Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - July 21, 2015, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A6 OUR VIEW �o YOUR SAY WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, TUESDAY, JULY 21, 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 248 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 Enterprise / SCOTT GIBBONS 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 Aboriginal voting crucial Inayat Singh's Impact of indigenous voting in Manitoba ( July 18) was a very important article regarding indigenous voters. The Assembly of First Nations wants indigenous people to get out and vote, believing they can make a real difference in at least six Manitoba ridings. This may be so. On the same day, the Free Press editorial bemoans the stricter rules of the new Fair Elections Act ( Fair Elections Act still unfair , Editorial, July 18). The editorial specifically mentions aboriginal people as a group who could be denied voting rights under the new legislation. I can only hope the Assembly of First Nations is getting aboriginals up to speed, prepared, and equipped to vote. If enough aboriginals are denied the right to vote, who is to blame - the individual, the government, the Assembly of First Nations, or a mix of all three? BOB HAEGEMAN St- Pierre- Jolys Wheel talk on transportation Is letter- writer Larry Roberts implying " diehard" cyclists who like to ride to work, even in the winter, don't pay taxes ( Common sense cycling , Letters, July 20)? By his criteria I am a diehard cyclist, and have paid taxes in the city for decades. Yet for all my contributions, I have received little benefit in terms of cycling. Unlike Roberts, when I ride somewhere I can't avoid major roads. The active- transport paths that do exist in my area don't go where I need to go, and all of them end at major roads. There are a few areas of the city with public bike parking, but many stands can only support one or two bikes at a time - who designed these things? My cycling has caused less wear on city infrastructure than cars, buses and trucks, and yet parking for them is allowed on nearly every street, essentially eliminating a lane for riding and adding another element of danger to a commute. I expect nothing from this city in terms of cycling. There have been some changes, including more riders on the road, so I've regained a small degree of optimism. But I remain generally pessimistic. Too many folks, such as Roberts and Coun. Russ Wyatt, consider common sense to be only what the cost is - what's good for business - and see riding as a hobby instead of a form of transportation. IAN TOAL Winnipeg �� We were fortunate to travel to both Montreal and Ottawa this month, which gave us the opportunity to observe their existing active- transportation infrastructure and culture. From what we observed, we in Winnipeg have a very long way to go. For cyclists, living in either of these cities is a dream. There are separated bike lanes throughout the downtown and the suburbs. There are cyclists everywhere in both cities as well as numerous city buses moving folks around. If you should hazard to park in downtown Ottawa, not a problem - street parking is free in the city core from 5: 30 p. m. until approximately 7: 30 a. m., depending on where you are. And street parking downtown is free on Saturdays and Sundays. Anyone who has visited Ottawa, especially in the summer, has witnessed an active, vibrant downtown, achieved through what's obviously a completely different operating philosophy than the one our executive policy committee is trying to shove down our throats. Ottawa's philosophy? Bring the people downtown. Winnipeg's philosophy? Come on down, but don't forget your toonies or credit cards, and please don't expect to stay longer than two hours. GARY HOOK Winnipeg �� I saw that there are once again barriers on the Lyndale Drive bicycle route along with newly installed signage. One says travel is limited to one block; the other advises against thru traffic, which implies being able to travel more than one block. So, which is it? Thank you, Mayor Bowman, for not allowing me to take a Sunday drive down my own street for which I pay taxes, yet being willing to spend hundreds of millions of dollars for paths - for which cyclists don't pay a licensing fee. PAUL NAJDA Winnipeg Putting UCCB to good use While I get the point of Mia Rabson's commentary on the newly reformed child tax benefit program, as a parent I take offence to the last line of her article referring to " retail therapy for parents" ( UCCB a Tory marketing ploy , July 16). Maybe some parents will tote off to the mall with their money, but I'm sure in most cases it will be for what kids need - back- to- school apparel, supplies, or a trip to the dentist for those who don't have dental plans. NANCY CURTAIN Winnipeg Child- care benefit payout Manitoban families received a total of $ 124 million in UCCB payments today. @ PierrePoilievre @ PierrePoilievre And it will all be taxed back. Nice try, though. @ twitohearn @ PierrePoilievre What about people without kids? Do you not want to buy their votes, too? @ Lumber_ jerk Thanks for the UCCB change, @ PierrePoilievre. Now I've just got to decide which 1.5 day/ month worth of child care to spend it on. @ GalldinRoberts It's the " universal" part that is wrong here. Many others on low income are in greater need. @ so_ many_ cats Lisa Raitt ( unlike Pierre Poilievre) is capable of talking about the UCCB without making me feel like I'm being scammed by a Nigerian prince. @ RobSilver Blatant vote- buying is an insult to Canadians. I will not be voting Conservative. @ dededawson Dysfunction at city hall Re: Seeds of city dysfunction are sown ( July 20). I agree with both Brian Bowman and Dan Lett. Bowman is correct that Russ Wyatt's tactics are unbecoming of a councillor. Lett is right that it is really up to Bowman to figure out