I think that the people who are 鈥渁sking questions鈥� about the proposal for speed cameras at B.C. intersections are asking the wrong questions, for the wrong reasons.
I have a perfect defence 鈥� Do. Not. Speed. Ever, anywhere, at all.
It works. It worked in 1960 in Ottawa, where I was first licensed, and in 91原创, when I came to B.C. five years later. It has worked on 91原创 Island since I moved here in 1972. It works anywhere in Canada, in the U.S., in Iceland and I presume it works anywhere that people drive cars and there are speed limits.
The question drivers should be asking is: 鈥淲hy do I have to speed?鈥�
As for the civil-rights lawyers, who speak of 鈥減resumption of guilt,鈥� the photograph of your car, speeding is the evidence of that offence. The presumption of innocence applies only up to the moment that photograph is brought to the court鈥檚 attention. I suggest, before you speak again, you review such subjects as common sense, and the plain meaning of words and speech.
There is no need, ever, to get ticketed. Take your foot off the gas. Pay attention to your driving. Modify your habits (and, yes, I鈥檒l agree this last can be very difficult).
John A. Laidlaw
Victoria
Pool at school would bury green space
Re: 鈥淣ew Crystal Pool could be built on Central Middle School field,鈥� May聽4.
I love the Pandora Avenue and Fort Street bike lanes, and look forward to planned north-south routes. But building a pool on the Central Middle School playing field is a crappy idea, and shows how oblivious both city council and the school district are to the basic problem of preserving green space.
I pedal past Central often, and frequently see hordes of teenagers shlepping around on Central鈥檚 field. Plus, other people hang out, throw Frisbees, etc., when school鈥檚 out. It鈥檚 a great spot. I never see people enjoying the ugly string of parking lots on Caledonia Street between Quadra Street and Blanshard Street, for example, or doing much with the school board鈥檚 huge number of parking lots when there are no cars on them.
School District 61 provides a massive subsidy to the oil and auto industries by providing 鈥渇ree parking鈥� to all its thousands of employees and to students old enough to drive. It pays 91原创 Union of Public Employees members good wages for keeping these lots clean. This is stupid.
There clearly needs to be a rethink on the part of many at both Victoria council and District 61.
Louis Guilbault
Victoria
High gasoline prices are no mystery
Re: 鈥淧remier asks B.C. Utilities Commission to probe gas prices,鈥� May聽9.
One has to wonder where Premier John Horgan is really coming from when he calls for a probe about gasoline prices. Given his government鈥檚 policies, I would think he would celebrate high gasoline prices, as driving, certainly for pleasure, has become unaffordable and therefore we are reducing our 鈥渃arbon footprint.鈥�
In measures that old folks like me truly understand, we are paying the equivalent of $7.36 per gallon for gasoline in and around Victoria, of which roughly $2.27 is direct taxation in various guises.
Refining capacity in British Columbia has been greatly reduced over the years with the shutdown of several refineries, and none are likely to be built. Indeed, there has been no new refinery built in North America since the 1980s.
Whether we like it or not, the base price for automotive fuels is really Washington state, as much of our fuel comes from refineries there and the U.S. demand is already great given its strong economy. B.C. stands in the way of expanding the Trans Mountain system, which might ease supplies considerably given the ability to ship product through that system.
It doesn鈥檛 take an expensive government probe to figure all that out, and I suspect even Horgan could easily do that on the back of an envelope, but perhaps it鈥檚 better to obfuscate and shift the blame elsewhere than address the real issues.
James P. Crowley
North Saanich
Look beyond our own selfish interests
Re: 鈥淧ay for your own transportation choice,鈥� letter, April 30.
I鈥檇 like to thank the writer for his letter, which strongly, though inadvertently, supported a much-increased gasoline tax. (Tongue firmly in cheek here.)
This came with his statement about free pubic transport: 鈥淲hatever mode of transportation that people choose to use 鈥� they should expect to pay for their choice.鈥�
It is an accepted scientific fact that if we as a species do not markedly reduce our emissions of carbon fixed by plants hundreds of millions of years ago and fossilized, we as a society will be faced with immense costs (to the tune of hundreds of trillions of today鈥檚 dollars) to try to maintain our society in the face of climate change.
I will not be alive at the end of this century, but my/our descendants will and I believe we boomers should look beyond our own selfish interests.
The tiny (about four-cents-a-litre or about 2.5 per cent) carbon tax will not come anywhere close to helping, except that it should, for thinking people, help motivate us to consider alternative forms of transport.
If I can help make that choice easier by shifting some of my tax dollars toward that end, I鈥檒l be happy, and will be able to look the younger generations in the eye and say: 鈥淲e screwed up for the first 60 years of my life, but we鈥檝e done all we can to fix it.鈥�
Peter Lake
Duncan
China鈥檚 conflicting messages are ironic
Re: 鈥淗uawei exec to seek stay of extradition proceedings,鈥� May 9.
91原创 canola farmers are stymied by China鈥檚 refusals to provide scientific proof of the problem with the shipments that have been banned by China. We know the real reason is that China wants the release of the Huawei executive detained in Canada on an extradition demand from the U.S. At the same time, Huawei executives are asking us to trust them, as they are in Canada for the long term.
And that is irony.
As soon as the president of the U.S.聽said he would consider Meng Wanzhou as trade material in the negotiations with China, I would have released her, as clearly the U.S. has hit rock bottom when it abuses the rule of law to get a trade deal and puts Canada in a very difficult situation.
Glenn White
Shawnigan Lake
Byelection could be wake-up call
Re: 鈥淢ay: Green byelection win shows climate top priority,鈥� May 8.
Optimism is good, but I suspect that federal Green Party Leader Elizabeth May could also make a bicycle accident seem like the end of civilization. The byelection could more likely be a wake-up call for those who want serious representation in Ottawa.
Jim Corder
Nanaimo
Demand new model for health care
It is time for taxpayers to speak up loudly about our health care. We pay to support this system and those who work in it.
Elect those who are willing to step out of the status quo and not keep putting Band-Aids on a health model that no longer works in this day and age.
Long surgical wait lists for years, not months; shortened MRI wait times that do not necessarily mean expedited treatment; surgeons (highly skilled and knowledgeable) leaving our country with the best in their subspecialties having reduced operating-room days. This is not access to timely care.
Who wins? Most certainly not the patients. Outdated ideology does not create quality of life.
It鈥檚 time for 91原创s to demand a new model in which patients 鈥� the taxpayers 鈥� have the right to advocate for themselves and choose.
Pat Taylor
Victoria
B.C. can solve doctor聽shortage
How this provincial government has managed to evade its fundamental responsibility to provide health care astounds me.
Access to general practitioners is central to preventative health care. The capital region has 60,000 to 70,000 people without a doctor. Senior citizens with complex health conditions are stranded without medical support.
The current system provides no incentives for newly graduated doctors to enter general practice in urban areas. Hospitalists earn 60 per cent more than GPs and they have no overhead expenses. Rural GPs are paid more than urban practitioners 鈥� a good concept in the past.
The system is clearly broken and the remaining urban doctors are bearing the brunt of critical patient overload. Newly graduated doctors are not staying in Victoria. We have attracted only a handful of new GPs in recent years.
British Columbia is a wealthy province. Surely we can solve this problem, which is central to the health of our citizens.
Tony Earle
Victoria
