Will government commit to renewal of rail?
Living in the Cowichan Valley, rail service would be a positive alternative to driving on the Island Highway. The highway is unreliable and dangerous – we have experienced many closures due to accidents, weather, and even landslides.
The train has its own separate right-of-way providing a second route for north-south travel, and east-west between Nanaimo and Port Alberni.
Opponents include those who want trails instead of rails. We can have both within the existing right-of-way. Already the E&N Trail in Greater Victoria provides excellent cycling and walking beside the tracks.
Similarly the Cowichan Valley scenic trail from south of Chemainus to Ladysmith runs beside the tracks.
Some argue that a single track cannot serve the Island. Not so, for the frequency of trains being proposed. Look at the Borders Railway in Scotland — a formerly abandoned railway line serving small communities south of Edinburgh.
That railway was restored in 2015 as a non-electrified, largely single-track rural line. On Vancouver Island, the single track with passing sidings in several locations can easily handle several passenger trains per day as well as freight.
The E&N route can also form the basis of frequent commuter rail between Langford and Victoria West, with shuttle buses into the downtown. There would also be an opportunity for scenic tourist operations from Victoria, for the cruise ship passengers and other visitors.
Let’s not lose this important asset. The Supreme Court decision in 2021 on the land claim by First Nations to repossess the right-of-way gave the government until March 14 to make a commitment to re-activate the railroad.
Jennifer Low
Cobble Hill
Give us some ideas for a new name
It appears from letters to the Times Colonist that there are a number of readers that do not like the name British Columbia.
O.K., but what would you like to call it?
Bill Boothman
Victoria
Open up parking to those who are not MLAs
There is an immediate solution to add up to 74 new accessible parking spots in the heart of downtown at no cost.
With an annual pass to the Imax I regularly circle around the Parliament Building searching for a spot, then walk through the empty parking lot behind the legislature to enjoy the show.
There are 74 spots in total and rarely are there more than four or five cars there, if any.
By simply adding a stall number next to the existing one that could be added to the city’s parking app, these spots could be made available to all after normal working hours, and our MLAs would then be on equal footing with the citizens they represent.
Mike Miller
Esquimalt
They might be buses, but they are not trolleys
The Langford buses are certainly an attractive sight, but why do they call them trolley buses if they are diesel powered?
A “trolleybus” (one word) is a bus powered by electricity obtained from overhead wires by means of a pole.
Nicky Kew
Victoria
The long, long wait for new missiles
Re: “Canadian jets still waiting for advanced U.S. missiles to destroy flying objects,” Feb. 14.
Now let me get this straight: 36 Sidewinder missiles needed to equip our clapped-out CF-18 fighter jets until we can bring the F-35s into service in 2032 have been on back order since 2020 and remain undelivered at this time.
It is no wonder, then, that U.S. aircraft have to enter our airspace under Norad auspices in order to engage errant balloons. The image of Ethelred the Unready comes immediately to mind.
Randy Morriss
Sooke
Are honorary degrees based on race or merit?
Did Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond receive her honorary degrees based on the fact that she was Indigenous or because she did a good job as a lawyer, professor, judge and child advocate?
If the degrees were given because she was Indigenous why aren’t we giving more degrees to people of Indigenous descent?
I suspect those degrees were given because she did a great job protecting children. So why are the degrees being withdrawn because of race?
Sandra Phillips
North Saanich
Vacancy tax might inspire a reaction
I just reaffirmed that my house is not foreign-owned and is my permanent address. I answered them the same way as last year but I guess they love to waste money re-asking.
It looks like the Americans are becoming aware of this insult to our national friendship. Americans with vacation properties in Canada are voicing their displeasure to their president and calling for the same she treatment for Canadians with vacation properties in the United States.
I don’t blame them. Ye reap what ye sow.
Don Boult
Saanich
No touchscreens, please, in the new museum
Last summer my granddaughter and children came to visit. The first place she wanted to go was the Royal B.C. Museum.
She remembers when we as a family always went there. The highlights were Old Town and the ship.
I am sure the walls can still hear mothers calling “don’t run” as excited children ran to the train station and the ship. When told these were closed, they didn’t go.
I would like to know if all the furnishings and old car are going to be returned to the families that owned them. The First Nations are getting their artifacts back.
I hope the new museum doesn’t expect people to pay for touchscreens for history. Most people can go online for that. Visitors from other countries and our own had a great appreciation for our museum as it was.
Who is going to pay for the new museum, which more than likely will turn out to be a white elephant? The good old taxpayer.
Carol Kendall
Langford
Wider umbrella needed in health care
The Canadian health-care system was organized to provide care service for acutely ill patients. It has succeeded. Even when there were various “clogging” problems with the pandemic, our health-care system was considered to be one of the most effective in the world. Now, more money is being spent to sustain that model.
Demographics of disease patterns amongst Canadian citizens are very clear: Most of us live with chronic diseases that deplete quality of life as we age.
Powerful NGO organizations, dedicated to specific diseases, have evolved to address gaps in service. The Cancer Society is one such success: it even provides expensive equipment to hospitals.
By contrast, those with other diseases, such as arthritis, struggle to provide educational services and paramedical treatments. People living with long COVID are dependent upon families and friends to build a strong NGO that will support their needs. That is a difficult task when energy is low.
When are the various levels of government going to organize a health-care delivery system that appropriately, and effectively, provides fair medical and paramedical services to Canadian citizens?
The problem isn’t really private versus public monies. The problem is that the umbrella doesn’t cover us.
E. Lisbeth Donaldson
Courtenay
Residential schools were wrong; what was right?
After reading Bev Sellars’ excellent book They Called Me Number One, I have become deeply interested in the residential school issue, and how it came about.
It is my understanding that this type of schooling predated Confederation, but that after 1867 and the passage of legislation such as the Indian Act, the federal government played a prominent role in expanding this type of education.
Given the broad consensus reached, in the recent past, that this policy was seriously flawed, I have been wondering what alternative measures would have been more appropriate?
One option I can think of is “do nothing,” but I am sure there must have been other more constructive measures. Can anyone enlighten me on this question?
Boudewyn van Oort
Victoria
What does the future hold for Victoria?
The vision of the anointed does not find it difficult to foresee the future. Amazing. The certainty that cars will be a thing of the past is a classic example.
Curbed bike lanes does not a city make. Are bike roads a further future certainty of progressive planners?
Now we build huge towers at London Drugs and cubic blobs in single family neighbourhoods to fulfil a drastic housing mandate. Whether the massive change will imbalance the city is not a concern.
Affordability is never considered. If Victoria stops being affordable for those who make it an interesting place, it will stop being an interesting place.
The post-modernist generation of today presses forward to undo the evils of the past. Beware, Victoria, those who are certain of the future.
A city that undoes its roots will no longer be the city that all admire. Slow down. Stay green. Be a rebel.
Patrick Skillings
Oak Bay
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