Dilbert cancellation smacks of McCarthyism
As a small child I remember the furor when cartoonist Walt Kelly was condemned for his stand against Senator Joe McCarthy, and how many newspapers stopped carrying Pogo because of the depiction of McCarthy as a polecat determined to lynch the innocent.
Nearly 70 years later the brilliant strip Dilbert has been pulled, once again because a cartoonist has said unpopular things. This time they were not even in the published strip itself, but simply expressed as free speech!
I suspect Voltaire’s famous quote applies here.
Without in any way defending Scott Adams’ opinions this longtime reader protests the cancellation of Dilbert merely because some overly sensitive and censorious people have become agitated, especially since those views have never been expressed through content.
David Lowther
Mesachie Lake
Right-of-way is imperfect, but we can work with it
The proposition is not railway versus highway. The issue is a safe, efficient, environmentally neutral and modern transportation corridor for Vancouver Island.
The current circumstance of an overburdened, costly, precarious, and environmentally damaging roadway is not sustainable as the population grows and its specifications, conditions, and requirements evolve.
The railway right-of-way, as imperfect as it is, exists. There is a need now that will become greater for an additional transportation corridor to convey people and goods securely, economically, and ecologically up and down the island.
The issue of freight trains having the right-of-way over passenger trains is just a matter of reversing priorities, as was the case in the heyday of passenger railway when passenger trains were given green light over freight trains.
It is a matter of designing the proper equipment and determining the appropriate and viable sustainable strategy based on our need for safe, efficient, environmentally neutral, and modern transportation.
Robert Patterson
Lake Cowichan
Resolve the region’s transportation planning
Re: “A sorry transportation tale of two cities,” commentary, March 4.
Stan Bartlett’s grumpy tale of systemic transit issues gets to the heart of why we have so many unresolved “roadblocks.” It is the planning system, stupid!
We have a horse-and-buggy mentality more focussed on vote optics than the complexities of our rapid population explosion.
Petty officialdom and ancient turf protections take precedence over the obvious need for radical management restructuring. The “elephant on a bicycle” is beyond a joke.
Go to any planning meeting re new project development and the “ transportation beast is the last on the agenda ; Cynical maybe but the lure of ready cash dominates.
Bartletts’ rejoinder to scrap the Capital Regional District’s self-serving “popularity first” vote system is vital to our transit health.
How many Colwood-congested heart failures are needed to realize the “the big one” is about put us in the same ward as Vancouver, Toronto, New York etc.
Russell Thompson
Victoria
Lose the cable ferry, bring back a proper one
The Denman ferry broke down again the other day at about 5:15 p.m. I was already in the lineup for the 6, with two others, one of whom had had oral surgery that day and really needed to get home to Hornby.
There were family people waiting to get home, the Royston cub troup going on a field trip to the Elks camp, and trades people on the Denman side trying to get home after long work days.
We waited in the dark, wind and rain, getting increasingly cold and cranky for more than hours. Because the cable barge is supposed to work without an actual captain or engineer on board — thus saving money — it was necessary to call in an engineer/mechanic, who came by boat from Comox.
He arrived at the barge at about 7:45, it was fixed within 15 minutes. That suggests to me that they knew what the problem was, it was easy to fix, and that probably someone on the crew standing beside the motor could have done it.
I gather the cable slipped off the cog — a bit like when my bike chain comes off and I stop and fix it in two seconds.
The cable barge is a failure. It does not work. It has not saved money, needing frequent cable replacements, call outs and repair. That is not even calculating the disruption and the costs of lost work days and time for everyone who has to travel on the damn thing.
Someone thought it would be an amazing tourist attraction — the longest cable ferry in the world. Yeah, and the least reliable and most boring one. So marketing failure as well as operational junk.
It is time to admit what we all know: It is a failure. Take it away, put in a real boat that works. B.C. Ferries can even blame it on some former person who made the decision.
The crew are great, they do their best. But a mistake is a mistake. It cannot be fixed.
This is a mental health issue for islanders now.
Sheila McDonnell
Hornby Island
Rail is the only way to move the Island
The last time this province saw so many self-serving, shortsighted, the sky-is-falling arguments against rail was when Skytrain was being debated for Vancouver.
Today it can be argued that that decision was the right one and the opponents were dead wrong.
It would be amusing, if it weren’t so serious, to watch the suggestions put forward by all of the non-experts who are busy designing rail lines and equipment which they know little about to the la-la land dreamers who have always wanted to ride their bicycles from Victoria to Courtenay while ignoring the fact that such a dream does absolutely nothing towards solving the horrendous problem of moving thousands upon thousands of people daily along with the tons of freight needed to serve the rapidly growing Island population.
