Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - August 3, 2024, Winnipeg, Manitoba Skill needed for site cleanup Re: City frustrated as demolition delayed again (Aug. 2) The conflict between the city and the province is really quite simple. The city wants the Vulcan Iron Works site cleaned up, and the province does not want the cleanup process to kill anyone. Fortunately, the Workplace Safety and Health Act and Regulations provide a guide that will help achieve this reasonable goal. The first step is to determine whether or not there is asbestos present in the building and in what amount. This is the responsibility of the employer, and requires a “person who is com- petent” to do this work. Developing an asbestos inventory is a common safety and health activity carried out by many employers including the City of Winnipeg. Based on the article, it does not appear that this first step has been done, although it has been a requirement under the Workplace Safety and Health Act for decades. The second step is to develop a control plan. It would appear that an acceptable control plan for the demolition has not been developed. Asbestos is a carcinogen — it causes cancer. Cancer-caus- ing materials must be controlled so that exposure to the material is as close to zero as possible. The Act and Regulations do not require zero exposure but as close to zero as “reasonably practicable.” Again a “person who is competent” would be useful here. It should be noted that this is not the first time that a building has been demolished. Buildings have been safely demolished for many years in many jurisdictions including in Winnipeg. It can be done, but it requires a “person who is compe- tent.” I recommend that the Manitoba section of the American Industrial Hygiene Association be contacted for assistance. JOHN ELIAS Winnipeg Appalled by sentence Re: ‘I have lost so many things’ (Aug. 1) I read that Judge Dave Mann sentenced Brae- don Lee Gordon 23, the impaired driver who plead guilty to one count of driving with a blood alcohol over .08 causing bodily harm. Braedon had no licence at the time of this tragic collision and had three prior alcohol-driving convictions. He is also prohibited from driving for eight years. MPI banned him from driving for life. Thank you MPI. I also read the horrific impact this crime has had on the innocent victim veteran police officer Const. Dan Léveillé and his family. The 51-year- old victim was on his way to work when he was hit. He spent 207 days in hospital many of those suffering from his injuries. He is now in a motor- ized wheelchair and will never return to active duties serving the citizens of Winnipeg. He will never experience the enjoyment of riding his mo- torcycle again. His life has changed drastically. I am again disgusted and appalled at the lenient sentence given to Gordon. Life has changed for Mr. Léveillé, who is now serving a life sentence. LYNNE COOPER Winnipeg The changing world Re: Keep you phone in your pocket (Editorial, Aug. 1) “But at what cost?” This is an important ques- tion to be asking about the use of phones in our culture. Distractions, yes. But in his book, The Anxious Generation, Jon- athan Haidt draws attention to the cost borne by our young people. There is strong evidence that since the smart phone’s introduction 15 years ago, there has been a significant increase in young teen mental illness. It would seem that they have increasingly turned to the virtual world for validation. What is going on in our world such that young people prefer the “likes” on a smartphone instead of conversations with real people? Or have we lost sight of what constitutes real conversations? And real affirmations? RAY HARRIS Winnipeg Downtown lacking Re: Don’t let downtown gains go down the drain (Aug. 1) Correct me if I am wrong, are there any active businesses, other than the Dollar Tree and Dollar Store, open on Portage Avenue from the former Hudson’s Bay to Main Street? I found myself going east on Portage on Mon- day afternoon and I could not see a shop that looked like it was in business. I know everyone for one reason or another wants downtown to return to its glory days of the pre-malling of America, but without a full-ser- vice grocery store, how can this ever happen? ALFRED SANSREGRET Winnipeg Won’t take that bet As the Paris Olympics continue, I would like to thank each and everyone of our Canadian ath- letes for representing Canada so proudly. What I’m not so proud of is for the first time one is allowed to bet on the outcomes. I get it! It’s all about the money. Anyone watch- ing an NHL game this year had to suffer through countless gambling commercials. But can we at least leave one of the last Canadi- an bastions untouched? Sure, there has been incidents that have tainted the purity of the games. But the majority of the athletes in the Olympics are true to the spirit. Our athletes have sacrificed and dedicated countless years of training for this one moment of glory. Maybe, just maybe, the betting could take a hiatus during the Olympics. But I bet that will never happen. Go Canada! PATRICK BEND Winnipeg A job worth doing Re: Firefighters need to focus on core jobs (Think Tank, July 30) Rochelle Squires makes the case that firefight- ers should be held in reserve to fight fires and not deployed to attend medical emergencies, among other things. This begs the question, “Is a human life more valuable than an empty building?” A lifetime ago my now-deceased wife, who had early onset Alzheimer’s disease, went into seizure. It was terrifying to watch and I thought she might die. I called 911 and the dispatcher instructed me to unlock the front door. By