What better time to聽go聽green?
Oh no, the ear-splitting noise of loud mufflers on cars, trucks and motorcycles is back!
I have always wondered why so much noise pollution is allowed to occur by a few affecting so many. Also road construction everywhere causing vehicles to idle and spew out dirty exhausts.
We literally live in paradise here and it has been so wonderful to see such blue skies, blue oceans, pristine clear mountains and healthy fresh air!
Brussels, the capital of Belgium, is going green with all sorts of forward-thinking ideas. It鈥檚 time for Victoria to do the same.
European cities are way ahead of us when it comes to Environmental issues. We need light rail and other modes of green transportation now!
Meterologists are predicting another dangerous fire season for BC. We must all do our part now to tackle climate change which is knocking on the door next and will make this virus look like a walk in the park if we don鈥檛.
The biggest mistake we can make when it comes to action on climate change is believing that someone else is going to fix it.
Nature is sending us a message and we need to listen!
Anne Forbes
Victoria
A resilient recovery, not business as usual
There鈥檚 a lot of pressure out there to get back to normal.
But in B.C., 鈥渘ormal鈥� was failing to meet our climate targets. 鈥淣ormal鈥� was Indigenous and rural communities with no economic opportunities. 鈥淣ormal鈥� was housing, homelessness and addiction crises in our cities. 鈥淣ormal鈥� was a wildly inequitable distribution of wealth and power in our province.
Let鈥檚 not go back to 鈥渘ormal鈥�.
The province has set aside $1.5 billion to get our economy back on its feet again as we transition out of the pandemic. This is a once-in-a-generation chance to invest these precious public dollars into projects that build the kind of B.C. we all want to live in.
Lasse Tammilehto
Victoria
Bring students back to聽schools in July
Now that cautious reconsideration of restrictions are being considered, perhaps it is also worth considering the extension of the public school term into July. The benefits are exponentially inter-related.
Parents have been home schooling; children and parents alike might benefit from some time apart; while the children may benefit from augmented social interaction.
Families would likely reduce their holiday travel plans, thereby reducing the potential interactions and increased population densities in areas which have less health care capacity for COVID-19 related illness 鈥� should outbreaks occur through increased summer vacation travel.
Mitigate the stress associated with increased transient B.C. Ferries passengers, experienced by permanent residents living in ferry-dependent coastal locations.
Teachers could participate in the front line heroics demonstrated by the army of health-care professionals throughout our country, and garner the patriotic symbolism bestowed upon that working segment. Thousands in that segment have been working overtime.
Extending the school year may help students who by B.C. Education assessment may have fallen behind in their academic progress. While our competent army of teachers are doing their best online, perhaps an augmented in-class school year may assist those students who may have fallen behind in their studies.
Wayne Stremel
Garden Bay
Can we bomb that聽coronavirus?
It is so comforting to see that the government has all the money it needs for really important things during these troubling times.
Canada just announced another $71聽million US payment just to stay in the bidding for the Lockheed Martin F-35 offensive fighter jet.
That brings us to more than $541聽million US in pursuit of this desperately needed weapon.
I am sure we can bomb the coronavirus into submission. Perhaps we can also unleash the aircraft against the climate breakdown.
We all agree that this is just the kind of spending that will keep us safe and healthy 鈥� and keep us in the good graces of the U.S. Fortunately, our health-care system doesn鈥檛 have any great needs at the moment.
And we are in great shape on education and homelessness, the court system, etc. Government leaders of all stripes obviously have their priorities straight.
Go Canada!
William S. Geimer
Sooke
A quick solution to the聽E&N question
When will all this rubbish end with regard to the Island rail line ?
The track ought to have been ripped up and sold for scrap, to help foot the bill for a 鈥渘ew mono,鈥� ages ago.
The so-called operators haven鈥檛 got a clue how to run a two-man rush for a three-holer.
The gravel surface should have been scraped off and stored for later fill, a program for buying a moveable cement plant instigated, the columns manufactured as progress requires, and check the cost of Maglev cars, cement, transport, plus new gravel for an access road.
Do not hire present owners, please begin within the month.
George Manners
Cowichan Bay
If you own a dog, you own what it produces
I live in Central Saanich and am an avid walker. Everywhere I go, I see colourful bags of dog feces 鈥� along pathways, in ditches, hanging in bushes, on fences.
This is not responsible dog ownership. If you own the dog, you own the dog feces.
Leaving it for the municipality or neighbours to pick up is not acceptable behaviour.
It is immature, inconsiderate and selfish.
Plastic bags are a huge hazard to our ocean life. They never biodegrade, but they break down into tiny pieces that are very likely to end up in a waterway. Small and large pieces of plastic in the ocean enter the food chain and cause irreparable damage to fish and marine mammals.
Why would anyone want to be the cause of this?
L.M. Phillippe
Saanichton
We don鈥檛 need to add to our killing capacity
The number in the headline was so small that it almost didn鈥檛 register with me 鈥� 鈥淐anada adds $75M to F-35 development.鈥� At a time when every new day seems to bring another announcement of a multi-billion dollar government program, what鈥檚 a mere $75 million?
The problem with this annual payment by Canada toward the purchase of 88 new warplanes from the United States is that it鈥檚 entirely the wrong initiative needed by Canada and the world.
COVID-19 was supposed to have profoundly transformed our priorities, our outlooks, our plans to secure people鈥檚 health, livelihoods, futures.
Throwing another $75 million into a multi-billion dollar program to boost our killing capacity shows that the government of Canada has learned nothing from the present crisis.
Larry Hannant
Victoria
Accountability still聽matters
Re: 鈥淚n handling of pandemic, we need to hear opposing and questioning voices,鈥� commentary by Bob Plecas, May 5.
I have been looking for the ways in which the opposition party, the Liberals, would be given time to respond to the decisions that are being made by the NDP and the Green Party.
Particularly, the importance of the legislature in all of this.
Thank you Bob Plecas for ensuring that the value and importance of accountability be kept at the forefront in the ongoing issue of our present health challenges.
Lloyd Douglas
Victoria
Great value in differing opinions
The beauty and the bane of Artificial Intelligence on social media is its ability to filter your feed based on a previously shown interest of what was viewed 鈥� thus ensuring your thinking is not challenged or enlightened by a different point of view.
Thank you Times 91原创 for publishing articles from people with different viewpoints and giving readers responsible, investigative reporting and information.
You are the Authentic Intelligence of AI.
Charmaine Van Tine
Brentwood Bay
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