We’re lucky to have free and fair elections
On Thursday I had the privilege of attending the inauguration of Victoria’s newly elected city council. This peaceful transfer of power, the hallmark of a liberal democracy, was the culmination of a free and fair process fewer and fewer people around the world enjoy.
It began with anyone, irrespective of race, colour, gender, etc., being able to run for council. Candidates were allowed to spend a reasonable amount for their campaign, but no more. The public was able to vet the candidates in a variety of forums during the campaign period.
There were many convenient options for casting my secret ballot — mail, advance polls and multiple sites on voting day. None of which were surrounded with AK47 -toting bozos trying to intimidate me.
I left the voting station knowing I’d have the same opportunity four years from now.
How lucky we are.
John Farquharson
Victoria
Young, Ranns, Blackwell deserve our thanks
Thirty-three years ago, I met Stew Young, John Ranns and Denise Blackwell. At the time, the Western Communities were governed by a single Capital Regional District director.
There was no city council, minimal community-based planning and few opportunities for public engagement. The result — a ramshackle set of communities that were crying out for local governance.
The province responded by incorporating the region and opening the door for local municipal decision-making. My job as MLA for the area was to ensure that each municipality had the resources to fulfil its vision.
In those early days, Stew, John and Denise stepped up, and through the force of their own personalities sculpted communities that reflected public will at that time.
John was a passionate advocate for preserving the rural attributes of Metchosin. Stew’s focus was on job creation, affordable housing and world-class recreation facilities. Denise, as CRD director, worked diligently and tirelessly on enhancing health and seniors services throughout the region.
In the ebb and flow of politics, people come and go — councils change — public sentiments evolve. But politics and service to the community should not be perceived as a thankless task.
These three individuals dedicated countless hours for the betterment of their communities, and in their own way have left a legacy that has notably improved the quality of life in Langford and Metchosin.
A new generation of councils will soon assume the levers of decision-making. I wish them well.
However, we would be remiss not to thank Stew, John and Denise for their extraordinary leadership and wish them well in their future endeavours.
Moe Sihota
MLA Esquimalt-Metchosin, 1986-2001
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose
I have been following with interest the letters regarding health care and the shortage of family physicians. The president of Healthcare CAN is proposing a pan-91原创 licensing body — bring it on!
My husband and I came to Canada in 1975 from the U.K. My husband trained at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital and also received his Membership (MRCP) before emigrating.
He was licensed to practise medicine as a family physician in Saskatchewan, and we lived in Eastend, Shaunavon and ultimately Regina (eight years in all).
However, when we decided to move to B.C., the college here said he needed to pass the 91原创 College of GPs exam, which he duly did and passed. I remember remarking at the time “how come he can practice on the good people of Saskatchewan for eight years and yet needs an exam for the people of B.C. — what’s so special about them? Aren’t we all 91原创s!”
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.
He practised here in Victoria as a family physician from 1983 until illness forced him to retire in 2015.
Jane Fairhurst
Victoria
Mental-health policies don’t work, so what next?
Shortly after the death of Const. Shaelyn Yang, the CBC reported on the background of her alleged killer, describing a man who had gone from a promising career in film to living on the streets with obvious mental-health problems.
It reminded me of two things: First, none of us is immune from circumstances beyond our control that can affect our mental health for the worse, and change our lives in drastic ways; and second, that those changes can impact our relationships with family and strangers — dramatically, sometimes fatally.
The tragedy of Const. Yang was inflicted on her by the tragedy of the man who’s being held responsible for her death. His circumstances were not, entirely, of his own making. Of how many more people currently living on the street with mental-health issues and addictions can that be said?
Before the pandemic I volunteered weekly with a group that handed out food and basic life supplies to homeless people; I would look at them and wonder: “What were you like in Grade 5? How did you come to be here?”
Since society as a whole has finally come around to seeing mental-health problems as just that, a health issue, the next logical step is for the provincial government to build hospitals to treat them — not the “snake pit” portrayals of the 1950s, but places dedicated to making the sick well — just like “regular” hospitals.
For those who can’t be made well, for their own sakes, and everyone else’s, they should be permanently housed and cared for. Advocates for harm reduction should be at the forefront of this plan, because it will mean harm reduction for all of us.
How many more treasures like Const. Yang are we going to lose before we finally admit that what we’ve been doing for decades isn’t working, and it’s time for a new plan?
Lorraine Lindsay
Saanich
What’s a peaceful protest? What’s a lawless one?
The inquiry into the Freedom Convoy in February has me continuing to wonder why no one ever addresses the central core of this entire issue: Exactly what is a “peaceful” protest?
Twenty years ago, I was a participant in two of the protests, a year apart, staged by dozens of unions at the Legislature after Gordon Campbell tore up some union contracts, and between 20,000 and 30,000 people were there each time.
We were vocal and had our say, but no one else’s right to pass our gathering was infringed upon; nor were the neighbours subjected to annoying constant horn-honking; no statues or other personal property were vandalized, nor were any graves or monuments urinated on or desecrated in any way; and at the end of both days, we all went home, peacefully.
I have wondered many times over the past few years why no one seems to have defined exactly what a peaceful protest is, compared to a lawless one?
The right to peaceful protest is guaranteed by our Constitution, but perhaps if this simple definition had been in place in the past, police would have a much clearer idea of what their abilities are to deal with protests. It would certainly remove at least some of the ambiguity that has plagued how to handle so many protests over the past several years.
