Plenty of land for houses on golf courses
Re: “Allow temporary housing on agricultural land,” letter, Nov. 8.
The letter-writer wondered if there is room for small trailer parks on land that is in the Agricultural Land Reserve. It does seem like there might be room for some “tiny houses” in the ALR, but it should not be on land that is actually used for agricultural operations.
Luckily there is a great deal of uncultivated ALR land within the Capital Regional District. It is conveniently located; some is even waterfront.
This ALR-designated land is currently tied up in golf courses, some are private-membership clubs, that have not produced a single crop for much of the past century.
A quick look at the CRD atlas shows that at least nine golf courses sit atop 350 hectares of ALR land inside a region that is suffering from a housing crisis and rising food costs. That’s 3,500,000 square metres of land.
The equivalent of 5,500 single-family lots or 15,000 townhouses, or 35,000 apartments/condos, or 100,000 tiny homes. Or, for that matter, about 15,000 tonnes of potatoes per year.
I’m not anti-golf and I’m not seriously advocating that these green spaces should be paved over with housing or plowed under for crops.
But I do wonder if clusters of tiny homes surrounding a potato-field fairway on the first hole of the Uplands Golf Club would suddenly create a laser focus on the housing crisis inside the legislature.
Perhaps it would start a land-use conversation that considers all land and whether higher density is a consequence everyone will bear equally, or is it just some who must bear the brunt?
Doug Wilson
View Royal
Encouraging seniors to live in homes longer
Cellphone access from home to emergency services is a great advantage for seniors, allowing us to stay longer in our homes. However, the notion that everyone living in the southern urban areas of Canada has such access available is incorrect.
I live in North Saanich (on the wrong side of a hill?) and have only intermittent connectivity with any of the three major providers. When I wrote to the minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development in 2019, his office replied that “the telecommunications industry has made remarkable progress in enhancing coverage and services where demand provides for economic viability.”
The prime minister has just announced 60,000 more homes in more remote areas of Canada will be connected to the grid, at an average cost of $8,000 each. I assume that this service was not economically viable, but will be subsidized.
Wouldn’t it make sense to provide access for all seniors living in their own homes without such access, allowing them to reside there longer? By paying for both a landline and access to the internet for my cellphone, I can stay here longer.
But I must refuse all requests for my cellphone number, which causes other problems.
Trevor Lewis
North Saanich
New doctor pay system prevented a retirement
During an appointment this morning with my GP of more than 23 years, I was told that if the increase had not been approved, he would have announced his retirement as of the end of December.
It is good to see that the government sometimes listens to our very serious concerns and I thank them for that.
Jack Shalinsky
Victoria
Too many deer? Let’s start hunting
We should have gotten serious about culling these offensive and dangerous deer 20 years ago. This is an exemplary case of elected officials, in all municipalities, suffering from the worst case of paralysis by way of analysis.
You don’t need to be a nuclear physicist to find a solution to the problem; it is called hunting. These large rodents with horns need to be removed completely from our urban and residential areas once and for all. Bambis they are not.
John Stevenson
Victoria
Portrait removal is not reconciliation
I have to say, B.C. Ferries with its millions of dollars salaried and redundant “top tier” has made an error of choosing cancel culture, cultural appropriation over sovereignty.
I’m pretty much “cancellation exhausted,” just after “pandemic exhaustion” and an in general exhaustion of all of the inflation, supply-chain issues and overall ridiculousness.
B.C. Ferries, if it wants to show reconciliation, instead of appropriating it, maybe could offer all status Indigenous people free ferry rides. Oh wait, that would take actual funds from the top tier.
Time to ask the First Nations what indeed reconciliation means to them, something tangible, not removing a vinyl print from a boat, then spouting some BS about reconciliation.
Derek Sanderson
Victoria
Keep King’s portrait on the ferry fleet
For a variety of reasons, keep the King’s portrait on the ferries. We are 91原创 and belong to a commonwealth. We are a monarchy.
We are not a republic, as is the U.S., and I certainly hope we never become one. Our values remain with the monarchy against tyranny, despotism and totalitarianism. Our monarchy is attractive to American tourists.
God save the King.
Margaret Wood
Victoria
Did B.C. Ferries consult before removing photo?
Reconciliation is bringing two sides together. I haven’t seen any evidence B.C. Ferries invoked any kind of reconciliatory process before unilaterally deciding to remove photos from B.C. Ferries vessels of the Queen and failing to replace them with those of the King.
Sounds like the same process the City of Victoria didn’t use when deciding unilaterally to remove the Sir John A. Macdonald statue from its grounds.
Actions by politicians at the former Victoria council were bad enough, but I expected much more of B.C. Ferries. Acting unilaterally out of — what, some misplaced, holier-than-thou sense of guilt? — is not reconciliation.
It repeats the paternalistic approach to society many of us have been working for centuries to rebalance. Thankfully, though, despite paternalistic actions like those of B.C. Ferries, (as in “I know what’s best for you”), the world is changing and a kinder, more respectful collaborative approach to life and to healing is emerging.
The old energy is hanging on for dear life, but its time has come.
Linda Baker
Victoria
All those politicians are flying to Egypt
With the politicians converging in Egypt, mostly by private jet, the hypocrisy of modern politicians ignores the simple fact that pollution of the upper atmosphere is obviously caused by colossal aircraft traffic.
Who is going to put a ban on flying? And why blame bovine flatulence when the world has just given birth to its eight billionth farter?
How do you explain Roman remains 10 metres deep in the Mediterranean? It is confusing. Who knows what is going on?
G.R. Greig
Victoria
Strikes, lockouts are archaic and draconian
Neither companies nor their employees maintain 100% support when there is a lockout or a strike. The public and/or loyal customers are inconvenienced, and when there is an alternative to the services they are likely to move their loyalties, so how do we encourage active negotiations without these draconian practices? This lays out a way to leverage labour negotiations without strikes or lockouts.
When negotiations grind to a halt, or at the time unions would normally give strike notice, operations continue as normal but employees donate 50% of their salaries to a charity, and the company matches those donations.
If a tentative agreement is not reached within 30 days, the donations go up to 100% (it may be necessary to adjust contribution/donation amounts to equally encourage negotiations).
The benefits of a contract with this type of negotiations agreement are somewhat obvious:
Only the people negotiating are leveraged to encourage movement towards agreement;
Customers are more likely to stay engaged with the company, health business and secure jobs are more likely to continue;
The public are more likely to be sympathetic to employees and recognize companies for their generous support to charities, thereby keeping them both in good standing and not appearing to be engaged in civil disobedience or cruel actions;
Most importantly, respect should be maintained and a single team culture can flourish.
Bill Yearwood
Oak Bay
There is a wheel already, so let’s not invent one
The federal government wants the provinces to develop a “world-class health data system.” Where have 91原创 health-care management professionals been for the past 20 years?
There are off-the-shelf system vendors, or we can duplicate systems from other countries — has anyone looked at these?
The last thing we need — as pointed out in the examples of the long-gun registry and Phoenix payroll — is for governments of any stripe to be reinventing the wheel.
Pool provincial financial resources and buy an existing system that can be scaled up for a population of, say, 75 million to allow for growth. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel this time.
Roger Love
Saanich
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