Ok, I ask that you please stop with these articles describing how winter tires are different - we all get that.
I would love to see a more sophisticated article that analyzes whether they actually make a statistical difference in terms of real-world crash data. For example, what are Manitobans' crash rates as compared with Quebec? Surely there have been studies of this. I had a quick look at the Quebec stats pre and post winter tire law and the differences were very small, and I bet there are other confounding factors there as well.
There could be some counter-intuitive results. For example, what if winter tires make drivers over-confident, increasing speed in harsh conditions? We don't know because there is no analysis presented. As an analogy, there are studies showing that laws against using a cell phone actually increase accident rates, as people are trying to hide their device while driving, looking down and to the right, rather than lifting the phone to eye level in order to avoid being seen by cops.
It is too simplistic to say in absolute terms that winter tires are better for everyone involved without a more sophisticated look at the issue.
I'm not denying the winter tire technology, but maybe Manitobans aren't idiots either.