Commentary missed a lot of facts
Re: “We’re hurting Canada’s farmers to subsidize industry,” commentary, Oct. 5.
Yes, let’s pretend that the carbon tax paid by farmers is going directly to subsidies for EV production in Canada.
Let’s ignore the carbon tax rebates paid to farmers. Let’s ignore the huge explicit and implicit subsidies already paid to agriculture.
Yes, let’s be “outraged” — by the writer’s obtuse polemic with half the facts. This man could run for office.
Chris Lawless
Victoria
A reminder to watch for pedestrians
Growing up in Victoria, it was “a given” that pedestrians have the right-of-way. As a long-term cyclist, I am appalled at how cyclists get territorial in bike lanes.
If cars are required to be 1.5 metres from cyclists, then cyclists should be required to be 1.5 metres from pedestrians.
The sloped Government Street cycling lane from Wharf to Belleville traverses through an area of thousands of tourists.
I witness cyclists slamming into pedestrians or yelling at pedestrians who cross into the cycling path (cars are parked one side of the cycling lane and sidewalk on the other side) and there are early morning locals who jaywalk when there is little traffic.
In one instance a gentleman was reaching in his car to grab his camera. As the tourist turned to face the harbour, a cyclist was going too fast and slammed into the gentleman’s right shoulder!
The cyclist fell to the ground, jumped up and yelled at the gentleman, “you should be aware of your surroundings!” and rode off. I apologized to the tourist and let him and his family know that “in Victoria, pedestrians have the right-of-way, so that cyclist is obviously from somewhere else.”
Perhaps speed bumps are required — or perhaps signs urging cyclists to watch for pedestrians.
Bea Glanville
Victoria
Better visibility would add to safety
As a vehicle driver, I applaud the wheelers, cyclists, and scooter users who make a point of being visible.
They operate lights and reflectors on their rigs, have coloured helmets, and especially important for helping me to see them, they also wear bright or reflective jackets or vests on their upper body – the part most visible when I’m looking ahead, or checking my rear view mirrors.
On the other hand, I’m despairing at how many continue to wear dark and/or dull coloured clothing, and using no lighting on their rigs. Also, pedestrians persist in wearing totally dark outfits, and walk into intersections while absorbed in their handheld devices.
Remember the Do, Re, Mi song from The Sound of Music?
The Duh, Meh, Yeh! meme expresses my despair, but also has a space for some positive steps to help drivers keep others safer on the streets.
“Duh, I’m dark, why can’t you see me?” (No lights or reflectors.)
“Meh, still dull, I’m slow to learn.” (Maybe a light coloured helmet, but little else.)
“Yeh! I’m bright and reflecting, so you’ll see me!” (Everything you do helps me to see you: light helmets / bright tops/ arm bands/ reflective stripes on back packs/ lights front and back).
If my opinion isn’t persuasive, take inspiration from the front page photos of Tour de Rock riders — all in bright upper body colours. Or, check out the six photo samples of costumes (bright, reflective vests) for motorcycle riders in the ICBC book, Learn To Ride Smart: Your Guide to Riding Safely.
Wishing us all well for safe and pleasant road experiences. Yeh!
Dave Driedger
Saanich
Reminder: Shirley is not in Sooke
Elections B.C. consistently has it wrong when it comes to identifying the location of some voting places. The Juan de Fuca Area Services Building is not in Sooke — that’s its mailing address. It’s in Otter Point, in the Juan de Fuca Electoral Area.
Similarly, the Shirley Community Hall is in Shirley, not Sooke, and even has Shirley as its mailing address.
During my many years in Otter Point I repeatedly brought this to the attention of provincial and federal returning officers. None could grasp the importance of the difference.
Would you identify a voting place which is physically located in Saanich as being in Victoria? Hopefully not.
The Capital Regional District was also doing this; for years advertising public meetings to be held at their own JDF Services Building in Otter Point as happening in Sooke!
They finally accepted my argument that mailing and geographic identifiers can be different. Can we hope that Elections B.C. and Elections Canada will too?
Arnie Campbell
Saanich
Canada needs more nuclear power
As the country endeavours to transition to large-scale, emission-free electric power sources, nuclear power stations in Ontario (at Pickering, Bruce and Darlington), Quebec and New Brunswick already contribute substantially to meeting our national, net-zero 2050 emission targets.
Mark Carney, emerging as one of Canada’s foremost business visionaries, stated recently, “There is no transition that works without nuclear, full stop.”
It’s time for the remaining provinces to consider the nuclear power option in their long range planning and ultimately join the Canadian nuclear power fleet.
The only provincial party to mention nuclear power in their election platform is the Conservative Party.
Robert Popple
Victoria
Livestock help to keep forests in check
Getting rid of livestock in Canada will have a definite impact on the environment. Between 1835 and 1885, 40 million buffalo were destroyed, and cattle have taken their place in the ecology.
If we remove these animals, vast stretches of North America will become overgrown by forests, which yearly lightning storms will turn into constant wildfires. Ruminants use plant material that we as humans cannot use.
“Herewith ended the lesson,” as Sean Connery said in The Untouchables.
Thank you for giving me a chance to counter the doom prophets.
Michael Wilson
Victoria
Rustad’s vulnerability a sign of leadership
It takes courage to be open and transparent. When leaders do this, they create a culture of safety and trust opening the door for others to be vulnerable.
Conservative Leader John Rustad said he was harmed by the COVID-19 vaccine. He admitted, justifiably, that he regrets receiving the vaccine as he now faces heart problems. This must have been hard to do in front of people who continue to be wilfully blind. Not everyone has connected the dots yet.
People are still reacting to the truth by either name calling “antivaxxer,” “vaccine hesitant” or clinging onto “do as your told” authoritarianism as a self-preservation strategy.
