Have Your Say

Build affordable housing

Re: City's refugees live in misery, Aug. 23.

I am appalled that newcomers to our city should live in such hideous conditions. No one should. However, millions are being designated to the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. How about putting that money into a real human rights issue and build affordable or subsidized housing? That would really be doing something. What the museum will offer can be found in history books, movies, documentaries, etc. A monster building taking up green space won't do much for anybody. Come on Winnipeggers, push for the right thing.

VICKI VARGA

Winnipeg

Work for world peace

Re: Canada needs a better peace movement, Aug. 26.

We agree with J.L. Granatstein that a larger peace movement is desirable. Winnipeggers can find out how to get involved locally at http://peacealliancewinnipeg.ca. More importantly, we need a Parliament that is more responsive to the will of Canadians. Despite polls that consistently show that most Canadians oppose the war in Afghanistan, the Liberals and Conservatives voted to extend our military intervention. We call on Parliament to listen to Canadians, to stop wasting Canadian lives and to work for world peace.

What Granatstein laments as the "anti-Americanism" of the peace movement is really the desire for a foreign policy that is made in Canada.

Glenn Michalchuk

Chairman, Peace Alliance

Winnipeg

Defend the Arctic

The pacificist nature of Canadians is reflected in our anemic military budget of $19 billion per year. The amount is sufficient to fulfil our mandate in Afghanistan but insufficient to carry out our responsibilities for national defence. We need a third full command, in the Arctic, with full air, sea, and land capacity in order to physically defend our claimed territory. Alliances with the U.S. and NATO will not make this expenditure unnecessary, as they are the ones with whom we are potentially in conflict.

The Arctic command should include the latest fighter jets, nuclear attack submarines or state-of-the art diesel electric submarines and bases, main battle tanks and air transport, troop carriers and vehicles that can operate in combat in the Arctic as well as giant combat icebreakers and carriers with joint-strike fighters. This will require doubling our meagre military budget from $19 billion a year, or two per cent of GDP, to $40 billion plus.

Four per cent of GDP is a very common, conservative and reasonable amount to budget for a resource-rich nation that is in contention with powerful rivals who have displayed aggression in the past.

ROSS MacDONALD

Winnipeg

Let Afghans run country

I support the publicly stated purposes of the NATO mission in Afghanistan; i.e., in general, to improve the life of the people.

Second, I admire the courage and dedication of the troops who have been assigned the task of accomplishing the mission's purposes. But is this going to work? A brief reading of the Afghan wars of the last century does not lead to a sense of optimism. In the late 20th century, the Afghans managed to demoralize the Soviet troops and the Soviet government enough to force them to withdraw.

What should be done? First, it should be recognized that the Afghans are perfectly capable of ruling their own country. The war would be best ended by negotiations as has been suggested by President Hamid Karzai. This would mean that the Afghans be allowed to work out their own peace agreement and the governance of the country.

Once this has been accomplished, we could make known to the Afghan government that our NGOs would welcome an invitation from them to assist, as best we know how, and under the direction of the Afghan government, in accomplishing the stated purposes of the NATO mission.

Jim Suderman

Winnipeg

Honouring loved ones

I read Public grief (Aug. 24) regarding roadside memorials on your website with great interest. It was well-written and informative. Your readers would benefit from the knowledge there is an alternative to displaying a roadside memorial on public roads or rights-of-way. The National Memorial Registry (www.nationalmemorialregistry.com) is Internet-based and offers free of any charge the opportunity for any individual to dedicate a memorial location to a loved one. With the help of our extensive database of mapping software, a person can dedicate a specific address, site or location in honour of, or to validate, the life of an individual that has an influence on their lives. Every memorial dedication is displayed on our maps for the world to view.

Robert Sergent

President, National Memorial Registry

Spring, Texas

Remembering my son

I was taken aback by your article on roadside memorials on Highway 59. Obviously we have a problem with this stretch of highway. My question is, why are some people allowed to have a memorial for their loved one and not others? My son was murdered at the former Empire Cabaret and I cannot put up any wreath or anything. I tried at the six-month anniversary of his death and within minutes it was removed. I want to know why I can't have even some small memorial of where my son was during his last moments.

CHRISTINE ENGEN

Winnipeg

It's 15 items or less!

Re: Restless consumers run out of patience, Aug. 27.

A story outlined customer or client concerns about wait times/customer service. My frustration is particularly with grocery store express checkouts, where the 15-items-or-less tills are populated by customers who don't seem to be able to count. Instead, they have too many items, which slows down the process and clerks are too polite to let the offender know.

BOB PALLANIK

Winnipeg