Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - July 25, 2015, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A14 NDP- Grit coalition chatter Justin Trudeau's cynical, pointless refusal to contemplate a coalition with the NDP is just one more really good reason not to vote for him. @ torquilcampbell NDP partisans: Why would anyone want to start talking about a coalition government months before the writ is dropped? Tactics, dirty tactics. @ Worldwide_ Al I am a lifelong Liberal and I think Justin Trudeau should be talking seriously about the possibility of an NDP coalition. @ JuliaPerreira Because Justin Trudeau would see the Conservatives win rather than form a coalition with the NDP, I don't trust him and would never vote for him. @ RenkoStyranka Justin Trudeau says formal coalition with NDP out of the question. He then goes on to say he's " just not ready." @ 22_ Minutes When I hear NDP/ Liberal coalition, I just picture Thomas Mulcair with Justin Trudeau's hair. @ VictorDYoung OUR VIEW �o YOUR SAY WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, SATURDAY, JULY 25, 2015 Freedom of Trade Liberty of Religion Equality of Civil Rights A 14 PERSPECTIVES AND POLITICS EDITOR: Shannon Sampert 204- 697- 7269 shannon. sampert@ freepress. mb. ca winnipegfreepress. com EDITORIAL LETTERS FP COMMENTS TWITTER VOL 143 NO 252 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 Operations and Engagements / SARAH LILLEYMAN Associate Editor Digital News / WENDY SAWATZKY Night Editor / STACEY THIDRICKSON Director Photo and Multimedia / MIKE 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 No quick fix for Manitoba Grits Reading Dan Lett's article Liberals must cash in on their big gain ( July 24), I get the impression Manitoba Liberals see a bright light down the election tunnel by hiring Mike Brown as their communications officer. That might be the case, but it won't provide enough momentum to win Liberals seats in the April 2016 provincial election. To become a successful provincial party requires leadership, a well- defined policy platform and down- toearth candidates who understand what issues Manitobans want addressed. A recent poll showed the Conservatives had 46 per cent of decided voters in comparison with 19 per cent for the Liberals and leader Rana Bokhari. Manitoba Liberals have a difficult road ahead to achieving anything close to the Sharon Carstairs era in the 1980s, when she became the leader of the official Opposition. No matter who the Liberals hire to communicate or navigate their destiny in Manitoba, the party requires a leader who is elected by constituents and selected by party members - a formula the party lacks. PETER MANASTYRSKY Winnipeg Progress needed on pot front Now that neighbouring U. S. states have legalized marijuana, Ottawa can no longer claim Canada must uphold marijuana prohibition in order to maintain good U. S. relations ( Conservatives losing the war on drugs , Editorial, July 22). Prime Minister Stephen Harper has a chronic case of reefer madness best cured with medical marijuana - the drug's not nearly as dangerous ( or exciting) as Harper seems to think. Consider the experience of Canada's southern neighbour. Despite a history of zero tolerance, the U. S. has nearly double the rate of lifetime marijuana use as the Netherlands, where marijuana has been legally available for decades. If the goal of marijuana prohibition is to deter use, prohibition is a catastrophic failure. If the goal is to subsidize violent drug cartels, marijuana prohibition is a grand success. The drug war distorts supply and demand dynamics so that big money grows on little trees. Harper's war on Canadians who prefer marijuana to martinis has no basis in science. The war on cannabis consumers is a failed cultural inquisition, not an evidencebased public health campaign. ROBERT SHARPE Policy analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy Arlington, Va. �� I find it questionable that in a province the size of Manitoba, there's not one licensed medical marijuana provider ( Pot- store owner opens doors again , July 22). This is unfair to those who suffer from the pain of chronic diseases, and puts them at a disadvantage to getting the proper treatment they need and deserve. The best and fairest solution is for Health Canada to license Glenn Price to provide this service to those patients who currently use his services. Price is knowledgeable about medical cannabis, and seems to genuinely care about those who purchase this product from him - unlike the faceless people on the Health Canada website who dispense this product over the Internet, then process a package for home delivery without actually seeing the patient or monitoring symptoms and reactions to the medical cannabis. NATALIA COGGINS Winnipeg Notley photo unflattering Robert McGarvey wrote a fabulously flattering article about Rachel Notley ( ' Notley effect' changes politics , July 22). Why then does it have to be accompanied by such an unflattering, harried- looking photo? Is this the Winnipeg Free Press subtly editorializing? LISA HEFFELFINGER Victoria Beach Tending to taxpayer money Free Press commenter groot writes that the NDP are " poor stewards of taxpayers' money" ( The Notley effect , FP comments, July 23). In the mid- 1980s, Grant Devine's Progressive Conservative government almost bankrupted Saskatchewan; Roy Romanow's NDP government saved that province. The PC brand was so tainted, it changed to the Saskatchewan Party. The Harper Conservatives inherited a $ 13- billion surplus from a Liberal government that delivered nine balanced budgets - even after inheriting a $ 42- billion debt from the Mulroney PCs. Stephen Harper has never had a balanced budget, yet enjoyed tax income from record resource profits and the strongest economy in the G7 post- 2008 recession. Who is incompetent now? Cue the excuses. DAN CECCHINI Winnipeg No Grit- NDP coalition Re: Trudeau dismisses notion of Liberal- NDP alliance to topple Tories ( July 