Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - July 29, 2015, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A6 Monday's storm a doozy I can't believe the weather Manitoba had Monday night - very exciting stuff. It's great to hear no one got hurt. @ tpagee204 Can't stop watching Manitoba tornado video from Monday... What a monster... @ daynavettese What a storm. My first Manitoba tornado and it was a wedge. Sounds like there wasn't too much damage, which is good news. @ steinbachwx What I've learned on my sick day: storm watchers are insane. Beautiful and terrifying photos and videos from back home. # MBstorm @ teresahowe Hard to explain the rush of chasing in # mbstorm. Insane is the best word to describe it. @ BCrane80 For keeping us safe, informed, and always being there: Thank you to all the meteorologists and forecasters out there. @ PrairieChasers OUR VIEW �o YOUR SAY WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, JULY 29, 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 256 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 Senate's problems run deep It appears our prime minister has abandoned his focus on Senate reform ( No reforms, no new senators , July 25). Stephen Harper told the media he is " putting the pressure on the premiers" to plan for any reform. In other words, his last act of leadership involving the Senate was handpicking disgraced senators Pamela Wallin and Patrick Duffy. Conservative attack ads vilify Justin Trudeau as not being ready for the job of prime minister; what has Stephen Harper demonstrated when it comes to leadership? He controls Conservative MPs and what they can say, and Canada has the worst media access to the government than any other nation in the western world. Now we have Harper abrogating his leadership role as prime minister when it comes to Senate reform, his previous cause c�l�bre. He has a consistent track record of being unable to work collaboratively with provincial leaders. The " coach" has turned to his players and said " I can't work with you anymore - figure out a way to win." It doesn't work in sports, or when running a country. GARY HOOK Winnipeg �� Regardless of the colour of the stripe one might wear, we still need a Senate. Yes, it's time for change - not to abolish the Senate, but to purge those within the upper chamber and begin anew. Who or what takes the place of what many are now campaigning to scuttle is question that needs an answer. At one time the Senate was an inner conscience, a refuge for sober second thought. Those principles have been put aside and abandoned; the integrity of what was once a respected and moral component of Parliament has disappeared. The present system of appointing individuals selected by the prime minister has resulted in stacking the deck - authoritative tentacles are intertwined, and commands are directed from the majority government in the lower house. The Senate has fallen from grace. However, for the benefit and protection of Canadians, a phoenix must be reborn - an elected Senate. Senators should have no political affiliation to adulterate their wisdom and decisions - politics only complicates and undermines the obligations and true purpose of the Senate's original existence. JOHN FEFCHAK Virden Trump's antics help Hillary Donald Trump's antics will guarantee Republicans lose the presidential election, and they'll have no one to blame but themselves ( The age of the political idiot , July 25). For years the Republican party has made American elections a game to be won by money, marketing and propaganda, trumping Democrats' smart social policies. Their Trump monster is alive and on the rampage. He won't win the Republican presidential race, so he'll run as an independent and split the right- wing vote. Because of their incompetence and self- righteous arrogance, the Republicans will create president Hillary Clinton. She should send them a thank- you card. DAN CECCHINI Winnipeg Commemorate train crash victims Sunday's Free Press carried a heart- wrenching article on the train catastrophe in Brandon on January 12, 1916 ( Deadly day in Brandon , July 26) Christian Cassidy details how 19 " Austrian" Ukrainian and Polish temporary immigrant workers hired by Canadian Pacific Railway to clear snow drifts from tracks and switches, died when their snow train was hit by a passing train. The 19 victims were buried in the Brandon cemetery. Only five of the 19 have markers on their graves; the other 14 were buried in unmarked graves. Is it possible that CPR, out of compassion after 100 years, would consider erecting a common monument bearing the names of the forgotten 14? These poor young men worked for the CPR at around 25 to 50 cents per hour. JOHN MELNYK Winnipeg A trio of engaging voices Congratulations to the Free Press on the July 28 Think Tank page. In their own ways, the three articles represent mature, intelligent engagement with important issues facing Manitobans and Canadians. Shauna MacKinnon on aboriginal employment ( Working for aboriginal employees ), Peter Miller on demand- side management of energy use ( Challenges of power smart ), and Don Bailey on the Canadian Senate ( The importance of Canada's Senate ) contribute in a positive way to discussions we all need to be having - and having in a serious way - free of the all- too- common ideological grinding which constitutes our normal fare. SIG LASER Winnipeg Solving Senate woes Re: Harper's lack of plans for Senate may head to Supreme Court ( July 27). Make it an elected, effective Senate. Cut the numbers down to a reasonable number of senators. Move to the American model where each province gets a set number - say, six. That way no province can hold the others hostage because they have more seats. I