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Letters June 7: The value of the monarchy; why is Mill Bay renovation taking so long?

Monarchy serves an important purpose If Canada were to turn its back on the constitutional monarchy, as a growing number of people seem to support, exactly what would we replace it with? An elected head of state? Wouldn’t that act as a further
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From left, Prince Charles, the Queen, Prince George and Prince William appear on the balcony of Buckingham Palace during the Platinum Jubilee Pageant outside Buckingham Palace in London on Sunday. A letter-writer suggests the monarchy acts as a counterbalance to what would otherwise be an increasingly divisive system of government. JONATHAN BRADY, POOL PHOTO VIA THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Monarchy serves an important purpose

If Canada were to turn its back on the constitutional monarchy, as a growing number of people seem to support, exactly what would we replace it with? An elected head of state? Wouldn’t that act as a further divisive force in our politics?

The problem is that most people don’t understand how our constitutional monarchist form of government actually works. It’s not taught in our schools.

Over the years Liberal governments have downplayed its visibility, as Jack Knox points out. Our media usually refer to the monarch as Queen of England, not Queen of Canada.

And whenever the monarchy is in the news, the question of the relevance of the institution is inevitably trotted out. Why? Are questions ever raised about the republican form of government?

Here in Victoria, which used to be proud of its regal name, we have a mayor who refused to swear allegiance to the Queen, not recognizing that she was really refusing to swear allegiance to Canada because the monarch, as head of state, is the personification of the country.

Constitutional monarchy is a system that works well, and Canadians should think very carefully before calling for its abolition.

Dave Laundy
Cobble Hill

Project delays cost time and money

Re: “Mill Bay in limbo: Fire cleanup again stalls decade-old project,” June 3.

On reading that a development site in Mill Bay has been obstructed for 15 years, one has to ask: Why has this happened?

Housing shortages and demand for new commercial space should be incentive enough for government officials to be proactive in doing whatever is appropriate and necessary to get such projects approved.

Being anti-business and opposed to development holds up the flow of money into our economy, and therefore costs jobs and prosperity, but it also deprives seniors and families of opportunities to find and afford housing.

The correct approach would have been to work with the developer to assure an adequate, safe water supply, which apparently would be possible with water diversion and wells.

It is maddening to think that civil servants in their comfort zones sitting in offices can drag things out and effectively hold up or block important projects.

The Pioneer Square site in Mill Bay has been dilapidated and an eyesore for years.

David Kinloch
Shawnigan Lake

No, Alberta does not have enough doctors

In reply to the letter stating that B.C. should follow Alberta’s example because “every clinic advertises for new patients” and “I don’t know anyone who couldn’t find a family doctor.”

Sorry, but that is categorically untrue, especially in rural Alberta.

Carol Best
Sunnyslope, Alta.

This province has an older population

A recent letter suggested asking Albertans how it is that they have better health care than British Columbians.

Don’t bother. The percentage of those age 65 or over in Alberta as of the last census was 13.8, over 85 it was 1.6. The percentages in B.C. were 15.7 and 2.3.

Need I tell anyone who uses the most health care? The solution is that when someone over 65 moves to B.C., he or she brings along all the money they contributed to health care in their home province, which might help provide the same level of care in B.C. as is enjoyed in the rest of Canada.

Ian Cameron
Brentwood Bay

Try a user fee for doctor visits

The majority of suggestions for improving our heath-care system require more federal and provincial money. Needed, no doubt, but let’s do something for ourselves, first.

For example: a $10 charge for each visit to the family doctor or group practice. Years ago, here, we had a $5 charge for each visit, with exemptions for children and the very old.

There might also be a referral fee, paid directly by the specialists to the GP, of perhaps $100, for each letter of referral.

W.A. Geoffrey
VossOak Bay

Looking for a doctor? Try taking a cruise

I am one of the hundreds of thousands of British Columbians without a family doctor. I dread the possibility that I might develop a relatively minor condition where I will be forced to spend hours waiting for treatment at the emergency ward of the hospital.

Recently I was on a cruise and it was oddly comforting to know that if I became ill or injured, the medical team was readily available 24/7. It’s true that I would have to pay for the service, but one can purchase insurance for unexpected medical events while travelling.

It’s a strange world where one feels more secure on vacation than while living at home.

Lynn Arnold
Victoria

Send more money here to help pay for doctors

Last year there were 70,000 net more people arriving in B.C. compared to those who left. Could it be that many more baby boomers are selling and leaving their lifelong provinces and doctors and retiring to desirable B.C., leaving their doctors with fewer patients compared with B.C., where those same people are looking for doctors and health care and putting strain on our system?

Maybe the federal government could send B.C. more money to cover doctors for those same retirees whose health-care needs are greater as they age.

Susan Clamp
Esquimalt

Carpet-cleaner vans create too much noise

I will take a leaf blower over the carpet cleaner vans any day. At least the leaf blowers are done their job in half an hour or so.

