rintrah.ca is based, at the moment, out of good ol’ Winnipeg. Winnipeg is important hub for transportation as it is located in the centre of Canada. Interestingly, in 1917-18 there was a flu pandemic which, because Winnipeg was a hub then too, played an important role in western Canadian settlement. All immigrants to the west stopped in at Winnipeg until they were cleared by the immigration office. People who waited in line camped out for long long periods of time. This fact is why the richer people were the farther they lived from the railroad tracks. Even to this day that is the case. And maybe the noise. But mostly because if you were an immigrant and were waiting you would want to stay close to the immigration office.
Just as in 1918, Winnipeg today is still killer. This is due, in part, to this site because what I write is killer. But this is also do to the fact that, in cities 500,000 or larger, Winnipeg is the deadliest in Canada. The 2004 rating for Canada is 4.89 homocides per 100,000 people. But the deadliest area with 100,000 or more people is Regina. Regina has 4.98 murders per 100,000.
Sometimes when I walk down a back alley to the gas station I question why I live in Winnipeg. I read the graffiti on a dumpster that says “Nancy Sews” and the addendum that says “This Means You Dave” and I think of all the creative and wonderful people here. Then someone comes along and spray paints some other tag overtop and I get angry that someone would defile the very pure thing Dave and Nancy had. And now Skid’s name is gone too.
Winnipeg is a nice city. It is unique and, in many ways, grotesque. I like it. My theory as to how the murder rate can be reduced requires Jerry Bruckheimer to start a CSI: Winnipeg. This would ensure that the law enforcement would have the proper tools to deduce whodunit. As well, the agents on CSI always know everything. I figure that Peter Falk would make a great CSI agent.
But that is only the first part of fixing the homocide problem in Winnipeg. The first part only fixes the problem of proper law enforcement. In my opinion the police in Winnipeg are just as racist as Americans are. The second step is to have Extreme Makeover and the Queer-Eye folks re-make the downtown and north-end areas over. Hell, the Canadian government is letting Martha Stewart into the country. She could help out too, as part of her community service or something.
It is time that celebrities stop trying to fix one-time problems like Hurrican Katrina and Rita, and finally fix on-going issues like crime. Celebrities, as always, are our last hope. Celebrities are super-heroes and there is nothing that they can’t fix.