realize that will take a change to the Constitution, but there has to be checks and balances on a first- pastthe- post parliamentary system. Forty per cent of the popular vote ( which is only 40 per cent of about 55 per cent of Canadians) shouldn't entitle any party to pass legislation without sober second thought. - 23627222 �� @ 23627222: The U. S. has two senators per state. Seems like a workable number. And less expensive. - groot �� @ 23627222: How about just abolishing the Senate and adopting proportional representation, which the Liberals and NDP are promising? There are several advanced democracies without upper chambers, including Sweden, Denmark, New Zealand and others. They are doing just fine. Several Canadian provinces ( including Manitoba) have abolished their upper chambers. In none of these countries or provinces has there ever been a movement to bring back the upper house on the grounds that there is some sober second thought lacking. - Spence Furby �� Our tax dollars, hard at waste. - DeepDeepBlue O'Shea protecting players Re: It's payback time ( July 27). Bombers coach Mike O'Shea's biggest loyalty is being shown to the backup quarterback by annointing him Brian Brohm without earning it. Brohm won't be able to repay him because he's not capable. If Robert Marve is really benched - not injured as he's being classified - then O'Shea will have lost all credibility with the team and the fans. We will find out soon if Marve asks for an outright release from the team. - sportsfan100 �� Is it just me or the more I watch and listen to O'Shea the more I'm convinced that he simply isn't head coach material? And please don't compare him to Paul Maurice - these guys are light years apart in coaching ability. Maurice never makes excuses the way O'Shea does. O'Shea's downfall will be hitching his wagon to Brohm for reasons unknown to the rest of us. - user- 6951939 �� " I don't know that we played for 60 minutes..." I do; they didn't - and that's what's disturbing! - CleanupManitoba L IKE the proverbial biblical plagues, Western Canada today is a land tormented by torrential rains, tornadoes, drought, locusts, extreme heat, hail storms and thousands of wildfires that have wreaked havoc on key sectors of the economy. Unlike the story in the Book of Exodus, however, the natural calamities that stretch from Vancouver to the Ontario border and beyond do not appear to be divinely inspired. Rather, depending on your preference, they are part of the growing evidence for climate change or, at least, climate variability. Some scientists say the unprecedented weather patterns of the past decade are a combination of man- made global warming and natural climate change. El Nino, the band of warm weather from the Pacific that affects weather patterns, has also been blamed. In fact, the phenomenon hasn't even arrived in Canada yet, so strike out that theory, according to Environment Canada. The fact is extreme weather is here. It's a threat to agriculture, transportation, municipalities, tourism, the natural environment, northern development and human and animal health. In terms of agriculture, Ottawa says the 2001 and 2002 drought years alone cost nearly $ 4 billion in lost production. The GDP fell nearly $ 6 billion in those years, while 41,000 jobs were lost. A group of B. C. scientists said a four- year drought that affected parts of western Canada and the United States between 2002 and 2004 was the worst dry spell to hit the region in 800 years. It was nothing, they added, compared to the " mega droughts" to come. In Manitoba, two major floods along the Assiniboine River and Lake Manitoba in three years have also added up to billions of dollars in damages and flood mitigation. Vancouver has been forced to impose water- use restrictions, while some 1,300 wildfires have been reported in B. C. since April. That's before the beginning of the normal fire season in August. Alberta and Saskatchewan are begging for help to deal with a drought that has destroyed feed crops, while grain farmers across the prairies also need a hand to deal with crops burned to a crisp by a blistering sun. Government assistance at all levels will increasingly be called on to deal with the crises, particularly now that extreme weather appears to be the new normal. The federal government, however, decided last January it was reducing its contribution to the disaster financial aid program. The timing couldn't be worse. Premier Greg Selinger said at the time he was concerned about the impact on Manitoba because of the frequency of flood events in recent years. He said if the changes had been in effect in 2000, they would have cost the province an additional $ 55 million. The new rules stipulate disasters have to reach $ 3.9 million before federal assistance would begin. The previous limit was $ 1.3 million. The 90- 10 cost- sharing formula, where Ottawa pays 90 per cent of the costs, now won't apply until the province's costs reach $ 20 million. The federal and provincial governments, meanwhile, are moving slowly on policies to mitigate climate change and they aren't doing much better on the immediate problem of adaptation, or preparing for extreme weather. Municipalities, for example, need to develop building codes that anticipate the new climate, while farmers need new crop species that can thrive under drought conditions. Winter roads could disappear, while the loss of permafrost could affect northern infrastructure. The list goes on. The long- term effects of climate change are important, but they shouldn't overshadow the need to prepare for the next heat wave or torrential downpour. Time to prepare for the next plague A water bomber near La Ronge, Sask. A_ 06_ Jul- 29- 15_ FP_ 01. indd A6 7/ 28/ 15 8: 17: 59 PM ;