91Ô­´´

First responders deserve admiration

Re: “Tell first responders that they are appreciated,” letter, Oct. 6.

Sadly, I know only too well the dangers all first responders face everyday.

My husband, Const. Ian Jordan, VicPD, although not mentioned, passed away on April 11, 2018 from injuries sustained in a tragic incident on Sept. 22, 1987 while on duty.

Ian never recovered, spending more than 30 years in hospital. His full regimental funeral was held at Christ Church Cathedral on April 19, 2018.

Our family and friends will never forget the outpouring of love and support which we still receive to this day.

Our first responders are here for us. They deserve our respect and admiration. I can’t imagine a world without them.

Hilary Jordan

Victoria

Large parcels in Oak Bay waiting to be developed

In his Oct. 4 commentary, Eric Protzer took issue with Oak Bay Mayor Kevin Murdoch, who had pointed out the challenges facing the municipality in achieving the housing targets set by the province.

We are proud to have a mayor who has the integrity to point out the challenges that face the municipality.

Of the 13 municipalities in the Capital Regional District, Oak Bay is the fourth most densely populated (2021 census data). Only Sidney, Esquimalt and Victoria have greater population density.

Oak Bay is not anti-development. Unlike other municipalities, which recently raised their development cost charges, Oak Bay has no charges for new development, has low application fees, and minimal community amenity contribution requirements.

Although many areas within Oak Bay are largely built out, two large parcels within Oak Bay appear to be ready for development: one under the control of the University of Victoria (bordering Cedar Hill Cross Road) and one owned by Island Health (the former site of the Oak Bay Lodge). Both sites are owned by publicly funded institutions.

Students at UVic are struggling to find suitable accommodation and the need for housing that enables seniors to downsize is well known. The province appears to recognize these needs, as the majority of the units Oak Bay is required to build, 446 of 664, are studio or one-bedroom units.

It is time for our provincial government to show real leadership, and not simply abdicate its responsibility to others.

The province should proactively work with Oak Bay, UVic and Island Health to ensure suitable, much-needed housing gets built in Oak Bay on significant tracts of land which are currently undeveloped.

Uplands Neighbourhood Association Board of Directors

Mayor Kevin Murdoch stands up for Oak Bay

Congratulations to Oak Bay Mayor Kevin Murdoch for standing up for his community.

So how do we provide more housing? Just look at 91Ô­´´ Island. There is vacant property everywhere. Not in existing core regions, so move out of town.

Design new neighbourhoods with all the proper services to provide for a mix of residential types, but with transportation to the core areas or where people will be working.

Doug Grant

Nanoose Bay

New tax rule makes it easy to scam ICBC

The practice of charging the provincial sales tax on vehicle sales based on Black Book value or the actual purchase price, whichever is higher, smacks of legalized theft.

They are doing it to stop people scamming by misrepresenting the purchase price.

But scammers are not idiots. Picture this scenario:

Buddy buys an RV unit for $60,000, ­off-season low-ball price, and ICBC values it at $100,000. Buddy is on the hook for the extra $4,800 in tax, and insures it for the full $100,000 value he has just paid tax on.

Buddy has “a wreck” while heading for Snowbird paradise, the trailer gets written off and he then claims the “valuation” from ICBC and pockets a $35,200 profit.

Is ICBC going to pay out on this claim, or are they going to perpetrate an even greater scam by denying the claim based on the lower purchase price?

Would that fall under the “having their cake and eating it too” way of thinking?

What ICBC is doing is finding every purchaser of a vehicle “guilty” of fraud without any court proceedings. No trial, no presentation of evidence either for or against. Just a presumption of guilt.

Given all the back room skullduggery, no-fault denigration of service and “burning dumpster” in ICBC’s past, it is the last group that should be allowed to engage in such chicanery.

The government should take action on behalf of the law-abiding, fiscally challenged citizens and put this underhanded practice to rest.

Martin Richards

Campbell River

All those golf courses are lungs of community

A recent letter mentions the possible use of golf course lands for housing.

Bad idea! No matter how many housing units are built in Greater Victoria, there will never be enough. Remember the old saw “build it and they will come.”

In defence of golf courses, and believe me I am arguably the worst golfer, ever, and I don’t do it anymore, I consider this area is blessed to have so many wide open lands as golf courses.

These lands can be thought of as “lungs for our community” that provide oxygen emitting natural environments for insects, birds and small and large animals, although I could without the deer (but that’s another story).

The other great benefit is to human health. Many golfers are middle-aged and add to their fitness by hiking for hours in the great outdoors.

If these spaces are used for housing they will be lost forever, and soon after there will continue to be a shortage of space for housing.

Let us not let the politicians work their often proven incompetence by allowing building on golf courses!

David Smith

Victoria

Stop claiming hatred, let’s talk with each other

I totally support the LGBTQ+ community and I applaud the gains they’ve made over the years. Live and let live, I say.

I do nevertheless have questions and concerns about SOGI, but that is not the purpose of this letter. It is the overuse and misuse of the words hate, hatred, and hater that compel me to write.

The Collins dictionary defines hate as “intense or passionate dislike.” If I disagree in whole or in part with government policy or extreme views on both sides of the political spectrum, I am considered a “hater” according to our prime minister, politicians of different stripes, and social media.

Intense or passionate indeed! The word hate is not part of my everyday vocabulary. I find that the word and its synonyms are being unnecessarily ill-used.

Hatred and haters have been around since the beginning of time and will unfortunately continue to thrive. Voicing my opinion or asking questions in a respectful manner should not be construed as hatred.

