Deep-six Campbell’s ferry gamble

The ferry commissioner’s report makes it time to accept finally that Gordon Campbell’s ideologically driven decision to privatize B.C. Ferries has proved to be wrongheaded.

His “user pay all” corporate initiative failed because of a basic principle of Economics 101: The more prices go up, the more likely demand will go down.

Perhaps it was hoped that this predictable outcome could be avoided because B.C. Ferries is essentially a monopoly. However, price gouging fare hikes of between 47 and 80 per cent while incomes were stagnant or increasing at a glacial pace proved just too much for the travelling public.

It is not the time for more tinkering with a “reverse reservation system” together with a form of Russian roulette scheduling. Now that the man in charge of the failed experiment has sailed off into the sunset with a $300,000 pension after only nine years at the helm, it is time to get back to basics. Acknowledge what Premier W.A.C. Bennett made clear back in 1960: The ferry system is an extension of the highway system and thus entitled to public subsidy. Even our neighbours directly to the south in the land of free enterprise recognize that marine highways need both public support and oversight.

John Fryer

Victoria

Ferries, roads all the same

Ferry commissioner Gordon Macatee’s findings seem to say that if you choose to live on an island, you must be willing to pay for it.

With an annual ferry subsidy of $125 million and a Vancouver Island population of approximately 700 000, it breaks down to about $175 per person. If we were to apply that math to northern B.C. — say, between Prince George and Prince Rupert — divide the extra cost of road repair and snow removal by the population, I think our ferry subsidy would look pretty good.

We all live in the same province and pay our taxes. None of us deserve to be isolated by deep snow or high ferry fares.

Kjell Garteig

Nanaimo

Charge seniors for mid-week ferries

To increase revenue, B.C. Ferries should start charging seniors on mid-week sailings.

If full fare is politically unpalatable, how about a discounted fare? Why should a well-off older person ride for free when someone who is 40 with three children and a low-paying job pay full price?

By the way, I am over 65.

Eric Nielsen

Victoria

Deduct fee at terminal

Why doesn’t B.C. Ferries charge a reservation fee, then deduct that fee from your ticket price when you show up?

It would helps them plan loads. They would have your money if you don’t show up. And people who choose not to plan ahead or have to travel on an emergency basis wouldn’t be penalized.

John Chase

Saanich

Size matters when giving names

Re: “Is the great gone from Great Britain?, ” Jan. 22.

While I regarded the headline of the original article as a play on words, I was surprised that a recent arrival from the United Kingdom (letters, Jan. 26) apparently understood the word “Great” to be a relic from a bygone colonial era.

The “Great” in Great Britain has nothing to do with power or empire but is simply the name of the largest island off the coast of northwest Europe.

It is used in the sense that towns in England are called Great Yarmouth and Great Malvern (to distinguish them from their “Little” neighbours), that a big lake in Canada has the name Great Slave Lake and that a large coral reef in Australia is known as the Great Barrier Reef.

John Weaver

Victoria

Island was greater than smaller Ireland

Re: “Is the great gone from Great Britain?, ” Jan. 22.

“Great Britain” is a geographical and political term, and has nothing to do with that nation’s self-aggrandizement.

Its correct full title was originally “The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,” to distinguish the larger (greater) island that comprised England, Wales, and Scotland, from the smaller island of Ireland.

Modern usage of “great” now understands it to mean something wonderful, marvellous, etc., which mistakenly can open Great Britain to sneers of being pretentious, which is not the case at all.

Sidney Allinson

Colwood

Re: “Is the great gone from Great Britain?, ” Jan. 22.

The answer is no.

There are a number of things in the garden of Great Britain that are not strong, vigorous or attractive. Too many people are unemployed, investment is not buoyant, more budgetary constraints will be necessary and the currency is weak relative to that of some other countries.

The first three of these could be applied to Canada, but that is not the point of my complaint.

In 1972 “large swaths” of London were not “still as scruffy as sketched by Dickens and Orwell.” Further, plumbing and heating are not “an abominable patchwork.” There have been huge increases in efficiency and energy conservation that resulted from substantial investment in domestic and commercial insulation.

Britain’s infrastructure is not “decrepit.” Forty years on from his first visit, has Matthew Fisher not noticed the motorway system, rapid transit in large provincial cities, burgeoning regional airports and the cheap and competitive mobile phone network — to name but a few examples?

The London Underground is not “unreliable and uncomfortable” nor is the service provided of “wretched quality”. As for this area of public transport being “far too expensive,” has the writer travelled on B.C. Ferries recently or tried to take an internal flight in Canada that is not overpriced and bolstered by insufficient competition?

Yes, there are shuttered pubs because just like churches, there are too many of them. I could take him to many country and town pubs that are authentic with an amazing range of locally produced beer and excellent food.

Frank A. Wilson

Victoria

Ambulances deployed as needs require

The B.C. Ambulance Service is committed to providing all British Columbians with high-quality ambulance service and excellent patient care — as quickly as possible.

One of the ways we measure this tracking call volume and response times. The most efficient way provide timely care is through “dynamic deployment,” meaning we send the closest appropriate vehicle to an emergency call — regardless of where that ambulance started its day.

In June 2011, the service moved the start location of two ambulances from the Western Communities (with 4,569 emergency calls per year) to Greater Victoria (26,426 emergency calls per year) to see if overall response times would improve. They did.

For example, comparing August 2010 to August 2011, the end of the three-month trial, we found response times improved in Sooke by 17 per cent, Colwood by 15 per cent, Esquimalt by 12 per cent, Victoria by 10 per cent, Langford by nine per cent and Saanich by three per cent.

We also compared the four-month average after the trial, September to December 2010 with the same period in 2011, and found improvements were consistent in Sooke by 14 per cent, Colwood by 14 per cent, Esquimalt by 10 per cent, Victoria by six per cent, Langford by two per cent and Saanich by three per cent.

The ambulance service is provincial, and as such, does not designate ambulances to serve a specific community or municipality. They start their day where they can most quickly reach areas with the highest call volume, and throughout their shifts, go where needed.

Our priority is to provide excellent patient care as quickly as possible, in an efficient and cost-effective manner.

Dan Froom

Executive Director

B.C. Ambulance Service

Public losing faith in justice system

Our justice system isn’t working. For examples, consider the high re-offense rate of convicted offenders, or the incredibly low sentences for serious crimes.

Look at the former Mountie who was given a three-year sentence for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old boy.

Not only will the crime have lasting implications on the victim, but the man convicted is HIV positive as well. If the child dies of HIV, will this scum be charged with murder?

When the system fails the public it is supposed to protect, it falls upon the public to act. More and more citizens are losing faith in the justice system, and the only alternative is to take the law into their own hands.

It is up to Canadians to demand justice reform, one that ensures serious offenders stay behind bars, where they belong. Failure by the system will only encourage the people to act on their own as they see fit.

The blame for this will fall solely on the politicians, judges, and members of the justice system who let that happen.

James Felton

Victoria