The rest of the world already knows that rail is the only successful way to do this.
There really is only one fundamental question here: Do we keep the E&N right-of-way or do we let it go?
All the rest is completely superfluous and will be easily handled by the “experts” if a decision to keep the right-of-way is affirmed. Bear in mind that when the right-of-way is gone, it is gone. Forever.
What then? Well one thing is for sure and that is future generations struggling with how to move people and freight up and down a single highway serving a population that has doubled will say: “How could they have been so dumb?”
Had the likes of W.A.C. Bennett, Phil Gaglardi, Robert Bonner and others not had the vision, courage and strength of leadership to make bold decisions while refusing to pander to small self-interest groups, British Columbia would still be in the dark ages.
It remains to be seen if Justin Trudeau and David Eby have the courage of their predecessors. I worry about that.
R.G. Persson
Victoria
Victoria’s bike valet service is not a good deal
I’m an avid cyclist and wholeheartedly support the growing bike lane network in Victoria. There’s even a poster on the wall of my house that says “The Bicycle is a simple solution to many of the world’s most complicated problems.”
However, I’m incensed that our city should think that spending $260,000 on a bike valet service for a mere 11,000 bike visits is a good use of public funds.
Simple math tells you that we the good folk of Victoria are paying almost $25 every time a cyclist parks their trusty steed at City Hall.
That type of reckless spending speaks volumes to the fiscal incompetence of our new mayor and council — and at a time when we are undoubtedly facing a substantial increase in our property taxes.
Paul Cunnington
Victoria
Seeking attention, so stop giving it
The recent defacing of the replica woolly mammoth at the Royal B.C. Museum is another example of an anti-social stunt intended to gain publicity for some righteous cause.
The zealots behind these acts of vandalism, or outright destruction (for example the Captain Cook statute), place their own interests above any thought for public property.
The Times Colonist and CHEK TV should adopt the enlightened policy of Global TV and the Vancouver Sun. These media outlets did not publicize the name of the person who painted the mammoth or the fringe group she claimed to represent.
By not publicizing the cause du jour they deprive the zealots of the oxygen they need to thrive. Without this free publicity I am sure that the incidence of such vandalism or civil disobedience will greatly diminish.
Richard McCandless
Saanich
World vilification? Putin would be thrilled
For Vladimir Putin, Adolf Hitler and other such monstrous criminals, the only just punishment for their crimes against humanity would be life imprisonment or, where allowed, execution.
These penalties, in addition to being fair, would most certainly be of unwanted consequence to them. Unfortunately, the payment of “worldwide vilification” would likely be perceived by Putin as a highly desired badge of honour.
John Farquharson
Victoria
Rail costs aren’t high, considering the value
The ongoing debate on the E&N should not really be a debate.
The cost of the BRT along Boulevard Pie-IX in Montreal was $36 million a kilometre. The cost of upgrading the E&N is $2 million to $4 million a kilometre.
The right of way through the Snaw-Naw-As reserve could be returned to the First Nation if there is an agreement to allow a tunnel under the reserve. Yes, a tunnel would cost more, but in 100 years what would be better, a society built around rail transportation, or a society built around a six- to eight-lane highway.
As for a multi-use trail, the Island Corridor Foundation already allows for a trail to be built on the right-of-way so both a rail and a trail can be had. There are challenging sections along the way but a solution can be found, such as from Duncan to Victoria the E&N trail could be tied into the Cowichan Valley Trail and the Galloping Goose Trail by having a fenced section through the Sooke watershed.
The E&N can provide for all if there is collaboration from all stakeholders.
Gwyer Webber
Advocate for Rail and Trail
Nanaimo
Questions, high costs make rail a bad idea
After 45 years in all aspects of the railway industry, including systems from SkyTrain to high-speed trains, I can only hope that common sense prevails and the judgment on March 15 is a big NO.
According to a report commissioned in April 2020 by the B.C. government, it will take $728 million in upgrades and repairs to fully restore the Island Rail Corridor and another $599 million to introduce a commuter rail service.
No mention is made as to the annual subsidy that will be required to maintain the service.
A good frequent two-way service is required to promote and encourage people to use any system. Not a one-way, once-a-day return operation.
Unfortunately we do not have the population density to fully support a regular service.
Also, regardless of the type of system that is being dreamed about, two questions arise: Where will the new Victoria terminal be located? Will there be a shuttle service to the downtown core?
Mick Rix
Victoria
A perfect opportunity to ride to work
With the recent cold spell, how many members of Victoria council who voted to reduce downtown parking spaces rode their bikes to the Thursday meeting?
Just wondering.
Paul Baldwin
Victoria
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