how to bring council together. He will get a lot more done in the city if he can maintain a broad coalition of people with whom he can work on different issues. - dfen3 �� @ dfen3: You can also get a lot done if the remaining councillors would isolate Wyatt until he learns to act appropriately. - beekpl �� Russ Wyatt has demonstrated time and time again that his chief interest is building up his personal base of power and influence, and that he has no time for the city's long- term well- being. Kudos to Brian Bowman for calling a spade a spade. Wyatt deserves to be marginalized and ignored until he starts to be a little more collaborative. - lollipopsandsunshine �� "' These types of antics, they're at worst bullying tactics and at best they're unbecoming of an elected member of Winnipeg city council that is here to represent the citizens,' Bowman said." Hear that, Transcona voters? Let's please be a tad more discerning the next time we vote. - PeterCanWin �� The proposal could have used more discussion before it was passed. That appears to have been a common theme among the dissidents. Does a 20- year plan have to be done in such a hurry? - JustWondering Canada's official languages Re: Aboriginal languages should be official ( July 20). " Inuktitut, Blackfoot and Mitchif are fundamental characteristics of Canadian identity as well." No, they are not - well, at least no more than Polish, Ukrainian, German, or any of the other numerous non- official languages spoken by more Canadians than any of the above. The author shows a profound ignorance of the cost of making all of these obscure languages official. Sometimes, when something is no longer used and no longer relevant, it is OK to let it go. - 23652962 �� What would giving official language status to 60 aboriginal languages really accomplish? What's really going on here? - Cat Dreams �� And who is going to pay for all this? Yet another monumental waste of taxpayer money. - Striker W HEN city council resumes after the summer break, it will be nearly a year since Brian Bowman was elected mayor amid great fanfare and expectations of a new, open and progressive era at city hall. That, at least, was the thinking of those who did not understand the complexity of governing city hall or the limitations of mayoral power, which included every one of the candidates. Today, the excitement and anticipation of change has diminished. Even with seven new faces on city council, the largest turnover in decades, it's starting to seem like everything old is new again. In fact, there's a sense council is adrift, buffeted by the currents of old policy ideas and management styles. Take just one example, the city's continued looting of the sewer and water utility. The city will transfer roughly $ 20 million from the utility this year, and more next year. The true amount adds up to about $ 50 million in the form of property taxes applied to the utility's buildings, office rent, a land- drainage subsidy and in low interest rates it pays the utility for the use of its funds, all of which is deposited in general revenue. The Public Utilities Board has criticized this practice and it has said it should take over responsibility for setting sewer and water rates in the public interest. Former mayor Sam Katz wanted nothing to do with that suggestion and the current mayor seems equally uninterested. It's business as usual. The problem, of course, is the city is hard up for cash, dependent on handouts from the provincial and federal governments, which frequently determine how their money will be spent. Like his predecessors, Mayor Bowman is discovering cities lack the fiscal and political power to effect real change on their own. " The job of mayor is a bad job, a poor job. It's a job where you cannot be very effective," author Philip Slayton said in Mayors Gone Bad, which explains who so many mayors leave their jobs in frustration. That doesn't mean mayors can't make a difference, but it requires leadership and vision. Former mayor Susan Thompson struggled during her first term ( 1992- 95) because she was weak at forming a working consensus on council. That changed in her second term when she changed the culture of city hall by diminishing the role of senior bureaucrats and raising the importance of elected officials. That's still a work in progress, but it was a major shift, as was her successful push for holding the line on taxes. She accomplished all of this despite the presence of one of the most annoying thorns and critics to ever serve on city council, a guy by the name of Glen Murray. When he became mayor in 1998, however, Murray showed he was a clever leader and he managed his opponents with great skill. His legacy is wide- ranging, but includes the downtown arena, the pedestrian bridge and a renewed interest in good urban architecture. Let's not forget he lowered taxes. It was a remarkable achievement, although today it looks like bad policy for a city that could use the extra cash. Katz was not a leader, but he can claim a legacy of fixing roads and expanding active transportation. Other accomplishments were less flattering. The jury is still out on Mayor Bowman. His management of Coun. Russ Wyatt, council's leading gadfly and curmudgeon, is less important than his ability to build a coalition of councillors and community groups. That assumes, of course, that personal popularity is not his only goal, that he is prepared to cash in some political capital for effective government, which he has yet to really define. Mayor Bowman suffers from his own lack of experience on council, and from a large number of rookie councillors, but that excuse will only work for so long. He should know by now it will take more than a smile to lurch the city forward. Bowman struggling to lead WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Mayor Brian Bowman A_ 06_ Jul- 21- 15_ FP_ 01. indd A6 7/ 20/ 15 4: 55: 49 PM ;