Dix made right call in firing unvaccinated
Re: “B.C. ignores evidence with its health decisions,” commentary, June 26.
Alan Cassels roundly criticizes Health Minister Adrian Dix for firing health-care workers who refused COVID vaccination.
The errors of Dix are encyclopedic but this, in my view, is not one of them.
At the time of firing, vaccination was of proven value in reducing the frequency and severity of COVID. That alone was sufficient evidence to insist that all employees who were in contact with patients be vaccinated.
The reasons are obvious. Patients are involuntarily in close contact with many people. Ill and/or aged patients have increased vulnerability to infections and with increased severity.
To attack compulsory vaccination policy on the grounds of “lack of evidence” is plainly absurd.
But there is a more fundamental problem with Cassels’ line of thinking, especially his misuse of medical ethics.
He states that the firing of staff conflict with the fundamental ethics of “patient autonomy and patient-centred care.”
But health-care workers are not patients. In the case of nurses, they have a fiduciary duty to patients which means “a duty to care and act in the best interest of the patient.”
Their own self-interest is superseded by this duty. Furthermore “nurses should refrain from any action that might endanger life or health.”
Health personnel who decide on entirely unscientific grounds to refuse vaccination should not be allowed to put patients at risk. It is questionable whether those with such attitudes should be allowed to rejoin the workforce post-epidemic.
I would be uncomfortable being under the care of someone who previously showed such a blatant disregard for their patients’ health because of some conspiracy-type, scientifically unsound belief or because their own belief system never yields to societal needs.
Dr. Adrian Fine
MD, FRCP (retired physician)
Victoria
Lack of leadership on critical health issues
I found the two recent commentaries by Alan Cassels to be reassuring of our own thoughts and observation on the handling of the COVID crisis and the drug overdose crisis.
I have been disappointed that there has not been a review of “best practices,” nationally and internationally, to determine the future most effective policies for British Columbians on both crises.
How can any one person have the wisdom, knowledge, intuition, research, credibility, to advise the B.C. government on the best practices, policies for British Columbians on such complex epidemics?
There is a sad lack of national leadership on such critical national health issues.
Unfortunately, it is apparent that the decriminalization of hard drugs is a failure. As suggested by Cassels, British Columbians would benefit from a review of both COVID and drug overdose policies by a new B.C. government.
We deserve better.
Phil Harrison
Comox
To fix Oak Bay housing, try amalgamation
There is a solution to Oak Bay’s apparent recalcitrance to achieving housing objectives: amalgamation.
Doug Steinburg
Victoria
Let Oak Bay continue just as it is
Again I’m seeing demands by the provincial government for Oak Bay to increase density and add more housing.
I don’t think Oak Bay should be required to “keep up” with other, larger municipalities. It is a unique jewel that needs to remain charming and village-like, somewhat like a miniature Cotswolds area that’s pleasant to drive through.
Tourists can enjoy its quaint atmosphere and beautifully kept gardens, check out its cute shops and stop in at the Penny Farthing for an ale.
Please don’t force it to change!
Rosemary Garnet
Victoria
To fix traffic woes, let them work at home
One need only reflect back to the COVID mandates to realize a quick fix to traffic congestion, at least partially, and it has reached the point where anything should be on the table.
My recollection is a zombie apocalypse-like emptying of the streets.
Mandate that all those mobile workers who worked from home in Sooke, and have been required to return to the office, have the right to work from home until the traffic problem is fixed.
That’s provincial jurisdiction.
Terrance Martin
Sooke
Government not showing fiscal responsibility
The B.C. NDP government is mortgaging the house to pay for lunch with the 2024-2025 budget.
The budget deficit is projected to rise to $7.9 billion, up from $5.9 billion in the 2023-2024 budget.
This is the largest budget deficit in B.C.’s history.
B.C. had a B.C. Liberal party government from 2001 to 2017, and in that time the debt rose $17.9 billion in 16 years.
Since 2017, B.C. has had an NDP government and the debt has risen $30.2 billion in seven years and is forecasted to keep rising.
British Columbia will have a provincial election this year.
This budget deficit will never go away on its own. It requires more of our tax dollars to bring the deficit down.
No different than in our own private lives. Mortgage and car payments have to be paid off and if not, our homes and vehicles are taken away.
What happens if the NDP are re-elected to another majority government for a four-year term. What are their intentions in regard to tax increases?
If taxes go up in various different forms, we have no right to complain about an increase in taxes.
Why? B.C. taxpayers choose on voting day who will be our next provincial government for four years.
Taxpayers have a choice to make a change if so desired by voting for other political parties such as the BC United, B.C. Conservative, and B.C. Green.
Since 2017, the NDP government has hired more 10,000 new employees.
Totally unacceptable from a taxpayer point of view.
Joe Sawchuk
Duncan
A 92-year-old veteran, sent home by ambulance
A friend with a breathing problem, a 92-year-old veteran who lived alone in a small Langford residence, made three trips to emergency before being admitted to Royal Jubilee. He was a bed patient, needing assistance to even attend the washroom.
After three weeks he was transferred to Victoria General Hospital, again not being able to stand or walk.
When I called I was told he had been discharged, and staff would not provide information as to his location. I assumed he had been moved to a complex long-term care facility or a similar facility. That is what he deserved and needed.
