In a recent article, with photo in regard to “homelessness” and the homeless living in a bus shelter, I was struck by the picture. It showed how organized the person who was living in the bus shelter seemed to be. What I saw was what looked like a shelving unit and the person’s belongings organized in “an orderly fashion.” What did I expect? Well, assuming that being homeless implies “chaos,” then certainly a much less orderly appearance of the bus shelter might be expected. In essence, that person had made the bus shelter a “home.” So, what to make of that?

Re: “Don’t Trade Away Our Future” by Quentin Robinson (Dec. 20). Very well said.

Quentin Robinson’s letter (Dec. 20) opposing Brandon City Council’s plan to build a large box store complex on the western side of the city raises several important points city council will do well to consider. The plan is definitely regressive rather than progressive.

Growing up in a family of six children and two hard-working parents on a small, Prairie farm during the 1950s, there was seldom anything left over for extras after feeding, clothing and educating us. Christmas would definitely fall into that “extra” category. However, Christmas can be as much a creature of the imagination as an exciting reality, so in spite of the meagreness of our existence, Christmas was a very big deal to me!

On Dec. 12, there was a special meeting of Brandon City Council to hear information regarding a decision to spend more than $30 million on pumping stations to meet the sewer and water needs of proposed development in the southwest of the city.

To understand the debate regarding health care in Canada between the federal and provincial governments, reference must be made to the Canadian Constitution.

Deveryn Ross’ column (“Poilievre stoops to scare tactics,” Nov. 30) is a reminder of how tiresome Conservatives can be when it comes to policies on drug use. The expression “same old, same old” comes to mind.

The editorial “Root causes of social issues must be addressed before change can happen” touches on economy as a reason for Brandon’s social issues. While I agree with the writer’s perspective as to what many communities across Canada are facing, I think their second to last paragraph speaks to the larger truth.

As citizens of this country, we need to decide what kind of a country we want to live in. A healthy, vibrant, rural economy with small family farms and small, local abattoirs, which is good for urban Canada as well.

About that pool.

Brandon requires a year-round aquatic facility that will not only meet the needs of a diverse range of user groups, but also benefit the Keystone Centre as it seeks to wean itself off the public purse.

There seems to be an inherent truth in having organizations implement a performance measurement and performance management system, which makes the Manitoba government’s intended use of performance measures with respect to universities in determining provincial funding levels of a university appear reasoned and valid.

When will the government take people’s health seriously? Despite it being exponentially less expensive to care for people in their homes, the home care system is inadequately staffed to care for the number of clients it has.

Last week, Manitoba’s Progressive Conservative government announced a war on what they call a crime in this province. They created a new interprovincial police unit to target persons involved in repeat transgressions.