UVic pool closure sinks kayaking program
I was disheartened to learn of the University of Victoria’s decision to close McKinnon Pool, citing low usage and the pool’s age as primary reasons.
As a member of the Vancouver Island Kayak Polo group based in Victoria, we have relied on this facility for many years to provide a winter training location for our members.
Additionally, we offer coaching to help new participants develop their skills in this sport.
I found it noteworthy that UVic referenced a lack of usage from individuals affiliated with the university, especially considering that many of our members are current UVic students, alumni and faculty.
Since the announcement, we have encountered challenges in securing an alternative venue for our fall and winter programming.
This situation is particularly concerning, as we are the only active club in British Columbia that regularly competes at national and international events.
Moreover, we are fortunate to have former Canadian national team members who volunteer as coaches, alongside several current UVic students who are on track to represent Canada on an international stage.
I strongly urge UVic to reconsider its decision and reopen McKinnon Pool, not only for our club but for all students and groups who use your facilities.
Dr. Richard Gardiner
Victoria
Government could help fruit industry
Re: “It’s going to be a bloodbath,” Aug. 6.
Given how essential B.C. Tree Fruits is to the fruit-growing industry in the Okanagan, wouldn’t it make sense for the B.C. government to temporarily acquire it and pay for its operation? It could resell it to the private sector once it has been restructured.
Rebuilding a destroyed industry is a lot more expensive than saving it in the first place. If it’s true for banks, it’s true for fruit-growers, too.
Jonathan Stoppi
Saanich
Memories of tough times with an apple orchard
I grew up in the 1960s on an apple farm in the Creston Valley. B.C. Tree Fruits ran a co-operative there for many decades.
My dad had a 20-acre orchard of mainly Macintosh apples. I remember my parents waiting and waiting for payment after the apples had been processed and sold by B.C. Tree Fruits.
The wait would go into late spring when dad needed to buy fertilizer and sprays. When the cheques finally came in, mom would cry and say “we’re in the red again.”
I know my dad grew high quality apples — I helped pick them for years. The Creston Valley Macintosh were so highly valued that the city of San Francisco would take the whole crop produced in the valley.
I talked to my mom who is almost 90. She said they usually got paid two to four cents a pound from B.C. Tree Fruits.
Four cents a pound was like winning the lottery, and bills could be paid. In the end my parents both had to work second jobs to keep the farm.
I see that B.C. Tree Fruits has not paid many Okanagan farmers for last year’s apple crop and this year’s cherry crop. This needs to looked into by the province.
Brian Masuch
Victoria
Something must be done to help orchardists
The provincial government is setting up a website and phone line providing contact information for companies offering packing and cold storage.
Really? That’s it? This is essentially doing nothing.
The impact of doing nothing is going to be felt by every person in B.C. (and beyond) who buys B.C. fruit.
At a time when food prices are already increasing at an unprecedented rate and unsustainable by many people, B.C. Tree Fruits going out of business is bad for everyone.
The NDP government needs to do more. I don’t have the answer but maybe setting up a coalition among the orchardists and the Ministry of Agriculture to at least run the storage facility in the short term. And then work hard to come up with a workable solution that will be good for the orchardists and consumers alike.
I.M. McLaws
Victoria
Unimpressive walk from Ogden Point
My wife and I walked from the Breakwater District to Downtown.
Many times I have watched with interest passengers from cruise ships walking this route.
Thinking about their experience on our walk, I realized that Victoria could go a long way to improve it.
This should not cost that much, either.
We frequently visit Calgary and enjoy the new broad pedestrian walkways installed near Prince’s Island since the floods of 2013. It is an uplifting experience enjoyed by thousands of people daily.
Compared to this, the narrow old sidewalk and parallel dirt paths worn by the cruise ship passengers is sad.
Does Victoria have a plan to improve this short section from Ogden Point to Shoal Point?
I believe this is an area well worth beautifying with a wide promenade and some landscaping.
Mark Barnes
Saanich
Saanich must help with homelessness
It is time for Saanich and other municipalities around the Capital Regional District to help with the serious homelessness crisis.
Homeless people come from all towns, cities and regions, and every municipality needs to help fix this crisis. How can Saanich residents turn a blind eye to the problem, and the solution?
It breaks my heart that we’ve ignored the most vulnerable, instead shuffling them to other regions. Saanich has many churches with large parking lots, many parks with washrooms, and lots of space for new shelters and affordable housing.
We believe our municipality should step up and help out.
James and Mary Millington
Saanich
Private sector could help deal with these crises
B.C. is really in such a mess on so many points — health, transportation, climate, and now tree fruit, the very basis of our sustenance: growing food.
If our provincial leaders are in such a quandary as to how to tackle this crisis, perhaps a call for private sector bids on managing:
• The tree fruit situation for just this year, until farmers can organize a new process using existing infrastructure.
• The number of single access roads in our province, which when severed have no alternative routes. This begs for private sector bids to offer solutions. Do we need to name them?
• Our moribund Island Corridor Foundation requires public/ private proposals to manage transport on one sector at a time, starting with the Victoria to Duncan portion — now.
Surely, if government is so bereft of infrastructure initiatives, inviting bids to propose projects might at least spark some thoughts as to how to deal with these crises we have allowed to happen.
Please, no more provincial announcements — just a request for proposals to get things started.
David Kelsey
Qualicum Beach
Decent affordable housing is needed
Why are my elected representatives giving permits to developers to build more luxury condos or office space when what is needed is decent affordable housing for less fortunate citizens?
Downtown Victoria has so many empty store fronts and likely empty office spaces too. Take a walk around the downtown core … you will see. Empty condos too.
No families want to live downtown. It’s not safe, attractive or affordable.
A humane, decent society takes care of everyone in the community.
These developers are mostly out-of-town, out-of-province with a goal to make money … no vested interest in “community.”
In 50 years we have gone from no unhoused in Victoria ( a cute, quaint tourist town) to a downtown disaster area (dirty, unsafe, sad and ugly) with poverty driving the daily street scene.
Those who have the power for creating change need to look at the issues and act on those. Not create “fun spaces” (such as the splash park in Centennial Square) while around the corner people are dying.
Listen up, folks. Open your hearts.
Georgina Kirkman
Victoria
SEND US YOUR LETTERS
• Email letters to: [email protected]
• Mail: Letters to the editor, Times Colonist, 201-655 Tyee Rd., Victoria, B.C. V9A 6X5
• Submissions should be no more than 250 words; subject to editing for length and clarity. Provide your contact information; it will not be published. Avoid sending your letter as an email attachment.
