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Re. “Mental skills coach ‘secret weapon’ in the Oilers’roller-coaster season,” June 12
With the tension and stress of running for the Stanley Cup, and playing a team as co-ordinated and consistent as the Florida Panthers, our Oilers need a guiding spirit to carry them through. George Mumford offers sage advice when he recommends individuals taking on responsibility for the whole team.
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Perhaps he might add one small note to his counsel and enlightenment. It is time that the whole team bring their collective talents, skills, and hearts to the fore to give their captain, who never gives anything less than his very best, a clinic of appreciation for the privilege to play with the finest player on the planet, and bring him the complete package. Bring the Stanley Cup home to Connor!
They need only play at their optimum, as he does, for two more nights, sharpen their passing, win races to the puck, strengthen their forechecking, use those extraordinary skills they possess, and solve the roadblock that is the Panthers’ goalie. It’s your turn to do it for Connor. Yes, Mr. Mumford, we all do our best when we do it for others.
J.P. Fournier, Edmonton
Rethink how city council operates
Although long clear, the handling of the most recent Capital Line LRT budget-increase crisis leaves no doubt that things are broken. Rather than address how to manage costs, citizens are subjected to a dog’s breakfast of comment such as it not being a cost overrun, and won’t affect taxes.
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Thus, a city that recently cried “cupboard bare,” cannot house and treat its most vulnerable, and fund LRT car replacement, can magically access $250 million to fund expansion of a service that has never achieved a ridership remotely justifying its cost. Enough.
Tax-supported debt has grown cancer-like from $24 million in 2004 to north of $4.2 billion, yet never merits a word of comment from council. The time has long passed when saying the politically correct thing is equated with accomplishment.
The issues are too complex to be addressed by a municipal structure whereby all councillors are responsible, but none is accountable. We need new civic leaders who can reimagine a council where an individual is responsible for the oversight of a major department or project, akin to a cabinet structure, and I pray that with the coming of party politics, the door opens for a thorough rethink of how cities can operate in the new millennium.
Steve Rose, Edmonton
City council’s legacy of failure
Mayor Sohi and the present Edmonton city council should be proud of their accomplishments. The history books will record and our teaching institutions will long be illustrating what damage it has wrought and what must be absolutely avoided in the future.
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A total abdication of responsibility, severe incompetence, a lack of transparency, and failure in leadership. This city council’s sad legacy.
Leslie S. Kozma, Edmonton
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