I have lived in my beloved Canada all my life. I was taught and believed that our country is a democracy with free speech being one of its pillars. The past few years I have seen an erosion of both.

Violent protests and combative and demeaning rhetoric achieve nothing. Open-mindedness and calm discussion will do more to allay fears and misunderstandings than any reprehensible vocabulary or actions.

91Ô­´´s have the right to question and make their views known without being diminished or condemned and being told they are haters.

It is time to stop this negative response towards those of us who simply question the status quo.

Lynn Bourget-Cowie

Ladysmith

Premier, don’t rule with such a heavy hand

I read with dismay Les Leyne’s Oct. 4 column about how Premier David Eby “shut down” the Conservative MLA’s question about parents’ concerns about SOGI being taught in the schools ,and unified the MLAs in his attack against this MLA.

In the history of our society, SOGI is a relatively new way of thinking and is still controversial and challenging for many citizens to understand, let alone endorse.

Eby has made it clear that he is in favour of transgender thinking, and as a private citizen, he has the absolute right to embrace that philosophy.

But as a public official with great power, he has the responsibility to respectfully listen and allow discussion of this and other contentious questions in the legislature, because there are tens of thousands of 91Ô­´´s, including here in B.C., who are not on board with SOGI in public schools.

How is it OK for the premier to shut down and humiliate an elected MLA who is rightly trying to be the voice for constituents?

Please, Premier Eby, don’t wield your power with such a heavy hand.

Heather D. Wilson, RN (ret.), MSN, BA Journalism

Cobble Hill

When donors are expected to cover costs

Re: “Health-care campaigns and the single-payer idea,” letter, Oct. 7.

Let me add support to the letter, and also ask that the true cost of or medical system be documented.

In the recent 2022-2023 annual report of Victoria Hospitals Foundation, there’s a “Did you know?” It says 40 per cent of equipment at Royal Jubilee and Victoria General hospitals is funded by you – the donor family!

How shocking is that and begs the question, “what is government’s role in all this?” When the true cost of our system is accounted for, Canada’s failed system must rank as one of the most expensive in the world.

Yes, time for change indeed.

Paul Carr

North Saanich

Some are locked away, others are free to roam

Someone close to me is permanently locked up in a geriatric psychiatric facility due to their dementia. The move was necessary to protect the person and others around them.

Painful and heart-wrenching, yes. Unwarranted and harsh, no.

“Capacity” was the determinant. They were no longer able to make rational decisions around their own behaviour and care.

Seems to me that many street or homeless people, either addicted to drugs, suffering from mental illness or other physical ailments, would fit that bill.

So why are some locked away while others are free to roam?

Shannon Moneo

Sooke

Say no to illicit drug use in public spaces

No, Premier David Eby, some citizens are not concerned about the public use of illicit drugs; the vast majority of citizens are.

No, Premier, abusing illicit drugs on sidewalks and streets is not making communities feel secure; children, families and seniors need to be safe everywhere in our community.

No, Premier, while drinking alcohol in any public space is prohibited in BC, open drug use in any public space is not acceptable.

Premier Eby, it’s time you stop listening to vocal lobbyists who continue to push failed social experiments that are destroying the fabric of our society and clean up our downtowns.

Alan Humphries

James Bay

Better description of what an Airbnb is

I heard a great description which clarified for me what is wrong with Airbnbs: “Airbnbs are hotels wrapped in homes.”

Hotels are commercial properties. In fact, any property in which someone other than the owner resides arguably is a commercial property. So when did we just decide it was OK for investors to buy homes in residentially zoned neighbourhoods and operate them as commercial businesses?

I think it’s time for Greater Victoria to have a deeper conversation about the relationship between business and home ownership.

Doug Stacey

Esquimalt

Consider all sides in grizzly discussion

Re: “British Columbians are overwhelmingly against reinstating grizzly bear hunt,” commentary, Oct. 6.

The only places that were cited for polling were 91Ô­´´ Island (and most likely urban areas like Greater Victoria) and the Lower Mainland.

This is not a fair representation of public perception because there are very strong but uneducated opinions.

The fact that there are grizzly bears on 91Ô­´´ Island shows that bear populations are healthier than they have ever been. The fact that there have been multiple people killed in bear altercations means that they need to be managed beyond trying to not be in their landscape, because they will continually move out to new landscapes because that is what they do.

The biggest issue is about stewardship. We can do our best to manage deer, elk, moose, caribou, but if we do not manage predators then basic wildlife biology tells us that a higher predator population causes ungulate and prey populations to plummet.

This is the case with all resources. We need to be good stewards of what we have been blessed with. To fully step away from stewardship is just as negligible as not having any conservation regulations.

I hope that as the conversation on this topic continues, we come with open understanding from both sides with a wide swath of perspectives.

Most people I talk to about conservation are on the side of stewardship rather than a hands-off approach.

I have personal connection with two people who have been attacked by grizzlies, and once removed connections with two people who have been killed by grizzlies.

To fully stop the conversation is to not hear the other half and the experience of other people.

Branden Holmquist

Sooke

Catering to the east to win more votes

Re: “Batteries get money, the military doesn’t,” letter, Oct. 5.

Does this really surprise anyone? Does the location of the battery plants surprise anyone? Do the areas where the government is pledging billions for new homes surprise anyone? Does the fact that billions of tax dollars have again been spent east of Manitoba?

It goes on and on and on … catering to the east for votes.

Larry Zilinsky

Saanich

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