Then I learned that he had been returned to his residence by ambulance. I found him sitting in his small family room, where he spends 24 hours a day seriously ill, attended by home care personnel three times a day.
These dedicated personnel are restricted in the aid they provide.
Is this what health care in the Greater Victoria area, or even the province, has become? Where a seriously ill individual, who cannot stand or walk, is sent home by ambulance to fend for himself in a chair 24 hours a day?
Of all the horrific anecdotes I have been made aware of relating to our health care system, this is the most unbelievable and distressing.
Residents must be rightly terrified of becoming seriously ill, but on hearing of this nightmarish debacle, might wonder if they will be next to become exposed to this type of medical travesty.
All the while our health minister tells us “at every level of medical care we are better than the U.S.,” while sending thousands of patients to Bellingham for treatment.
And 47% of B.C. voting residents seem to think that our out-of-control spending premier and the NDP are doing a fine job heading to an election this year.
On the health care front, I, for one, don’t.
H.J. Rice
Victoria
Move crosswalks away from roundabouts
Re: “Crosswalks risky for drivers and pedestrians,” column, June 20.
There seems to be a sense of entitlement when a pedestrian decides to cross the street. Physics doesn’t differentiate with this phenomenon, and 3,500 kilograms is going to win every time over 70 kilograms of human when the two meet at the crosswalk.
I taught my kids at very young age that the car will win, so don’t assume the driver sees you. We all need to be vehicle aware.
Our newest hazard, not mentioned in the column, are roundabouts. I don’t understand how ICBC has allowed the engineers to put crosswalks at the four corners of a roundabout.
When entering the roundabout at maybe 15-20 km/h and heading right into the circle, your focus is to the left where other cars are travelling into the circle.
In many cases you don’t see a pedestrian approaching if they are entering the crosswalk on the right.
Now add boulevard trees, fountains, flower beds and you have a recipe for disaster.
In Europe, traffic circles have been around for decades. There, crosswalks are seldom near a traffic circle.
Maybe they had enough engineering sense to understand how the human mind works and designed a safer solution.
Perhaps B.C. and the rest of Canada could learn from our European cousins.
Tim Kehler
Ladysmith
Open-net fish farms should be closed
Re: “Banning open-net fish farms wrong call,” letter, June 26.
The author berates the decision to ban open-net fish farms and in his last paragraph says: “we must demand that such important decisions be based on sound economic studies rather than attempting to placate certain well-connected pressure groups.”
How about if we base the decision on sound science instead? In seconds, you can find the truth. Check out Dr. Kristi Miller and/or Alexandra Morton.
If you want a longer and more thorough scientific review, read The New Fish: The Truth About Farmed Salmon and The Consequences We Can No Longer Ignore and/or Not On My Watch.
Most B.C. fish farms are owned by huge Norwegian companies that take millions of profits offshore yet pay their workers an average of $22 an hour.
Their farms generate tons of feces on the ocean floor, disease ridden fish both wild and farmed, massive escapes of farmed Atlantic Salmon … a totally unnatural swimmer in our Pacific waters, and a farmed product that is pink only because it’s given a supplement.
And, about half of the wild fish commercially caught end up as pellets to feed farmed fish. Killing fish to feed fish!
If the industry is so economically important, put the pens on land and certify the product as sustainable.
Like so many ill advised human-made “creations,” open-net fish farming needs to end immediately.
Humans need to get out of the way and let Mother Nature fix things.
Dave Secco
Victoria
Drivers, act like you are in Toronto
My husband and I moved from Toronto to beautiful Victoria six months ago — love it!
Toronto has more than seven million people, and traffic is often at a standstill with all the construction. Yet most Toronto drivers remain courteous and patient.
We are not finding that with Victoria drivers. Some honk their horns for everything, refuse to let someone in a zipper line of traffic, and one even refused to allow me to walk across in front of her car, as I carried a heavy load, and traffic was stopped both ways.
It’s difficult to understand this mindset. Victoria has so many wonderful attributes — why spoil the Victoria image with rude traffic behaviour? Why don’t we all try to get along and be thankful we live in this lovely city?
It wouldn’t take much to turn this around with just a little consideration and common driver courtesy.
Barbara Langford
Victoria
Pedestrians, act like you are in Toronto
Re: “Crosswalks risky for drivers and pedestrians,” column, June 20.
Driving columnist John Ducker misses an almost fool-proof solution to the problem of driver/pedestrian conflict at crosswalks.
Stick your hand out.
It’s been a tried and true practice for years in Toronto. You get noticed.
Anne Moon
Victoria
Victoria is trying to spread the facilities
Re: “Money spent on SOLID could have better uses,” letter, June 22.
The letter struck me as somewhat disingenuous.
Anyone who lives in Victoria and drives or walks down the 900 block of Pandora Avenue thanks their lucky stars that they don’t live nearby.
Nearby businesses and residents have struggled to keep themselves and their properties safe. Providing further funding for expansion of the existing Our Place facilities in that location would simply exacerbate the existing mess.
Nobody actually wants these facilities in their neighbourhood. What the City of Victoria is attempting to do is alleviate the growing pressure on one neighbourhood, which has had to bear the brunt of the drug disaster.
And, after all, drug users come from many neighbourhoods. Even yours.
Carole Small
Victoria
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