If nastiness continues, who will run for council?
I have been reading with interest the op-eds and letters with respect to the 颅current review of the Official Community Plan in North Saanich.
I was on North Saanich council for 12聽years, six of those years as mayor. Those six were the longest, most arduous and most frustrating and hurtful of my 21聽years of community service in municipal politics in North Saanich and Sidney.
Why? My campaign slogan was A聽Balanced Approach for a Balanced 颅Community. Housing options for young families and seniors, village centres for a walkable community.
My kids were still 鈥測oungish鈥� at the time and I had a vision for the community that included young families and seniors, with services we could all walk to.
Not so, said the North Saanich Ratepayers Association and many of the voices now among the Save North 颅Saanich group. That bastard Daly wants condos and Costco. He is definitely an evil man.
It got personal, nasty and ugly. I signed up to serve my community, not to be personally attacked for trying to do so.
The current mayor was once the chair of the ratepayers association, so surely he must hold the same values that group has. Apparently not; now they want to throw him under the bus too.
Nothing changes. Nothing changes.
I certainly agree with Gary McCaig (鈥淭ime to move on with North Saanich OCP review,鈥� Oct. 21) that it will become increasingly difficult to find people who are interested in serving their community by running for local council because of the vitriol that is most assuredly to come should you not agree with the philosophy of these very active political groups.
I certainly feel for the current mayor and council. Been there, done that.
Ted Daly
Saanichton
Common vision needed on Saanich Peninsula
As a longtime resident of the Saanich Peninsula, I鈥檝e found the recent series of letters and op-eds regarding the North Saanich Official Community Plan review informative and interesting.
Yes, the review is important and it is time to move on. Yes, we need to preserve the rural-greenspace landscape as we adapt to climate change. Yes, we need to provide housing to address the needs of a changing, stressed society.
Yes to building a stronger relationship with the W瘫S脕NE膯 people. And, perhaps above all, we need to foster a healthy and sustainable environment for the future.
Perhaps it isn鈥檛 fair to expect North Saanich to address these critical and, sometimes, conflicting interests in 颅isolation.
Given that each of the three Saanich Peninsula municipalities are reviewing their Official Community Plans, a growing number of people and organizations are suggesting that it is time for Central Saanich, North Saanich and Sidney to 颅collaborate on a common vision.
They can work together to help ensure the future environmental, economic and community health of the Saanich 颅Peninsula.
What a leadership opportunity 鈥� to embrace a common vision for the Saanich Peninsula and integrate a co-ordinating framework into the three OCPs.
In this manner, the three communities can address these varied issues collaboratively and achieve an environment, lifestyle, economy and well-being for the Saanich Peninsula of which we can all be proud.
Bob Peart
North Saanich
Speaking of myopic, what about those roads?
A recent letter criticized the 鈥渕yopic bike-lane infrastructure projects鈥� undertaken in Greater Victoria.
What about the myopic highway projects? More than $150 million spent to build a totally unnecessary access to the airport; the McKenzie/Trans-Canada Highway interchange; and now the 颅widening of a few kilometres of the Sooke Road.
We鈥檝e just kicked the can of the transportation bottlenecks down the road a few kilometres.
If the majority of those dollars had gone to public transportation, we could have gone a long way to solving our regional transportation issues and meeting our responsibilities for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
If we don鈥檛 wake up and act, we鈥檙e doomed.
David R. Cohen
Victoria
Let鈥檚 stop ridiculing overweight men
In the Raeside cartoon on Oct. 21, a fat man is shown stuck in the knee space under his desk.
The comic strip 鈥淏en鈥� has had a 颅running gag about the overweight and somewhat clueless, but lovable, 颅grandfather鈥檚 inability to do yoga poses. In 鈥淒ustin鈥� (鈥淏en鈥� also) there has been a running gag about the overweight father鈥檚 lack of discipline regarding unhealthy, fattening foods. Both have fit, healthy wives.
