Large wooden buildings are a fire hazard
I am writing to share my concerns, and that of my neighbours, regarding the recent fire that destroyed the six-storey condo building under construction at Quadra Street and Lodge Avenue, about half a block from my home.
I understand there are many benefits to wooden construction, but one factor I have not seen addressed is the fact that when a large wooden building burns, burning embers put entire neighbourhoods at risk.
While a traditional concrete building will burn, I can’t imagine it would cause a virtual blizzard of flaming materials being blown many blocks away.
I have a hole in my back porch roof, burn marks on the deck, and a yard full of ember debris, as do all my neighbours.
If this fire had occurred in a drier time of year, many homes would have been lost, for sure. As it was, even in the damp, one neighbour experienced a spot fire in their front yard, with no firefighters in sight. Other neighbours were on roofs with hoses, putting themselves at risk. We were just lucky not to lose our homes, and potentially, our lives, as we were never alerted by police or firefighters to evacuate.
I understand the condo will be rebuilt, with a wooden frame. So we will have a ticking time bomb just down the street to worry about.
Should we not be reconsidering the safety of large wooden buildings, taking into consideration the risk to surrounding neighbourhoods?
Leslie Myers
Saanich
NDP backbenchers score extra pay
Premier David Eby is walking on eggshells. Why? In the 2020 provincial election, the B.C. NDP won a majority government with 57 seats out of 87 seats.
In the 2024 election, the B.C. NDP won a majority government with 47 seats out of 93 seats.
After Eby announced his new cabinet, there were 20 NDP backbenchers left. He made all 20 parliamentary secretaries at a extra $17,929.91 added to their base MLA salary of $119,532.75 per year.
Eby is a lawyer and this move was to keep everyone happy so that no one would have the intentions of crossing the floor to sit as a independent.
Why? In comparison to former premier John Horgan, Eby keeps a tight leash on all his cabinet ministers. Demoting Mike Farnworth and Adrian Dix into less important ministry positions shows that there is unrest beginning in the party.
This extra pay for the NDP backbenchers is the first time in B.C. government history that this has been done.
Joe Sawchuk
Duncan
Which of the MLAs will refuse the bonus?
If governing B.C. was a board game, the decision by the NDP to grant 14 NDP MLAs (who are not the premier, a cabinet minister, the Speaker or the government’s whip, caucus chair or deputy chair of the committee of the whole; positions that each receive additional salary) an additional $18,000 each in salary as parliamentary secretaries would be evidence of strategic genius.
With 46 MLAs (after the appointment of one of their own as the Speaker) in a 93-member legislature, what better way to secure NDP party loyalty then use public funds to provide an “inducement” to these 14 NDP MLAs to follow the party line when the NDP government does not control the legislature?
But governing B.C. is not a board game and despite being sent a clear message by the public through the election results, the NDP’s first act is to carry on as if nothing happened — preserve power for the NDP and let the taxpayers pay for it.
It is a crass decision made in political self-interest. Who among these 14 MLAs will demonstrate the strength of character and respect for the taxpayers, and refuse to accept the “inducement”?
Jonathan Horlick
Oak Bay
Capital, free markets allow personal choice
Re: “Corporations out in force at biodiversity, climate conferences,” column, Nov. 24.
Trevor Hancock paradoxically bemoans the fact that corporations would lobby for “their own special interests” which he has just defined as the products and services we purchase from them.
Democracies based on capital and free markets have proven over time to be the most efficient means of matching the public’s demand for goods and services with society’s ability to produce those goods and services.
Of course the system is not perfect but it’s the best we have.
To appreciate this one only has to look at countries, such as North Korea and Venezuela, that have command economies where the government organizes production and prices.
In a democracy, people are free to choose what they purchase or not purchase. That is how you “level the playing field,” not by dictating ultimatums.
Fred Kardel
Nanaimo
Thank corporations, do not castigate
Re: “Corporations out in force at biodiversity, climate conferences,” column, Nov. 24.
This letter is a rebuttal to Trevor Hancock’s letter castigating corporations.
Firstly, it should be remembered that corporations are owned by its shareholders and this is you and me. Pension funds hold trillions of dollars in these corporations and your private pension fund will reimburse you well or poorly depending on the profits of these companies which we ultimately own.
Secondly, if people are upset with the activities of corporations then they can boycott them by refusing to purchase their products.
Thirdly, governments all need the cash flow from the profits of corporations to fund the social programs which we all enjoy.
We may not like the lobbying which corporations do to persuade lawmakers to give them preferential treatment, but we the people ultimately elect those governments and it is our duty as responsible citizens to make our views known to our respective elected officials. We elect governments which have the power to control and legislate corporations. If we don’t elect governments which do this then we have only ourselves to blame.
It is not appropriate to make generalizations about corporate activity, such as appeared in Hancock’s article.
It is the ingenious and industrious efforts of myriads of corporations which have given us all the lifestyle which we enjoy today.
After all, it is not government which invents, invests, builds factories and takes risk to produce goods and services which the public seem to want to much.
Robert Brown
North Saanich
Alternative approvals are a good idea
The alternative approval process is neither devious nor undemocratic as stated in a Nov. 25 commentary in the Times Colonist. What’s devious is the argument that it is both of these things; what’s undemocratic is the inference that the AAP is a tool of underhanded municipal politicians and managers.
The comparison of the AAP to negative billing is inaccurate and does not hold up. Local government is not a for-profit business, and duping people is contrary to their interests and mandate. And voters are not consumers.
In fact, local governments in B.C. use the AAP as a way to be fiscally responsible by not repeatedly holding costly referendums which have traditionally low voter turnout.
No doubt if the AAP did not exist the Times Colonist would be running opinion pieces complaining about the high cost of holding numerous referendums and accusing sneaky and underhanded local governments of somehow skewing the results; when referendum results are skewed at all it is usually by rump groups taking advantage of low voter turnout. But this and other newspapers may well have run such opinions at one time, which in part then led to the creation of the AAP.
No wonder it’s such a difficult time to be a politician. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
Paul Walton
Nanaimo
That $250 is based on bad logic
Surely only convoluted government logic could conceive of a benefit to forcing one to take out a $400 loan ($250 plus costs) that will effectively increase ones taxes for the next 20 years, so one can have $250 that will most likely be spent on trivia.
Stephen Decarie
Langford
Give the money to those who need it
The prime minister has decided that a working Canadian earning $145,000 annually should be given a $250 cheque.
But once that person earns $150,000 they would not be qualified for his gift. The actual difference between earning $145,000 and $150,000 is minimal.
It would make more sense to reduce the cutoff number to around $75,000. These persons, like pensioners, would deserve it more.
William Jesse
Victoria
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