Dismissing a person who has shared an experience of being hurt is unconscionable. Over the past four years, we have all witnessed how fear shuts down the basic human instinct to acknowledge, hear and see another person while suspending judgment.
Dictators use fear to divide people by labelling others, and then they use their power to threaten and coerce those who are afraid.
The current government has passed Bill 36, which says “B.C. practitioners must now follow health guidelines set by political appointees for their patients or risk penalties.”
Bill 36 violates ethics and human rights by removing informed consent and body autonomy. No wonder the NDP does not want to acknowledge that the vaccine injured people.
Rustad is leading us back to consent-based health care grounded in the philosophy of patient-centred care by acknowledging vaccine-injured people.
Lynda McLeod
retired RN
Victoria
Let’s never forget the money laundering
The B.C. Housing authority has been scammed out of the money from sales of up to a third of the housing units planned for middle income people.
Premier David Eby was the one who, in pursuit of the culprits, told B.C. Housing: “Go to court. Hold these people accountable,” advice that B.C. Housing followed.
Les Leyne, instead of pointing a finger of culpability at these “many affluent owners of multiple properties,” blames Eby for not publicizing the court cases.
Surely it’s common legal (and common sense) practice not to jeopardize such cases by discussing the issues in the public forum while the cases are ongoing?
I’m guessing that these multi-property scammers are many of the same people who benefited immensely from the 16 years of B.C. Liberal government, which turned a blind eye to the rampant money-laundering.
This was a major cause of the inflation of property prices, which the middle and working classes are struggling with today.
Some scandals should never be forgotten!
Maggie Wood
Sidney
Leaning on the doors caused an accident
Apparently, the woman who fell out of a bus was leaning on the doors, with her luggage, when the doors suddenly opened as the bus turned left.
It appears that there was a failure of the safety lock-out mechanism, which prevents the doors from opening in a moving bus.
But why was the woman leaning on the doors before she arrived at her stop? There should be strict protocols that passengers do not go near the doors until the bus is stopped.
That would have prevented this unfortunate situation.
D’Arcy Surrette
Cowichan Bay
North Saanich wasting money over pickleball
Why ignore the need for women to access activities that enhance physical and mental health, and remove a space that fosters happiness and inclusion for all ages, especially when the Community Charter emphasizes protecting community well-being, making the preservation of such spaces crucial?
Why decommission a community asset that costs less to maintain than to relocate, disregarding fiscal responsibility and prudent management of public resources, especially when the Community Charter mandates that municipalities provide services for community benefit and ensure stewardship of public assets?
Why, in decision-making processes, ignore science-based research that shows positive outcomes and addresses all concerns, especially when collaboration and community input are district priorities?
Why do some councillors accept the status quo, indicating a reluctance to collaborate and effectively address community needs, especially when this contrasts with the district’s stated goals of good governance, community engagement, accountability, leadership, impartiality and transparency?
And why can’t North Saanich’s mayor and council acknowledge their mistake in pursuing the closure of Wain Park pickleball courts, especially when reversing this decision would not only demonstrate true leadership, as required in the Community Charter, but also reflect strength, respect and an effort to rebuild trust within the community?
Research from unbiased sources, a plea for collaborative solutions, an offer to halt a pending judicial review, a free mediation offer and the provision of financial support have all been disregarded.
Instead, the focus has shifted to reviewing a relocation of the Wain Park pickleball courts to Blue Heron Park, which is outside the district’s jurisdiction, wasting administrative hours and an estimated $500,000 relocation cost (including sound mitigation studies and installation), instead of allocating less than $30,000 for sound mitigation at the existing courts.
This is a significant waste of taxpayers’ money, and where is the common sense in all this?
Sophie Lauro
North Saanich
Saplings not as good as a mature sequoia
Victoria council’s highly controversial decision to spend $11.2 million to redesign Centennial Square has been challenged on grounds of fiscal responsibility and of heritage protection.
It must be condemned for environmental reasons as well. The plan, as approved by the (usual) council majority, requires that the beautiful, healthy sequoia tree, which has lived and thrived in the square for more than 50 years, be destroyed, along with several other mature trees, including some with particular cultural significance.
The approved plan requires this destruction in order to “open the square” to Douglas Street.
Council will plant saplings in the square. Some of these may survive, and those that do may, in 15, 20 or more years, give a portion of the shade and other benefits now provided by the Sequoia and the other trees that are slated to be cut.
But no number of sapling plantings can replace the environmental benefits of a large, mature tree. Large trees have a vastly better capacity than do small trees (let alone saplings) to capture carbon from the air and store it, reduce atmospheric pollution and prevent stormwater runoff, all essential regulating services for urban environments, especially in this changing climate.
The fact that these councillors’ approval was given without any effort to modify it, in order to incorporate the Sequoia and the other trees into the new design, indicates their cavalier approach to the protection of Victoria’s urban canopy and their lack of understanding of the crucial environmental value of mature trees in the otherwise concrete, heat-retaining environment of a city.
It also shows that council pre-election claims, to highly value the City’s trees and to do everything possible to protect them, were nothing but empty words.
Jennifer Button
Victoria
Wealthy Canadians are paying their share
Re: “Stop giving away taxpayers’ money,” Oct. 1.
I agree that we, as taxpayers are giving away more money then we can afford on all kinds of costly proposals, offered by the politicians wanting our support.
However, the comment that the lower and middle earners pay all the taxes while the upper earners pay little or none, is factually incorrect.
While the wealthy in the United States may not pay their fair share of taxes, this is not the case in Canada.
Be assured that people earning millions in Canada are paying millions in taxes and at a much higher tax rate than lower or middle earners.
Tim Hackett
Brentwood Bay
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