Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - April 12, 2024, Winnipeg, Manitoba Bike spat tiring Re: Councillor sorry for calling group ‘bicycle nazis’ (April 10) The case of Bike Winnipeg and Russ Wyatt is simply a case of clowns to the left of me and jokers to the right. No, we can’t have councillors calling groups bicycle Nazis, but there’s no sense in pretending that he said some type of racial slur worthy of a resignation, tarring and feathering either. I’m certainly a grammar Nazi, as I am for spelling and punctuation. I’d also probably fit into Wyatt’s category of bicycle Nazi — I get out and ride down Scotia as many days I can in the warm weather and encourage others to do the same. I am also in support better cycling infrastruc- ture because it’s clear that what we have now is inadequate. So while I truly appreciate Bike Winnipeg’s efforts to lobby for better cycling infrastructure, I believe that meaningful progress requires a fundamental change in how our city values cy- clists and pedestrians, which cannot be achieved by simply ousting a car-centric councillor from a committee over crude verbiage. KENNETH INGRAM Winnipeg Wyatt must go Coun. Russ Wyatt’s outrageous and unhinged outburst at the April 9 meeting of the City of Winnipeg public works committee is without precedent. Referring to Mark Cohoe, executive director of Bike Winnipeg who was giving a presentation about safety measures at street intersections, as “a bicycle Nazi”, displays a profound and appall- ing lapse in judgment, a stunning impairment of moral cognition and an overall inability to curb violent rhetoric and petulant frustration: “For the average people who don’t show up to the commit- tee, I realize a bicycle Nazi wants to take away all the lanes for the cars.” That Wyatt is incapable of curbing his impulse to insult, degrade and make the most egregious comparison when confronted with an experi- enced, thoughtful and knowledgeable presenter boggles the mind. Apparently, Wyatt needs to be schooled in Nazism. The Nazis were responsible for the Holocaust, the systematic murder of six million Jewish chil- dren, women and men. The Nazis also murdered 11 million non-Jewish people whom they consid- ered subhuman and undesirable: among them, Slavs; Romani; homosexual men; people with mental or physical disabilities; Spanish Republi- cans; Black Europeans and others. In total, the Nazis murdered 17 million inno- cent victims. The City of Winnipeg “Code of Conduct for Members of Council” states: “9. Respectful Conduct a. All Members have a duty to treat members of the public, one another, and staff with respect and without abuse, harassment, or intimidation. a. Harassment includes: i. any behaviour, whether a single incident or a course of conduct, that a reasonable person should have known would be unwelcome, and that is inappropriate, demeaning, humiliating, embarrassing, or otherwise offensive, including but not limited to: a. verbal or written insults, abuse or threats; an b. racial or ethnic slurs, including racially derogatory nicknames. Wyatt’s words and comportment are unbecom- ing of a City of Winnipeg employee and reveal his profound inability to serve in a balanced manner the residents of Transcona. He is clearly incapa- ble of controlling hideously violent outbursts. The residents of Transcona deserve better; the City of Winnipeg deserves better. Wyatt is clearly unfit for public office. Remove him. KENNETH MEADWELL Winnipeg Cheers for Cohoe Bike Winnipeg executive director Mark Cohoe is a rare bird. Steadfast, diplomatic, calm, open, committed. It must be more than 20 years now that he has been leading the city towards active transporta- tion, organizing across social movements, finding ways to connect and gather collective pressure. Despite the grind and frequent disappointments, Winnipeggers have watched him consistently engaging city processes honestly and respectful- ly: providing evidence data, and widely supported plans towards improving life in Winnipeg. I’m very grateful for his ongoing efforts throughout the city, on all of our behalf. KATE SJOBERG Winnipeg Biodiversity at risk Re: Manitoba delays Interlake flood outlets yet again (April 10) It seems Manitoba governments are willing to reconsider a reset of what constitutes meaningful consultation for some projects and not others. Backtracking is supported when the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada publishes a draft environmental assessment report, but when the province of Manitoba issues an environmental license to Canadian Premium Sand for an alter- ation to a completely different mine that includes brand-new research on carcinogenic airborne particulate matter and the inclusion of plans to address acid drainage and heavy metal leaching into Lake Winnipeg, the province uses a ministe- rial directive to bypass public consultation and Section 35 consultation. Biodiversity and unique ecosystems are at risk when provincial coffers are the main beneficiary of resource extraction. There needs to be a con- sistent approach to consultation in this province. MARY JANE MCCARRON Wanipigow Honest carbon discussion There has been much written lately about car- bon tax; for or against it. A lot of what has been published is pro-tax and is presented as a neces- sary tax to solve the climate crisis. As always, the supporters present a one-dimensional rationale and omit many facts that would cast doubt on the effectiveness and true cost of the tax. The first premise is that the tax is revenue neutral and results in “rebate checks.” The truth is that the federal government adds GST after the carbon tax resulting in a windfall of $486 million in GST. Additionally, the rebate check, at $300 per quarter in Manitoba, amounts to whopping $3.30 per day, just enough for a bus ride on a diesel-powered bus. The world’s largest emitter don’t have a carbon tax, in fact only 40 countries presently have a carbon tax. Here in Canada, one the largest emitters, Sunoco, has used carbon offsets to reduce its carbon costs to approximately $2.10 per tonne, about one 14th the full carbon tax price. Canadian drivers are pay- ing $30 per tonne or 6.6 