Sound Off — Feb. 25, 2016

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 25/02/2016 (3888 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

I have a thought for ‘Food for Thought’

In regards to the Food For Thought program in the schools. I am in favour of this program, however, I do not feel it should be in the schools. I would like to see it removed from the schools and put into places such as community centres. This would allow the program to be run year-round. It is not only during school that children are hungry. Also, the community centres could be used as community kitchens once or twice a week. This idea of three or four families pooling their food for a meal was started in Quebec and this idea has been spreading throughout the country. Perhaps there might be some federal funding for both the food program and the community centres supporting these programs.

All-day kindergarten more like babysitting

In regards to all-day kindergarten. The all-day kindergarten was initially developed to help disadvantaged children to catch up to peers who had been provided with more learning benefits before starting school. It has evolved into something else. By the time the children have reached Grade 3 — according to other studies not quoted in the paper — there are no discernable differences between half-day and whole-day kindergarten. It appears that the whole-day kindergarten is desirable for babysitting purposes as only a small proportion of students fall into the disadvantaged categories.

Bad governance is what is holding us back

“Go bold, Manitoba politicians, educators, entrepreneurs, financiers and think-tanks — go bold!” So reads the final sentence in the letter of Feb. 16 from Rosemarie and Chester Letkeman in the Feb. 18 paper. Manitoba is already going bold if measured by unsustainable spending, in good times and bad, by the NDP government. The Manitoba government is already going bold by gambling its future on a most unlikely scenario where electricity exports eventually become financially viable. Going bold is what entrepreneurs in Manitoba already do, when not drowning in government red tape. Farmers are almost three times as productive as they were 40 years ago and do it as soil health is better now than in decades. Thanks to new technologies, the oil sector in Manitoba has extraction technologies that no one could have dreamed of until recently. Thus, I don’t see the purpose of this jingoism, just as I don’t see that anything changed as a result of Obama’s “Yes we can” jingo which helped get him elected in 2008. Similarly, we consider Trudeau’s comments about resourcefulness being more important than resources in Canada. Tell that to the finance minister a month before budget day! Bad governance is what holds us back, not boldness or any other jingoistic notion.

Thanks to the street cleaners

I think credit should be given when credit is due. And that is to our City of Brandon Public Works Department. They clean our street so good and they are so good about it. They clean the driveways and they make sure if there is a car there they clean up around it. It is amazing how good these guys are. I just want to say, as a senior, we really appreciate it.

For some the jury is still out on Selinger

Interesting how Kerry Auriat determines that 80 per cent of Manitobans think Premier Greg Selinger is not doing a good job as only 20 per cent polled think he is. Does that mean that there are no undecided or not sure voters as usually make up part of a poll? Obviously the PST was raised because there was a shortfall in income to provide the services Manitobans expect, not to fill the coffers of the NDP. Brian Pallister lately is remaining quiet on what his party will do, as his past rants have been to cut everything and put us back into the ’80s. Pallister’s ideas of cutting spending will not bring doctors and business to a province that has cut services, created higher unemployment and inevitably increased social assistance.