining for decades, but it hit rock bottom in Winnipeg under former mayor Sam Katz. The perception of city hall was that it was corrupt, lazy and incompetent. Without trust, it becomes difficult to ask citizens to pay more taxes, accept fewer services or wait longer for infrastructure improvements. Restoring trust, however, is a delicate balancing act. It cannot be achieved by firing everyone at city hall, or cancelling every contract with the private sector. The mayor has promised new rules of governance for employees and elected officials will help improve transparency and accountability at city hall. Trust, however, like happiness, may turn out to be one of those virtues that is always pursued, but never achieved. The first real test of his leadership will occur when he tables his first budget next month. The city is broke, heavily in debt and facing a bleak balance sheet with revenues that don't match expenses. Unpopular decisions will have to be made, but that's the way it is with municipal budgets across the country. The mayor realizes the country needs a new revenue model for cities, which he will pursue this week at a meeting of big- city mayors in Toronto. This is a familiar refrain, of course, so no one should expect fundamental change in the short term. After 100 days, Mayor Bowman has brought new energy to city hall and a renewed sense that difficult problems can be solved. Council supports him, and he will soon have a new chief administrative officer to help boost the sagging morale of the civil service. Just 1,357 days to go. Mayor Bowman after 100 days WAYNE GLOWACKI/ WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Mayor Brian Bowman A_ 06_ Feb- 03- 15_ FP_ 01. indd A6 2/ 2/ 15 6: 36: 40 PM ;