Switch the sexes here. In the comic strips, have tubby, goofy women as the butt of the jokes and their husbands slim, healthy and good looking.
In Raeside, have a fat woman stuck under the desk with a fit-looking man talking to the firefighter. The newspaper would not run them, and rightfully so.
Why is it acceptable for overweight men to be ridiculed this way? I think that the old saying 鈥淲hat鈥檚 sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander鈥� applies here.
Stephen Pierrot
Saanich
COVID misinformation is helping the virus
A novel coronavirus doesn鈥檛 care who you are or whether you think it鈥檚 real.
The COVID virus doesn鈥檛 want you to get a vaccine or wear a mask. It wants to live, and to live it needs to find hosts and spread.
And with every denial, with every piece of misinformation 鈥済arbage,鈥� we send it out into the world to live.
Phil Le Good
Cobble Hill
Read dog behaviour to prevent getting bitten
I am writing in response to the recent fatal dog attack by two off-leash dogs at Island View Beach. As a local citizen, 颅veterinarian and mother, I found this story greatly concerning.
The published details suggest a strong predatory behaviour and aggressive pack mentality by the offending dogs. In addition to the trauma endured by the canine victim and its owner, this story highlights a common threat to public safety.
Children in particular are at risk for severe injury and death from dog attacks. Island View Beach is a popular attraction for people from all walks of life, including children. What if the above attack happened to a toddler?
I would like to share some tips and resources for dog owners and guardians of children, because dog bites can be preventable.
If you are aware of your dog鈥檚 history of aggressive behaviour, please keep your dog on leash and consider training them to be comfortable wearing a basket muzzle when in public. The Muzzle Up Project (muzzleupproject.com) is a great educational website for muzzle training to help keep people and dogs safe.
Teach your children to always ask a dog owner if they can pet their dog before attempting to do so.
Teach your children how to read dog behaviours and how to safely interact with unfamiliar dogs. Check out the following educational websites for details:
鈥� gooddoginabox.com
鈥� aspca.org/pet-care/dog-care/dog-bite-prevention
鈥� dogsandkids.ca
Ashlee Albright, DVM
Brentwood Bay
When animal cruelty is considered OK
Re: 鈥淏eaver back in the wild after recovering from gunshot wounds,鈥� Oct. 20.
Thankfully, the beaver was treated by a local vet and the Wild ARC Animal Rehabilitation Centre.
However, I am confused by this: 鈥淏.C. Conservation Officer Scott Norris said the beaver population on the Island is 鈥榪uite healthy.鈥� He said the animals can be trapped but can鈥檛 be hunted.鈥�
Where is the logic when animals can suffer writhing in pain in traps dying slow and horrifically painful deaths but you can鈥檛 shoot them? Both methods are clear displays of blatant animal cruelty.
If we want to be a moral, ethical and compassionate society, shouldn鈥檛 all types of animal cruelty be against the law?
Anne Forbes
Victoria
What they told them about ambiguity
While I agree an individual鈥檚 gender specifics fall somewhere on a spectrum, and one should have the right to choose to be addressed as male, female or somewhere in between, the English language does not, at present, accommodate this.
She/her and he/him are singular, and they/them is plural, and therein lies the problem.
Besides leading to clunky and 颅awkward sounding sentences, it can cause confusion and ambiguity, for 颅example: 鈥淧at avoided the team, because they were angry with them.鈥�
We have no way of knowing if it鈥檚 Pat or the team that are angry.
If Pat identified as male or female, then using he/him or she/her would make it clear. Also, if Pat鈥檚 the angry one, then 鈥渢hey鈥� would be singular 鈥� should it then read 鈥渢hey was angry鈥�?
We need a non-gender-specific singular pronoun (other than 鈥渋t鈥�). Our laws are defined through language, and it鈥檚 easy to imagine situations where such ambiguity simply wouldn鈥檛 work.
