Profit and losses make a difference on service provided.
With the profit motive, road conditions are worse
In my opinion the road conditions in B.C. for winter travel, even all-year-long travel, have never been the same since the option for service was turned over to contractors, from the government doing the service through the Transportation Ministry.
Paul Ellegood
Courtenay
Thanks for the help in the snow
I want to thank all the people who helped me when with a walker I struggled through the snow on sidewalks and bus access points that were not cleared of snow.
Thanks Victoria folks!
Peter Buttuls
Victoria
Another reason to buy local, buy local
I should have listened to Jeff Bray, the affable head of the Downtown Victoria Business Association, who is always exhorting us to buy local.
Foolishly, I ordered a book from a national retailer for my little cousin. It came in the middle of the foul weather. I replied that I was housebound.
On Boxing Day I got a notice that it had been returned to stock and my money had been refunded.
That was not the point. A locally based retailer would have understood our weather woes and had a little patience. After all, it had already been paid for.
So apologies to the two local bookstores I normally patronize: I have learned my lesson.
Anne Moon
Victoria
Let MLAs live on minimum wage
There’s been some debate regarding the wage for MLAs. Here’s a novel idea: Pay MLAs (and all elected officials for that matter) minimum wage.
If MLAs were forced to survive on minimum wage, then you can be sure as lawmakers they’d raise it to a living wage.
Instantly all full-time minimum wage earners would be lifted out of poverty. Imagine how prosperous our province would be then.
Patrick Ferguson
Victoria
Do we want the PM to be exhausted?
Re: “Once again Trudeau gives Canadians his best,” letter, Dec. 27.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should shed his designer clothes; move out of his temporary quarters and back into 24 Sussex Drive which is empty, with leaking pipes, no heat and collapsing ceilings.
It matters not that he has attended non-stop meetings around the world and probably seen little of his wife and kids for the past many months.
If he takes time off he should fly public airways, where he has no security guard and he and his family are at risk of attack from any kook with an “issue.”
Think this through.
If he arrived at summit meetings late, pale, exhausted, underweight, with ill-fitting, mismatched clothes, what would you write?
Sally Barker
Victoria
Words of wisdom from our late Queen
Thinking back on 2022 and all the events causing Canadians so much distress and social distance, it is sobering to think that these wise words were spoken by the late Queen Elizabeth II more than a half-century ago:
”We can only dispel the clouds of anxiety by the patient and determined efforts of us all. It cannot be done by condemning the past, or by contracting out of the present.”
Dr. C.L. Dewar (retired)
Victoria
Humans are destroying the world
I am horrified to read letters and articles from those who seem to believe that B.C. is the only place on the planet where there is a massive doctor shortage.
That shortage of doctors is occurring in not just B.C. but across Canada. Every province is having the same issues, not enough medical staffing, not enough doctors or nurses.
This is also happening in every G20 nation. This isn’t just a B.C. problem.
I am also horrified to read that so many people involved in the fishing industry, still after all we’ve learned over the past 25 years, prefer to point the finger of blame on the marine mammals who at some point in the past lived in perfect harmony with everything else in the oceans.
Right up until mankind became greedy and decided that making a lot of money stripping the oceans of every type of fish was far more important than just taking enough to feed yourself and your family.
Still hearing the extremely human arrogance of blaming the “seals, whales, dolphins, and sea lions” as opposed to looking on a damned mirror.
You want to know why salmon stocks along with virtually every other bit of edible marine life is in short supply?
Look no further that those who are blaming everything but themselves. And of course the rest of mankind, since a warming ocean also has major impacts on sea life and we, we humans, are the sole reason that’s happening.
Humans truly are destroyers.
Alexis Thuillier
Sidney
Priority for cyclists after the snowfall
I am a cyclist, but I am appalled at how Victoria blatantly chose cyclists when it came to clearing snow.
Along Government Street and Wharf Street, the bike paths were cleared immaculately. Some sidewalks Victoria was clearly responsible for were untouched.
