Have your say

Mail is business

The comments and feelings I read from average citizens of Winnipeg about the obsolescence of Canada Post seem dangerous and ignorant about the ways of the small-business economy. Your local plumber, wholesaler or any business that extends credit to other business relies on Canada Post to deliver the cheques to pay the monthly statements they send to their customers. Many of these companies do not accept credit cards, and if they did the last thing they would want to do is encourage more customers to pay by credit card. The credit card fees eat up most of the net profit that the company creates in a year.

Besides this segment, the Internet-based business (seller on eBay) relies on Canada Post to deliver its goods. These are stay-at-home parents, retired people earning extra money or more often people creating their own jobs. It is shortsighted to feel because you can email your friends or pay bills online that Canada Post provides no other service to our economy. I expect that the threat of strike and lockout will have a major if not fatal effect on many small-business customers.

Canada Post serves all segments of our economy and not just individuals' needs. Consider all sides of the argument and the long-term effects of migrating more customers to credit card payments. Different generations, communities and business sectors are at different periods of evolution in our country and Canada Post serves everyone in various ways.

JOHN FORSYTH

Winnipeg

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I work at Canada Post and am a member of the Union of Postal Communications Employees. In 2008, we were on strike for many of the same things that CUPW now is fighting to keep. One of the things we have heard from Canada Post is that there is a $3-billion deficit in the pension fund.

What Canada Post does not want the taxpayers to know and has neglected to tell them is that it recovered by not contributing its employer portion of contributions to the pension plan from June 2007 until September or October of 2008.

This was a loss to the plan of over $700 million. This amount certainly would have helped with the "deficit" that they are claiming is putting them in such financial hardship now. They have been a profitable corporation for 16 years.

We have lost benefits in every contract for the past three contracts. In 2008 we were fighting to keep our sick leave, just as CUPW is now doing. We knew then that if we lost our sick leave it would only be a matter of time before every employer in this country would look for the same thing, and that is now what is happening.

Unions have fought for many years to get better benefits for their employees. Because of their actions, benefits like maternity leave and health and safety have been legislated. Instead of the public being angry with the employees of Canada Post, maybe it is time to turn some of that anger towards the employer.

MARINA ANSTEY

Antigonish, N.S.

Wrong decision

Re: Judge gives car thief who killed 'a break' (June 17). A youth who kills a man is approved for open custody! Are you kidding me? Queen's Bench Justice Lea Duval should be challenged by her colleagues for this unbelievable decision. There is a death of an innocent man, yet this youth is allowed some freedom. This youth needs to remain in closed custody for the duration of his original directive. Our criminal youth are now aware of this.

DAN MCKINNON

Winnipeg

Airship dream

I see that Barry Prentice is flogging cargo dirigibles again (Airships are answer for Port of Churchill, June 20). He presents three options to solve the problem of year-round transportation to Churchill. The first two are expensive, no doubt about it. The third choice is, in my opinion, pie in the sky, with a production airship a decade or more in the future, if projects like the technologically advanced Boeing 787 Dreamliner, with its interminable development delays, are any indication.

It occurred to me while reading the article that option No. 1 or 2 would be affordable if the sale and use of marijuana were made legal, which has to happen sooner or later. The resulting tax revenue would be in the billions, and some of it could be earmarked for the construction of a paved road or railway to Churchill.

MICHAEL DOWLING

Winnipeg

Women and beer

The Warwaruks claim they "aren't interested in brewing a beer that only two per cent of the population will want to drink" (They're betting the farm on estate brewery, June 21). Yet they go on to insult 50 per cent of the population by saying "Fruit beers are an entry-level beer for women." Seriously? After a statement like this, I doubt very many men will be running out to purchase their fruit beer, and I am certain that beer-loving women will have trouble identifying with their product at all.

KOREY WILLIAMS

Winnipeg

Life, not lifestyle

Re: Facts and argument (Letters, June 20). The Free Press may feel it's of value to publish extreme views that are fully divorced from fact, but printing letters to the editor that breezily refer to homosexuality as a "lifestyle choice" is not only dehumanizing, but bizarre.

If the Free Press welcomes letters from those intent on perpetuating the belief that sexual orientation is a choice, then by the same logic the paper would welcome letters castigating those who choose the wrong colour of skin.

David Leibl

Winnipeg

Compassion's backlash

Re: Bring back lash? (June 20). Wow, what a breath of fresh air! Unfortunately, it will never see the light of day through our federal government. While it may make terrific sense to most by serving two purposes -- reducing prison costs and handing out meaningful punishment -- our society has grown too sophisticated, with too much of a conscience -- not for victims of crime, but for criminals -- to allow such "cruel and unusual" retribution.

It's truly amazing how much we've advanced in today's world. Our capacity to "forgive and forget" the criminal act is beyond words.

AL YAKIMCHUK

Sandy Hook

Model plan

Re: Development ban placed on boreal forest: 800,000 hectares protected (June 21). I have observed the Poplar River First Nation plan unfold over the past several years and must say that in a decade of work on development, conservation and First Nation issues across Canada, I have yet to see a more successful process and outcome than Manitoba's decision to respect and give the force of law to the Poplar River First Nation land-management plan. The reality in Canada is that working with First Nations is the only way that conservation and development can occur successfully.

Unfortunately, this is a reality too often ignored by governments across Canada and with disastrous results. The Manitoba government and Poplar River First Nation have shown patience, open-mindedness and determination in this process and deserve congratulations. I, for one, am looking forward to what will come next from this historic process and hope governments elsewhere learn from this success story.

JUSTIN DUNCAN

Toronto, Ont.