Tourists would prefer a quiet, walkable street
There is an easy resolution to the concern by some Government Street businesses that they will lose customers when cruise ship buses are rerouted a few blocks away from Government Sreet.
Perhaps the Downtown Business Association could invest in printing attractive cards showing the location of all the nearby sites of interest, which the bus drivers could hand out to their customers.
I’m sure those tourists would also much prefer a quieter, walkable street than putting up with the diesel fumes and noise of those buses.
Margaret MacQuarrie
Victoria
Tour buses belong on Government Street
I absolutely agree with Victoria councillors Stephen Andrew and Geoff Young. Government Street needs to be reopened permanently.
The Inner Harbour is the heart and best face of our city. That’s where visitors should go.
The neighbourhood and businesses there have been built for and oriented to these visitors. Relocating the visitors will not only destroy these businesses but also under-serve our visitors.
This is an obvious lose-lose that can easily be avoided.
Bart Reed
Victoria
Now, Gwyn, give us some answers
Re: “The most notable fossil-fuel follies of 2021,” commentary, Feb. 10.
Well. Wonder of wonders. This is the first time Gwyn Morgan has written anything I agree with.
It is probably of some surprise to him, but this piece could have been written almost word for word by Greta Thunberg. Who could possible imagine Greta and Gwyn agreeing on so much?
Certainly listing the absurdities of our age is a useful first step. We all know that it is the burning of fossil fuels that is largely responsible for the climate crisis.
As Greta points out, though, she is a teenager and it is not up to her to suggest what to do next. Gwyn, however, is no teenager.
Perhaps now that we know he is familiar with the problem, he might have some suggestions as to what to do next. After all, he is an experienced leader as past director of five global corporations.
Martin Golder
Victoria
Hurried solutions are not the answer
Re: “The most notable fossil-fuel follies of 2021,” commentary, Feb. 10.
’Tis folly to be fuel wise and virtue foolish.
Gwyn Morgan’s crusade against the winds and tides of popular beliefs is a laborious task. Thankfully, his common sense is gaining traction as we learn the true cost of gaining virtue points.
Our fragile economy cannot withstand the enforcement of the impractical solutions of the COP26 kind. Our lunatic dependency on foreign oil is beyond comprehension.
Of course oil is too valuable to burn, but gas is a doable temporary step forward.
If we had policies that emphasized technical research and energy saving, we could accelerate our aims without risking a steep fall into a recession economy.
Look at the tidal energy experiments underway here in B.C. The funding is puny considering the potential benefits.
The shortage of business minds like Morgan is part of our problem.The practicalities of the cost of failure seems absent in the hurried solutions offered by present leadership. We all share similar ideals, but if we maintain this present course we risk depleting the meagre reserves we depend on.
We could all do more domestically and shorten the time we waste on quick costly fixes.
Maybe it is time to grant more credence to minds that have matured in business than those who harvest ideals from the institutional world; both tenure and profits are two-sided coins. Toss this idea about and and think about who loses and who wins?
It is our folly to make the unwise choices.
Russell Thompson
Victoria
Full of cheap shots, and one-sided as well
Re: “The most notable fossil-fuel follies of 2021,” commentary, Feb. 10.
Every few months we can count on Gwyn Morgan to submit another one-sided commentary in support of the status quo. Before his next such endeavour, perhaps Morgan should modify his credentials to point out, for the benefit of the few that don’t know, that he has done much of his business leading in the oil and gas industry.
While I agree with one of his points, that the cryptocurrency industry is a colossal waste of energy, most of his comments are just cheap shots at those who are trying in various, not always perfect, ways to come to grips with the climate crisis.
He points out an inconsistency in, or unforeseen consequence of, such efforts and then damns the whole effort as being futile, often relying on false logic, such as that New York City’s plan to require electric heating in new buildings is daft because 50 per cent of its electricity comes from fossil fuels.
It’s all too hard, too complicated, too expensive, too disruptive of the status quo! We are too small to count!
It appears he would prefer we just carry on burning oil and gas until it is all gone and we are living (or at least those of us who can’t afford to blast off to Mars) in a endless procession of heat waves, storms, floods and tornadoes. Talk about hard and expensive!
Perhaps Morgan should reflect on the words of another old geezer, who in his poetic way, appears to have had more wisdom than either myself or Morgan: “Your old road is rapidly agin’, please get out of the new one if you can’t lend your hand, for the times they are a-changin’.”
Clair Wakefield, P. Eng.
Oak Bay
Raincoast Chronicles are required reading
Congratulations to Alicia Dubois, set to become the new CEO of the Royal B.C. Museum.
Reading over the statement from the museum’s board, I don’t see any reference to work experience here in B.C. May I suggest to her that one of the best ways to get a feeling for our provincial history is to read the stories in Raincoast Chronicles, available in most libraries.
The editor, Howard White, wrote in the introduction to Volume Eleven Up, that here are stories of “bold explorers, go-fer-broke gyppo loggers, Native uprisings, forest fires, plane crashes, shipwrecks, ghost towns, and ferocious beasts from this world and the next. “
Some examples of story titles are How Raven Captured the Day by Richard Atleo; Hospital Life at Bella Bella by Flora C. Moffat; The First Sikhs in the Sawmills by Sarjeet Singh Jagpal; and Fire in a Finnish Colony: Sointula 1903 by Paula Wild.
As the editor said: “There are no tall tales here; this is everyday life in one of the world’s most exotic lands — the Pacific Coast of British Columbia.” It actually should be required reading for anyone interested in a balanced and inclusive view of our history.
Mike Lane
Saanichton
Support for Cook, for Horgan, for Trudeau
Re: “Using farm equipment, big rigs as weapons,” letter, Feb. 10.
I support 100% the letter written by my namesake.
I would go even further to say that we need to show and tell our wacko American neighbours that they just need to butt out. We are a sovereign nation where common decency is bred into our very inmost being.
We do not need to be told by disgraced individuals like Donald Trump and Ted Cruz that the Canadian approach to living with and managing health care during COVID is wrong.
The trucker protest has 15 per cent of the population, at best, holding the rest of the country economically hostage while it tries to make a point. Ironically, it is probably the same 15 per cent that are unvaccinated holding the country as a health hostage.
I believe that Canada is a country based on doing things for the common good.
Our governments must not bow to the bullying behaviour of a few. I fully support the positions that have been taken by our prime minister and premier on this trucker issue.
Wow, I can’t believe I just wrote that! I have never voted Liberal or NDP in my life.
We need to continue to work together and to get vaccinated, if not for yourself then for your loved ones, friends and neighbours.
John Cook
Saanich
And now for something completely different
As I watch the daily chaos from the Freedom to Choose protesters, I wondered …
Do these people also support Freedom to Choose for “women’s issues”?
Just saying.
Judith Hodgson
Victoria
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