After reading about the comments of people testifying at the inquiry so far, may I suggest that this clarification would be a good starting place before we try to figure out anything else?
Richard Silver
Colwood
Question the benefits of the cruise-ship visits
The economic benefit of cruise-ship visits to Ogden Point is frequently asserted and no doubt well-founded. On the other side are the issues of pollution, traffic and the valid concerns expressed by residents of James Bay.
As we look ahead to the potential eight-month 2023 season, the estimated visits could be 340 and as many as one million visitors. Perhaps it is timely to dig deep and determine both the impact and the benefits.
The 2022 season brought more than 700,000 visitors. Three-quarters of these visits were less than six hours and about three-quarters of those arrived at 6 p.m. or later. This begs the question: Which businesses experience an economic benefit?
Should the analysis of the impact and benefits also factor in the impact of the “elephant in the room” — specifically, the future of the U.S. regulations prohibiting foreign-flagged passenger ships from travelling between U.S. ports.
Many cruise lines enjoy stopovers at Victoria, but there is little doubt the overall number of visits would decline should the regulation be repealed, as was the case in 2021, albeit temporarily.
At the very least one would hope the strategies employed to attract cruise-ship visits will include the impact of the vagaries of U.S. regulations. Coincident with this is how to encourage/entice visits longer than six hours, between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.
Tony Southwell
Saanich
Allow temporary housing on agricultural land
Kelowna has allowed farmers to set up small trailer parks on ALR-designated land for trailers and motorhomes to rent out.
I see countless motor homes parked on various roads in Greater Victoria. As we moan and groan and do little to help people who can not qualify for a mortgage, this is a viable option.
The ALR was set up by panicked people who feared for their food supply. The carrot and the stick were used in the form of threatened high taxes if the farmers did not comply.
Our elected people need to take a long, hard look at the ALR.
Stuart Gustafson
Saanich
A gravel joke better left unsaid
Recent gravel letters reminded me of a comical moment when driving in England a few years ago. I noticed a warning sign that said “Loose Chippings” (gravel), which meant look out for sloppy road conditions.
I then asked my wife Carole to get the map and find out how far Loose Chippings was. She looked in vain for a few minutes until I laughed and explained the joke. I was rewarded with an hour’s silence from her … .no more map jokes from then on.
Fred Whittaker
Sooke
Loose gravel, tar and black feet all summer
The recent letters on loose gravel brought back childhood memories. I was raised on Lewis Street in James Bay, a short dead-end street off Dallas Road.
Our street was never paved in the 14 years I lived there and didn’t have proper sidewalks. Every couple of years the tar truck would arrive and drop fresh tar, and then the gravel truck would spread gravel.
As the cars drove on the street they would press the gravel into the tar, making it a paved street.
Unfortunately when we walked barefoot, as many of us did, we had black tarred feet for most of the summer.
Eileen Cannon
Victoria
It’s fall and bucks have one thing on their minds
So, on the one hand, pet dogs must be leashed on public streets and on Dallas Road they must be kept separate from people walking on the paths because their behaviour can be unpredictable or dangerous, even though they are considered “tame.”
At the same time, large, wild, unpredictable deer with sharp and deadly antlers are allowed to roam at will, while people walking in their own neighbourhoods are told that it is their responsibility to “hide behind a tree” if necessary, to avoid being seriously injured.
The woman in the story whose car was damaged by a large buck smashing into her windshield said “It could have been so much worse.”
Is that what municipal and provincial politicians are waiting for? Because it is just a matter of time before something much worse does happen and then finally, after all the finger-pointing is over, something will have to be done about these animals, which are actually dangerous.
Elizabeth Causton
Victoria
Another hiccup in the B.C. health system
My wife and I, both in our 90s, tried to renew our prescriptions by phoning our doctor in Victoria, only to be told that he ceased being our physician the moment we moved to Courtenay.
Now we find ourselves having to get a list of our medications (a considerable number) and line up at a walk-in clinic for a number of hours to get them renewed.
I wonder what we two will discuss as the topic of the day when we are at such an advanced age, she with dementia and I ensuring I have a diabetic snack to keep my blood sugar at a reasonable level.
We do not normally use foul language, but I believe the air will be quite blue as we wait in the promised rain on a chilly November morning outside the Walmart store where the clinic is located.
Les Quilter
Courtenay
Don’t condemn humans for eating meat
Re: “Good health and a happy planet? Go vegan,” letter, Nov. 2.
The letter is based on a fundamentally flawed premise. The author writes “the evidence has become unequivocal … that animal-sourced foods including meat, poultry, eggs and dairy are not only unnatural for humans, but deleterious.”
This is clearly false. Humans, like bears, are omnivores and it is completely natural and normal for them to eat both plant-based and animal-based foods. No foods are deleterious to us in general, if eaten in moderate amounts.
Of course, there is the exception that some individuals have specific food allergies that prevent them from eating specific foods, both plant and animal.
The need for balance is summed up nicely in author Michael Pollen’s famous quote: “Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.”
We do not condemn bears, or carnivores like wolves, for eating meat, and we should not condemn humans for doing so.
Ian F. Macdonald
Victoria
Atmospheric river vs. Pineapple Express
If the Pineapple Express originates from the tropics, why isn’t an atmospheric river originating from the north called a Polar Express?
Liz Macdonald
Victoria
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