The bus lanes along Douglas Street were not plowed. Crosswalks, especially the entrance to them, were not cleared. I saw several people slip and fall trying to use a crosswalk. Hopefully no one was injured.
Even where the person clearing the bike lanes could have easily cleared a crosswalk, the crosswalk was untouched.
I saw a good Samaritan clearing the crosswalk entrance on Wharf Street at Bastion Square. The person clearing the bike lane had just left the snow there.
I think Victoria council needs a reality check. Focus on pedestrians and transit users for a while. And while looking at pedestrians, try to reverse some actions where you have made it difficult for people with mobility issues to enjoy the city. Take a break from the cyclists.
Russ Jones
Victoria
Drop the prejudices about rental housing
Re: “Place a limit on rental suites,” letter, Dec. 16.
These are hard times for renters. Facing steep rents and few legal protections, many tenants either cannot find housing at all or are forced to remain in run-down units because the alternative is unspeakable.
The last thing they need is being publicly smeared by a sanctimonious condominium owner.
Worst of all, the writer’s disparaging words about tenants serve only to fuel resentment against those who rent, causing divisions within our community and sabotaging solutions to the housing crisis, such as that proposed by the premier.
There are as many unreasonable owner-landlords as tenants. I have had many harrowing experiences dealing with the “spectacularly bad behaviour” of landlords and condo owners.
On two occasions when renting a condo, I walked into absolutely filthy conditions on move-in day in suites that had never been cleaned or maintained by the owner.
One apartment was infested with bugs. At one residence, an angry strata board member confiscated my bicycle right off the moving truck and refused to give it back.
Lastly, an owner above me thought the rules did not apply to her when she would party until 4 a.m. The police who attended had other ideas.
Considering our present rental wasteland, opening up condos to tenants is a no-brainer. But Premier David Eby’s initiative should come with province-wide rules for strata councils that enforce standards of behaviour for both tenants and condo owners.
Let’s drop the petty prejudices so that more citizens can be housed.
Doreen Marion Gee
Victoria
Lengthy list before negotiation is possible
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s offer to negotiate to end the war will appeal to Europeans who want cheaper fuel and lower inflation.
If Putin is serious, he will have to offer the minimum terms that Ukraine has outlined. These include:
• Withdrawal of all Russian troops and “liberators” from Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders.
• Repatriation to Russia of all citizens holding Russian passports who have moved to Ukraine, including Crimea, since 2014.
• Repatriation to Ukraine of all Ukrainian people who wish to return and are acceptable to Ukraine.
• Repatriation of all Ukrainian prisoners of war.
• Identification all the locations where Ukrainian casualties have been buried.
There are many other topics that need to be negotiated, including:
• Russian prisoners of war should be required to clear their minefields before being repatriated.
• Russian payment to Ukraine for damage to infrastructure. Russians could send oil and gas to Ukraine to be used or sold to pay for rebuilding. In addition, a significant tax on all other Russian energy exports to help pay for rebuilding.
• An acceptable timetable for the achievement of the terms.
• Establishment of a UN team to monitor the progress of the agreement.
• Removal of the land transportation link between Crimea and Russia.
• Seizure of all Russian-owned accommodation in Ukraine.
• Seizure of all Russian cash and property worldwide to help pay for infrastructure damage.
There will undoubtedly be other issues to be resolved, but negotiation will not begin until there is a serious offer.
J.O. Butler
Victoria
Government action needed on buses
It is unacceptable for Islanders to be left with only limited intercity bus service.
It is also unacceptable for Islanders north of Campbell River to have had no bus service for so long.
Transportation along the length of the Island, while not profitable, is actually an essential service for many and should be legislated as such and subsidized by the government.
It’s not like there is even an alternate train service any longer to Courtenay, or flights from Victoria going north, both of which would be cost-prohibitive for many. Time the government stepped in.
Joanne Wiggins
Victoria
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