Canada’s military brass needs polishing
Good thing we’re sending gear to Ukraine and not personnel; ours are apparently poorly designed.
Here’s one headline: “Two senior female officers quitting the navy over military’s handling of sexual misconduct case.” And here’s another: “Ex-chief of defence staff Jonathan Vance pleads guilty to obstruction of justice.”
Maybe the funding for those jet fighters would be better spent on training.
John Harris
Esquimalt
Those 634 new MDs must be hiding
Re: “Dental care plans could sideline premiers’ pleas,” column, March 30.
Les Leyne quoted Health Minister Dix as saying that “634 family doctors have been added in five years.”
We need to see this comment in context, please. Which five-year period is he talking about? Where in B.C. are these 634 doctors hiding? Can we have a geographic list?
I only need one doctor, so why can’t I find him/her?
David Smiley
Victoria
Rare butterflies and a mixed message
The effort to establish a new population of endangered Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly on Hornby Island is ridiculous.
On the one hand, B.C. Parks protects a newly established butterfly population by keeping dogs on leash.
On the other hand, the same B.C. government conducts aerial spraying of the Btk insecticide against the European gypsy moth over the habitats suitable for Taylor’s checkerspot.
Btk insecticide kills not only the European gypsy moth but results in a population decline of common butterflies and the elimination of rare ones. It is futile to establish and sustain Taylor’s checkerspot on Vancouver Island when the aerial spraying against the European gypsy moth goes on.
Adolf Ceska
Retired vegetation ecologist
Victoria
Addressing Oak Bay’s housing crisis
Re: “Oak Bay aiming for best answers to housing crisis,” commentary, March 30.
Stop allowing houses to be torn down or moved. The original houses are almost always smaller than what replaces them, so they are our most affordable housing stock. This suggestion will also save more trees from being removed.
The science is clear on reno vs. teardown. The teardown going to the landfill followed by the obligatory much larger residence, and required bells and whistles have a much larger carbon footprint than a reno would.
Oak Bay municipality should buy the remaining “most affordable” homes and subdivide the lot to build smaller, more “affordable” housing, like duplexes on an infill lot. Then, sell the original house and the new accommodation separately at no profit or rent them out.
Municipalities should enforce the use of more eco-friendly building materials and practices. Instead of carbon-heavy 30-year asphalt shingle roofs, require new roofs to be either recyclable or from recycled materials.
Limit the use of concrete to only when necessary. Solid concrete driveways and fencing should be a thing of the past.
Limit the electrical service to 200 amps. More than enough for any size of family. Might not get a home theatre, hot tub, wine fridge, etc. but boo hoo.
Limit the amount of exterior lighting. A house on Beach Drive has 48 pot lights under its eaves. Us old timers grew up with one porch light.
Any new heating systems must be non-fossil-fuel powered.
New housing must have solar panels.
No more new lawns. Switch to more a more native ground cover that’s drought-resistant.
And on and on.
Dave Secco
Victoria
Hey, Minister Eby, how about this housing?
So Housing Minister David Eby and the NDP think it’s OK to pass legislation to override the decisions made by municipal councils and the people that elected them?
Perhaps, as MLA for Vancouver-Point Grey and minister responsible for housing, Eby could demonstrate some leadership in solving the housing crisis by lobbying for a 10-storey condo next door to his residence.
D.S. Sinclair
Saanich
Travelling convoys found free parking
I fail to hear the message of travelling convoys, other than “Wa, wa, wa.” Or perhaps it is “Me, me, me.”
In retrospect, perhaps they have discovered the ultimate scam. Given that campsites are so difficult to get, travelling about the province while being funded and camping free may be the goal.
Mel Bush
Comox
Caring people do not do harm to others
Re: “Reconciliation comes from the heart,” letter, March 30.
The letter asks the question regarding the protesters: Did they harm anyone? Perhaps the writer is not informed of what has taken place in Canada in the past few months.
I believe that businesses having to close their doors, children being taken out of school, and breathing toxic fumes from vehicles honking horns is harmful. And yes, laws have been broken.
“Caring people who are the salt of the earth” do not inconvenience other people, deprive citizens of their sleep due to excessive noise and cause them to fear leaving their homes.
My definition of “caring people” is certainly different from his.
Wilma Sayer
Courtenay
Let those affected decide on forgiveness
Re: “Reconciliation comes from the heart,” letter, March 30.
It is easy to forgive at a distance, especially if one has not been personally involved.
Surely it is for those who suffered through the noise and were subjected to the personal harassment that were part of the truckers’ “peaceful” protest, to forgive — if they wish to do so.
In the parable cited, the returning prodigal son was intending to ask for forgiveness and to accept a humble position serving his father. There is little or no sign of the equivalent coming from the truckers and those others involved.
Forgiveness comes hard or easy for an individual to grant. It is certainly so easy for those not afflicted by what was/is much more than a slight or temporary inconvenience.
William Thompson
Oak Bay
Mill rate does not reflect management
Re: “Why it makes sense to give to local First Nations,“commentary, March 28.
The assertion that a decreasing mill rate is the reason why it makes more sense to donate a percentage of property taxes to local First Nations is misleading.
The writers argued that the Victoria mill rate has been going down yearly since 2016, when it was $4.2746/$1,000 in value, and $3.2290/$1,000 in 2021. They argued that it was “because the city was well managed.”
If you look at just the municipal portion of the tax bill on a representative house for the city, it’s increased from $2,544 in 2016 to $2,992 in 2021. That is a hike of 17.2 per cent during a time of negligible inflation.
More importantly, in 2016 a representative house was assessed at $595,222 and $5,012 in residential property taxes were paid when charges for school, regional district, hospital, BCA, Municipal Finance Authority, variable and parcel taxes were included, according to the province.
In 2021, a representative house was assessed at $928,811, and owners paid $5,758 in total residential property taxes and charges.
To argue Victoria is “well managed” because the mill rate is decreasing is so much bunkum.
As house prices increase dramatically, mill rates usually moderate or go down, and most certainly are not a measure of a well-managed municipality. But, once the mill rate is applied to the assessed value, the amount of property taxes almost always goes up.
Colin Nielsen
Victoria
Taxpayers, say no to reconciliation fund
Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps’ unbridled determination to use the city’s human capital, and her influence as mayor, to create and administer a voluntary donation program to support a reconciliation fund in favour of the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations is totally inappropriate.
This is not city business. Also, it promotes a view expressed by her that taxpayers have accumulated their wealth from freehold land that isn’t theirs.
Personally, I find such thinking misleading, and a dangerous underpinning to the foundation supporting reconciliation.
If Helps is so committed to this initiative, she should pursue the matter as an independent organization, or a registered charity, devoid of any influence or support from the city, once she steps down as mayor this coming November.
Mark Appleton
Victoria
West coast herring stocks need more time to rebuild
Way to go DFO. The annual herring run I remember from childhood is gone from Saanich Inlet. The thick black band of seemingly endless fish that lasted for weeks, the raucous feasting, done, over, extinct, a mere memory.
Herring are a keystone species, meaning many other species rely on them for existence.
This particular run was scooped up about a decade ago. The few runs that did open this year (areas were closed due to fished-out stocks) did not even net their reduced quotas.
Fished for roe, to extinction. Time to close this fishery and hope the stocks can rebuild. Look to the cod on the east coast.
Heather Graham
Saanichton
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