23). Ergo, Trudeau dismisses notion of having any success in the upcoming federal election. - user- 7346461 �� Liberal and NDP egos are what will ensure that Harper slides in with another victory. It's pretty damned depressing. - knowalot �� A Liberal convention in Winnipeg next year? Good for them; they can elect a new leader after Justin Trudeau gets hammered in the polls in October. - user- 6917899 �� As the summer draws on, and more political policies and ideas sprout from these leaders, the more I am inclined to not vote come election time. These politicians are still playing the same old games, and nothing changes; that's depressing as hell. - 22080928 Road- trip tuneage Re: Rock ' n' Roads ( July 23). Mellencamp's The Lonesome Jubilee album is the best driving album for me. Actually, most anything by Mellencamp. I don't see any Aerosmith, Springsteen, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Colin James, Eric Clapton, the Guess Who, Steve Earle, Jann Arden or Bryan Adams on any of those lists. A few good songs, but for the most part a bunch of one- ( or none-) hit wonders. - Sameold �� Some great music on those lists, especially Rob Williams, Jill Wilson, Bartley Kives and Jen Zoratti. Archers of Loaf, Mission of Burma and H�sker D� - yes. Frig, I'm old. - Spence Furby �� Hmm ... I think I'll stick to my own playlist. - JetsRus Deficit politics Re: Deficit politics can be a dangerous game ( Editorial, July 24). It would be nice if we could find a way to make it much more difficult for governments to run deficits. Perhaps demand 75 per cent of elected officials must agree. Just this year alone it looks like 35 million Canadians will be on the hook for about a billion- dollar deficit and, closer to home, 1.25 million Manitobans will be on the hook for about a half- billion- dollar deficit. Debt is no good, no matter how we spin it. - groot �� The perfect definition of deficit politics is Manitoba and the NDP and Ontario and the Liberals. And, of course, incompetence, waste and corruption are also perfect descriptions of the two governments. - the last remaining voice of reason P RIME Minister Stephen Harper announced Friday with Saskatchewan Premier Brad Hall joined at his hip that he is holding a moratorium on Senate appointments. Hate to burst his bubble, but that's hardly news. Mr. Harper hasn't made a Senate appointment since 2013 and there are currently 22 vacant Senate seats. This prime minister has allowed the Senate to atrophy after giving up on Senate reform. Earlier media reports suggested Harper was going to announce the abolition of the red chamber, something the federal NDP is promising as part of its election platform. If anyone thinks that is going to happen soon, there's a Nigerian prince who wants to friend you on Facebook. It's an easy campaign promise to make and an even easier campaign promise to break come October 19. As the Supreme Court, numerous constitutional experts and political pundits have pointed out, abolishing the Senate requires all the provinces to agree. And the Atlantic provinces have better representation in the Senate than they do in the House of Commons. Friday's announcement from Harper really just means abolition by stealth. As political scientist Linda Trimble argued on these pages earlier this year with a moratorium on appointments and with a number of senators reaching mandatory retirement age, in a few short years, half of the Senate seats will be empty. And claiming it's another way the Tories are saving Canadians money, as Mr. Harper did Friday is really small town cheap. So rather than out and out abolishment or reform, the Senate will be allowed to whither on the vine. Mr. Harper told reporters he is going to leave it up to the provinces to figure out a solution - an interesting move from a prime minister who has not exactly won accolades for playing nicely with his provincial counterparts. A case in point, the most recent first ministers conference was once again a no- show for the federal leader. For Mr. Harper, his attempts to fix the Senate are becoming an embarrassment. Senate reform has been an ongoing issue for the Conservatives since before they were Conservatives. The Reform Party ran on the pledge of a Triple- E Senate, elected, effective and equal. Mr. Harper lost his attempts to promote change when the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in 2014, that Senate reform requires the approval of seven provinces with 50 per cent of Canada's population. Something a first- year political science student could have told him. Plus, he's had to deal with the ongoing issue of Senate scandal. Conservative senators Patrick Brazeau and Pamela Wallin were turfed out of the Senate in 2013 because of questions about their expenses. More recently, Conservative Sen. Don Meredith was removed from the party caucus after allegations he had an affair with an underage girl. And of course, who can forget former broadcaster Mike Duffy. He's pleaded not guilty to 31 charges of fraud, breach of trust and bribery related to expenses he claimed as a senator and later repaid with money from the prime minister's former chief of staff. His trial continues in August, not a particularly positive image for a prime minister seeking his second majority government. Indeed, with pollsters pointing to an NDP lead in the early goings of a federal election campaign, Mr. Harper has got to do something to make this all go away. So why announce a moratorium now and throw the Molotov cocktail back into the provinces' hands? Well, it takes the pressure off Mr. Harper and puts it back on the provinces. He can throw his hands up in the air and claim " it's not my fault, I tried to fix it" and make the provinces do the heavy lifting in trying to work it all out. It's also a way of diverting voters' attention away from a weakening economy and growing deficit. Senate moratorium translates to atrophy Prime Minister Stephen Harper A_ 14_ Jul- 25- 15_ FP_ 01. indd A14 7/ 24/ 15 7: 31: 25 PM ;