Local retailers are taking a hit
An Amazon distribution centre of 115,000 square feet is to be built on the property of the Victoria Airport Authority. This could be quite the windfall for the airport authority.
Were it any other company than Amazon, this might also be counted a windfall for residents of Victoria and Vancouver Island at large.
Amazon, we recently learned, edged Walmart to become (outside China) the world’s largest retailer. Algorithms have now displaced shopping in physical time and space for making money.
We can expect that on Vancouver Island alone online retailing (i.e. Amazon) has eliminated a lot more than 115,000 square feet of small business space.
That also means a lot of jobs that won’t come back. The number of people who will be employed at this new distribution centre won’t even come close to making up that loss, in the number of jobs or wages.
We certainly do like our convenient lifestyle of click and deliver. But its costs are steep.
A windfall for the airport authority, perhaps. For Island municipalities that once relied on small businesses to create jobs for taxpaying residents? Not so much.
Paul Walton
Nanaimo
Expect that little ferry to be quite busy
Lady Rose lives on! Many thanks to the purchasers.
I have a lineup of folks now very excited to take this trip.
No, I am not a travel agent, just love sharing stories of special memory moments.
Gail Brighton
Nanoose Bay
Greens not squabbling, but the leader has to go
Jack Knox says Greens on the Island are squabbling. Unlike Premier John Horgan, Greens are neither on secret vacations nor squabbling. I speak as a member, but not as a spokesperson.
Our candidates, up for election or re-election, are too busy trying to ensure that Island voters are aware of the global heating emergency and the attendant fires, floods, famines, heat domes, and wars.
The Green Party is the only party that seems to realize that this is a real and serious emergency. All Green candidates elected to Parliament will fight to get the party in power to take measures which actually help protect Canadians from the fires and floods and other “side effects” of global heating.
Green Party members are strong supporters of human rights, and I include the human rights of Palestinians in my support.
I and many other Green Party members object to the position of our current leader, Annamie Paul, who supports the Zionist view of the supremacy of the Jews over Palestinians. We will be voting on whether to keep Paul as our leader and I will vote to remove her.
Edwin Embrey Daniel
Victoria
Federal candidates should try to educate us
The chronicity of the COVID-19 pandemic is distressing. Part of the problem is the very nature of the virus, but is also significantly aggravated by people refusing to wear masks and to take vaccinations.
These anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers state that they are exercising their “rights and freedoms” — while ignoring their “duties and responsibilities.”
Much of this dysfunctional thinking is based on ignorance. I do not mean this in a derogatory way, but rather strictly not knowing the facts.
Wearing a mask does little to nothing in protecting the wearer, but it does significantly reduce the risk of passing this highly transmissible virus to other members of their society.
Taking a vaccination will not only reduce transmission, it will also reduce hospital stays and medical interventions freeing up resources to deal with the acute and chronic healthcare backlog.
Canadians have fought wars to ensure our rights and freedoms — these are precious and valuable, so do not abuse them. How many healthy youngsters gave up their rights and freedoms as they were conscripted to fight in the wars?
I hope that federal candidates of all parties take the opportunity to educate the public of the important role of mask wearing and vaccinations.
Chris Pengilly
Family physician, retired
Saanich
Forest industry not needed on panel
Re: “B.C.’s forests deserve facts, not fabrications,” commentary, Aug. 17.
The Vancouver Island I explored as a kid is a comparative moonscape today.
As a senior resident, I have watched the management and governance of our public forests deteriorate without regard for the public interest in the conservation and protection of the land, the lakes and rivers, the plants and animals, and now, even more concerning, the air we breathe.
Unfortunately, Bob Brash’s commentary is woefully deficient in facts and does nothing to instil my confidence in a forest industry that Gordon Campbell’s government deregulated in 2000.
As an advocate for the forest industry, Brash appears to ignore a majority of the public who wish to protect old-growth forests in the few remaining ecosystems rich in plant, animal and fungal life.
Given the task of the Old Growth Technical Advisory Panel to identify and delineate areas of old-growth forest within rich ecosystems important for the survival of biodiversity — a task best suited to scientists, which comprise the majority of the panel — it is very reassuring that the government had the good sense not to include representatives from the forest industry.
Graham Ross-Smith
Brentwood Bay
Give your freezer room to breathe
The hot weather is creating an issue with household deep freezers and concern among freezer owners, especially if the freezers are in a garage or an area without air conditioning, as has recently happened to both us and a neighbour.
This information does not apply to household refrigerators as they operate differently. Refrigerators have air fans to remove hot air from the operating components of the refrigerator. The hot air is usually blown out at the back of the refrigerator or under the refrigerator cabinet.
Freezers operate differently.
Most domestic freezers have copper tubing installed inside the outer metal walls of the freezer. The tubing is charged with refrigerant. The intent is that the heat removed from the food is compressed as part of the refrigeration system, picked up by the refrigerant and dispersed through the metal outer walls of the freezer.
This causes the outer walls of the freezer to become heated and to disburse the heat into the surrounding air. Normally the heat is barely noticeable to the owner, however the extreme heat we are experiencing is making the freezer deal with much more heat than normal and gives the impression that it isn’t cooling at all. This is not normally so.
To combat the current situation, owners should remove anything that is blocking air getting to the freezer — particularly clothing or blankets from contact with the freezer cabinet and direct a fan to the outer cabinet to remove as much heat as possible from the outside of the freezer.
John W. Smith
Nanaimo
Free money for us, but tell us why
So a $500 cheque is going to all Canadians 75 years and older — and another 10 per cent increase on our Old Age Security.
Guess us old guys are being rewarded for working hard and living within our means. Yikes — what about all the young families who will never be able to own their own home?
Am I right to think there would have been a better way to help the elderly who genuinely need our assistance? Wouldn’t we be saving a ton of money? The prime minister isn’t trying to buy my vote, is he?
Ida McDonald
Sooke
Ego, passion for power, and Justin Trudeau
Justin Trudeau should be severely punished for forcing this election on the Canadian people in the middle of not only the COVID-19 crisis, but the economic crisis that the virus has caused.
The federal government was working fine. Most Canadians just wanted stability and a way to escape this problem.
This election is all about Trudeau’s ego and his passion for ultimate power and has nothing to do with serving the needs of the people of Canada.
Paul Arnold
Saanich
Let’s discuss the obvious issues
Re: “Putting Clover Point changes into perspective,” commentary, Aug. 18.
I find it deeply ironic that someone with a family of five can miss discussing the obvious in yet another anti-car article we seemingly must endure these days.
However anti-humanity this might appear to some, what we need going forward is less people on this planet.
This, not attitude adjustment toward car ownership, will directly result in fewer cars.
It starts with population-increase control; car control is merely an end result of this.
In the argument between population size per se and micromanaging attitudes toward car ownership in the next generation of kids, we need focus more on the underdiscussed obvious.
Michael Bell
Victoria
No match for a German shepherd
A recent letter about dogs reminded me of a similar experience a few years ago as I was walking on the Dallas Road pathway.
I did this walk regularly without any problems; however, this time a large German shepherd came running toward me at a great speed, leapt up on me and knocked me on my back.
His owner whistled and she and the dog ran off.
A caring couple ran over and helped me up, ensuring I was not injured before they left. Maybe this is not an uncommon experience.
Penny Patterson
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.