the time I got downstairs to do this, there were firefighters at our door. I will never forget the image of a burly firefighter lifting Lynne like a doll and placing her on a gurney to be transported to the hospital by the ambulance and EMTs that followed. Was this an efficient use of resources? It was to me. TOM PEARSON Winnipeg The water beneath us Although we have all had the chance to read about the exploitation of a rare sand in the prov- ince I would like to focus a little on another more precious resource: water. Do people know exactly what an aquifer is? How does it come into being? Is there more than one? How important are they and who depends on them? Can they be polluted? I will venture that when it comes to our water that is on the land, we know quite a bit, but of the water that is far below our feet, we know very little. How many aquifers do we have in the province and where are they? How large are they and how much water do they contain? How long will they be there? Is there any connection between them and the ridge line that was left behind, about 8,000 years ago, by a receding glacier? This eastern Manitoba ridge line runs in a northerly direction from Minnesota’s Beltrami uplands, cuts through the Roseau River, contin- ues north to the Sandilands and to the eastern part of Lake Winnipeg. It is a cornucopia of natural springs and artesians, clear, clean, cold filtered water. How are these sources created? Are they remnants of Lake Agassiz and the sand beaches it created? The answers are far beneath our feet. Our elected officials should have the answers if we ask. GEORGES BEAUDRY Dominion City 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. OUR VIEW YOUR SAY COMMENT EDITOR: RUSSELL WANGERSKY 204-697-7269 ● RUSSELL.WANGERSKY@WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM A8 SATURDAY AUGUST 3, 2024 Changing drunk-driving laws D ARNED right it doesn’t sit well. Wednesday, 23-year-old Braedon Lee Gordon pleaded guilty to his fourth alco- hol-related driving offence, and was sentenced to 35 months in prison. With this offence, Gordon seriously and perma- nently injured an off-duty Winnipeg police officer, Dan Léveillé. Gordon was already suspended from driving at the time of the incident. Léveillé, on his way to work on his motorcycle, was struck head-on by the van Gordon was driving. Gordon pleaded guilty to one charge of driving with a blood alcohol level over .08 causing bodily harm. The judge in the case sentenced Gordon to the term in prison jointly recommended by the Crown and Gordon’s defence lawyer. Even as the sentence was being levied, it was clear that many would disagree with its brevity. “The position being put forward is absolutely justifiable in law,” Crown attorney Nick Reeves told provincial court Judge David Mann. “That being said, the public will disagree. “I don’t think anyone in this gallery believes three years or even four years is an appropriate sentence given the harm caused,” Reeves said. “We can justify these sentences legally by looking at moral blameworthiness when drivers don’t set out to hurt anyone, but when these offences cause more calamity than any other offence in the Crim- inal Code, it doesn’t sit well with the public when they see the sentences that are being imposed.” You can see the legal logic in Reeves’ comments if you look at them in isolation, but they certainly do not sit well. Why? Because while drunk drivers may not intentionally set out to hurt anyone, everybody knows full well that drunk drivers have hurt — and killed — people, do hurt and kill people, and will continue to hurt and kill people. It’s not a sur- prise occurrence — it’s not an unexpected result from a sequence of unpredictable events. And even the Crown admits that. “Mr. Gordon’s record is nothing short of infu- riating,” Reeves told the court. “He was a ticking time bomb on the streets. This sort of calamity was inevitable.” Let’s parse that sentence. If Gordon had actually put a ticking time bomb on a street, leading to a different kind of inevita- ble and explosive calamity — one where Const. Léveillé ended up with similar serious injuries — you would certainly expect that Gordon would have been sentenced to far more than 35 months in prison. Wouldn’t you? So what exactly is supposed to be the differ- ence? The truth is that — as we have said in this space before and will not doubt end up saying again and again and again — drunk-driving offences are treated differently. Such crimes have a long history of being treated differently. They have a long-established pattern of jurisprudence and well-worn precedents that mean, without a functional change in the Criminal Code of Canada, they will continue to be treated as a lesser form of violent offence, one where the pain and suffering of individuals and their fami- lies necessarily counts for less. Reeves was absolutely right when he said, “The position being put forward is absolutely justifiable in law.” He was also absolutely right when he added, “That being said, the public will disagree.” What has to happen is that the law has to change, if in no other way than to make the pun- ishment fit the crime — particularly in the case of consistent reoffenders. A crucial part of the justice system is that pun- ishment for crimes is a meaningful deterrent, and it’s not really clear that there’s enough deterrence in drunk-driving penalties. There are simply too many ticking time bombs out there. You’ll hear this again, the next time one goes off. It probably won’t be a long wait. EDITORIAL Published since 1872 on Treaty 1 territory and the homeland of the Métis SUPPLIED Winnipeg Police Service Const. Dan Léveillé ;