Readers offer their opinions on changes to accelerate housing in Saskatoon, the scope of crime in the city and the conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.
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Recent zoning changes by the city to gain access to federal funds have put developers in the catbird seat. The hope is that developers will play nice. I suggest this is wishful thinking and a mistake to think they will be better neighbours.
An example is the neglect of the property on Broadway and Eighth Street that now is being cleaned up by threat of a court order. Without guardrails, it is in developers’ interest to do as little as possible for the community.
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Ron Halina, Saskatoon
Columnist needs to see real world of crime
I read with great interest Phil Tank’s article on crime in Saskatoon. May I suggest, Phil, that you spend a couple of hours some afternoon in the Superstore in Confederation Mall. Some people walk out with goods without paying for them. What can a cashier do but let them go?
I call this theft of goods; you and the store owners may call it shrinkage. The cost is added on to the paying customers. And when we have a current mayor coming to the defence of a women stealing a roast and the security officer losing his job over it …
Get out from behind your desk, Phil, and see the real world that people live in.
Clifford Arthurs, Saskatoon
Editor’s note: In April of 2021, Saskatoon Mayor Charlie Clark expressed anger over a widely viewed video that showed an Indigenous woman being detained by a loss prevention officer in the FreshCo grocery store parking lot in the Mayfair neighbourhood. The woman was eventually convicted of theft under $5,000 and assault.
Canada must help stop war in Gaza
On a lovely summer evening, I sat with neighbours looking up at the sky for meteor showers. Yet my pleasure was clouded by knowing that hell is dropping from the skies on the people of Gaza. This month, we commemorated the victims of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
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The mass of bombs that Israel has dropped on Gaza is equivalent to multiple times more firepower than what the U.S. dropped on Hiroshima alone. (Geneva-based Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor).
Nearly 40,000 have been killed and the death toll could well top 180,000, counting starvation and disease and wounds. (British journal The Lancet). Seventy per cent are women and children. The health and sanitation systems are destroyed.
What can we do? Call our MPs to demand a two-way arms embargo upon Netanyahu-led Israel until it complies with international law. Stop selling and permitting the sales of arms and accessories that make us complicit.
Stop buying and profiting from arms and tech that the Israeli military tests in Gaza and exports to Canada, its sixth largest customer. Close the loophole that enables the U.S. to buy explosives made in Quebec and then ship them to the Israeli military. Recall the Canadian ambassador until Netanyahu ends his war on Gaza.
Stop investing in banks and companies that profit from genocide. Instead of investing in war, invest in renewable energies that save the planet and our children.
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Vicki Obedkoff, Saskatoon
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