cents per litre on top of carbon tax on home heating. Let us have a frank and honest discussion about what we really need to do to mitigate climate change, not like what is happening now. GILLES NICOLAS Winnipeg Everybody, pitch in Re: Unsightly messes (Letters, April 10) I do agree with the writer’s pride of Winnipeg. I lived in two other cities and resort areas for years and can say Winnipeg is the best place I have lived in. I would ask the downtown entertainment ven- ues as to why they do not clean up in front and near their facilities; go to just about any retail store or coffee shop and, more often than not, you will see an employee clearing the area regardless of whether it’s city property or their own. When I walk the dog, I pick up litter in my neighborhood. It’s April in Winnipeg, and, yes, there is sand on the roads and pathways, happens every year, but the dictates of machines usually require warmer nights in order to facilitate the cleaning equip- ment, which use water, dont’cha know. And that unpaved bit — is that not in the area where construction was required and probably at end of the construction season meant they could not finish the pathway? That would probably be rectified this summer. All in all, it is an early spring in the ‘Peg and I think we are all good with that. GARY BILLSON Winnipeg LETTERS TO THE EDITOR WHAT’S YOUR TAKE? THE FREE PRESS WANTS TO HEAR FROM YOU. The Free Press is committed to publishing a diverse selection of letters from a broad cross-section of our audience. The Free Press will also consider longer submissions for inclu- sion on our Think Tank page, which is a platform mandated to present a wide range of perspectives on issues of current interest. We welcome our readers’ feedback on articles and letters on these pages and in other sections of the Free Press ● Email: Letters: letters@winnipegfreepress.com Think Tank submissions: opinion@winnipegfreepress.com ● 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 OUR VIEW YOUR SAY COMMENT EDITOR: RUSSELL WANGERSKY 204-697-7269 ● RUSSELL.WANGERSKY@WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM A6 FRIDAY APRIL 12, 2024 University must learn from experience F OR an institution dedicated to the advance- ment of higher learning, one hopes a recent computer-security calamity will serve as a teachable moment. In the wake of a cyberattack last month, the University of Winnipeg was forced to cancel classes, temporarily shut down its principal internal systems and require students and staff to reset all passwords as part of a massive effort to re-secure and restart its operations. The attack also delayed the start of exams, forced cancellation of sporting events and obliged the university to disclose that decades’ worth of personal and financial information from students and faculty members had been compromised when an internal file server was breached by cyber thieves. It is, by any standard, an ongoing disaster. And as U of W officials, along with police services and security experts, continue to probe the origins, depths and impacts of the incursion, it’s worth taking a moment to consider what lessons will have been learned by this unfortunate — and, according to some in the university’s community, preventable — security lapse. While rightly describing the breach as a crim- inal attack, U of W officials have to date seemed reluctant to concede any failings that might have made the system vulnerable. But according to at least one staff member, the university neglected to apply basic measures that might have protected the at-risk information. The staffer said the vul- nerabilities included the presence in classrooms of computers that were not password-protected. “It’s mind-blowing that anyone could walk into any classroom that’s open and use a computer … without needing to provide a username or pass- word,” the employee said, adding such lax securi- ty “creates an incredible number of vulnerabili- ties for accessing university systems and tracking personal information and credentials.” A request for comment from the university was met with a referral to an updated “frequently asked questions” section of the U of W website that states classroom computers are secure and can’t be used to access network services such as file storage. While it’s encouraging to know that’s current- ly the case, one is left wondering what the state of affairs, security-wise, was leading up to and during the weeklong period during which the nefarious actors are believed to have had access to the U of W’s data. Once the university and law enforcement have completed their investigation, it is incumbent on the U of W to provide a full accounting of how and why this serious violation of the institution’s cybersecurity was able to occur — if not to satisfy the need for public confidence in the integrity of universities’ information systems, then at least to offer an acceptable level of transparency to the thousands of students and employees whose per- sonal information, including names, addresses, birthdates, financial details and social insurance numbers, may have been harvested during the breach. For those affected by the attack, the U of W has offered to cover the cost of two years’ credit monitoring to help them defend against identity fraud — a concession one security expert deemed inadequate, given that the information theft will impact “every single affected victim for the rest of their life.” No financial compensation has been offered; a petition circulating at the university demands at least $500 be paid to anyone affected by the breach. Monetary considerations will no doubt be dis- cussed in the months ahead; what is most needed now are assurances that the U of W — and, for that matter, all public institutions and the gov- ernment that oversees them — has taken heed of the daunting digital-age lesson presented by this egregious violation. Teachable moments are only useful when one actively seeks to learn from them. EDITORIAL Published since 1872 on Treaty 1 territory and the homeland of the Métis MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS A computer connected to the internet at the U of W April 5, 2024 ;