Stephen Pierrot
Saanich
Irony in Shatner鈥檚 space travel
I very much enjoyed William 颅Shatner鈥檚 description of what it was like to ascend up into the darkness out of our 颅atmosphere.
It made me wonder, though, when he chastised our province about harvesting timber as the spaceship that hauled him into outer space for the thrill of a lifetime must have consumed more fossil fuels, oxygen and destruction to the ozone layer than many years of timber harvest.
He must not realize the irony of the situation.
His spaceship trip used up irreplaceable resources, whereas in B.C. we replant and the young forests create a lot more oxygen than old forests.
I am not defending the harvesting of old-growth timber.
Timber harvesting is one of our leading sources of renewable resources that helps pay for our hospitals, first responders, infrastructure and so many other things we take for granted.
John Money
Duncan
Government House needs weekend washrooms
I have enjoyed visiting the grounds of the Government House gardens for many years often in the company of my 颅parents.
My parents were at the Government House gardens recently and found that as of Sept. 24 the public washrooms are closed on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. There is a sign posted on the washrooms, but there is no such sign posted at either of the entrances to the grounds.
A commissionaire told my mother that because of recent vandalism, and a lack of staff to service the washrooms, the washrooms have been closed on the weekends and holidays.
The lack of staffing to clean washrooms on what are possible the busiest days of the week for public visitations?
The amount of money that has been poured into renovations at Government House begs the question: Is there no money left over to pay cleaning staff seven days a week?
Surely there are taxpayer dollars that can be allotted to pay for cleaning staff so that visitors can enjoy the gardens without having to resort to peeing in the bushes on the weekends and holidays.
Maggie Hofman
Victoria
Solve the dog problem with a chain-link fence
We are regular users of Pemberton Park and completely support adjacent 颅neighbours in their frustration over mail delivery disruption due to postie 颅concerns about safety from dogs.
The problem of dogs escaping from the park can be easily and cheaply solved by extending the existing chain-link fence and equipping it with a gate for city equipment to access the park.
This is one of very few dog parks within the city. The money would be well spent and the effort appreciated by both neighbours, dogs and their owners.
Winston, Claire and Matty Jackson
Victoria
Where is the old-growth advisory panel鈥檚 report?
More than one year ago, in September 2020, the B.C. NDP government released its Old Growth Strategic Review and committed to adopting all 14 of its 颅recommendations.
Among the recommendations were:
鈥� To provide the public with timely and objective information about forest 颅conditions.
鈥� Immediate curtailment of timber harvest in ecosystems with 鈥渉igh risk to loss of biodiversity,鈥� ancient forests more than 500 years old, and in biogeoclimatic ecosystem zones with less than 10 per cent old forest remaining.
Campaigning on this commitment helped the NDP win a majority in the October 2020 provincial election. But more than a year later, implementation has never materialized.
In June, the NDP appointed another advisory panel with fanfare that stated: 鈥淭his new technical panel will ensure we鈥檙e using the best science and data available to identify at-risk old growth ecosystems and prioritize areas for 颅deferral.鈥�
The panel鈥檚 terms of reference stated that 鈥渢he government will support 颅regular information updates on the work of the panel through news release 鈥� and by posting regular updates online on the 颅government old growth website.鈥�
The panel submitted their report to the government on Aug. 1, yet we have seen no press releases, no updates on the government鈥檚 old growth web site and no report.
The forest type recommended for deferral in the panel鈥檚 report almost certainly includes the endangered ancient coastal rainforest in and around Fairy Creek and the unprotected Middle Walbran Valley that are being logged now.
While we have been waiting for the report, the NDP has supported tens of millions of dollars of RCMP action in these public forests that has brutalized B.C. citizens and resulted in the arrest of more than 1,000 people for peacefully camping in these ancient forests that are likely to be recommended for deferral.
When are we going to see the latest old growth report, and perhaps more importantly, when is the premier going to act on its recommendations?
Dr. Peter D. Par茅
Emeritus Professor of Medicine
|University of British Columbia
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