The carpet cleaner vans park at the foot of an apartment building and drone on non-stop for three hours, with a sound that cuts through walls and closed windows. Extremely intrusive.

Michael Simmons
Victoria

Take responsibility for your cat

Re: “Remember Silent Spring, and help protect the birds,” commentary, June 4.

As we work at preparing our garden areas by cultivation, weeding and planting seeds and transplants, we are once again experiencing the pleasure of having our gardens dug up and fouled by loose cats.

It is impossible to leave any cultivated or planted areas uncovered. We plant and grow in-ground food, for example carrots and onions, and we should not have to contend with the well-known dangers of cat feces: “The infective form of Toxoplasma gondii deposited in cat poop are called oocysts; a single cat can deposit millions of oocysts, each of which might survive in moist soil for 18 months or longer.”

Presently, our gardens are a hodgepodge of bits of wire screen, mesh and other metal racks, all because cats need to be kept off of our garden soil. We experience this to some extent every year, but recently, cat fouling is a daily (nightly) occurrence, as is digging and disrupting our plantings and seeds. There appears to have been a proliferation of cats in our particular area.

There needs to be some responsibility and obligation on the part of cat owners to confine their cats to their own properties. Realizing that there will be no “bylaw officer” popping out of the shrubbery at 3 a.m., educational notices in the local media might be a start.

Supposing that at least some cats are licensed, a printed reminder at licensing time might help. Local pet supplies stores could also help with suggestions, reminders and education when customers purchase cat items.

Letting a cat out to roam freely should not be acceptable. Owning a cat should come with obligations to control it and confine it. Live-trapping of loose cats and penalties would be excellent.

Ken Allen
Colwood

Without a museum, no reason to visit Victoria

For eight years I will not have any reason to visit Victoria. The Royal B.C. Museum and Imax theatre have been the only places in Victoria that we take friends and family who visit.

Before we moved here in 2005, we would drive to Victoria from the U.S. and visit the museum and the Maritime Museum when it was in Bastion Square. Now that Victoria has become what it has become, we only take our family and friends to the museum on the bus and leave quickly on the bus.

I will be 85 when it is finished. This decision is a blow to my family and seems to have been made in secret. Despite all the protest, it is moving ahead. There have been many good ideas presented for alternatives, yet it is proceeding.

I don’t understand. After Premier John Horgan’s arrogant byelection, and obliviousness to our calls for a better health-care system, I shouldn’t be surprised. I am fortunate I can vote Green.

Judith Sears
Sidney

A free museum is far from a free ride

I’d like to add my voice in support of Martin Segger’s May 25 commentary on the future of the Royal B.C. Museum. In particular, I would like to most enthusiastically support the notion of free entry.

Segger writes: “It might take some courage, for instance, to reinstate free entry for all, and like other major European museums charge only for special events or so called ‘blockbuster’ exhibits.”

“Vast amounts of courage” is how I’d have put it. This issue is bound to become controversial, so it’s best we start that discussion early in order to overcome the opposition that will arise. Voices will condemn the use of our precious tax dollars to give a “free ride” to the institution and its staff. This touches upon the central purpose of having a museum at all.

Perhaps it would be easiest to say what a museum is not. A museum is not a tourist-oriented gift and souvenir shop, gussied up with some quaint stuffed animals and exotic artifacts to lure tourists and their dollars in the door. It is a vital educational institution, just as our public schools are. We do not charge kids $25 or so to enter school each day. We do not demand that schools produce revenue today. We demand that they produce a benign future for us and our children.

Imagine a child equipped with an ordinary amount of curiosity and enthusiasm encounters for the first time one or another of the rare and remarkable objects and ideas that might be found in a museum. This can be a life-changing event leading to a lifetime passion. We can’t know what will capture a child’s imagination: Dinosaurs? Steam engines? Whales? Costumes? Architecture? Her own family’s history? But we do know that we will need biologists, engineers, architects and artists, for as many years into future as we can imagine.

A museum is a place where such necessary careers and lifelong passions can start. A museum has one crucial advantage over a school. A museum is, by its very name, a place where one can muse upon things.

A fascination or curiosity can be indulged and incubated rather than being bulldozed into oblivion by the inexorable hurry-up demands of lockstep curriculum, crowded classes and looming exams. Let us give our children, and us older folks too, a place to muse upon our past, upon our surroundings and upon our future. And please — let us muse freely. This can never happen if access to this temple costs an arm and a leg.

Martin Hykin
Victoria

Richer experiences in Indigenous museums

Re: “Indigenous museums pitched for province,” June 3.

What a grand and logical suggestion: Museums in the native territories. Yes!

Arriving in Victoria from Germany in the mid-1980s, I was very keen to learn about the impressive Indigenous cultures here. Being a museo-phile, I took advantage of the great Royal B.C. Museum. I loved it and got a decent introduction, I think.

But that was nothing in comparison with the education I received, when travelling the province, experiencing Indigenous peoples and their culture in situ.

From Prince George to Prince Rupert, stopping in the sites, like Witset (then Moricetown) and K’san, but also in many smaller villages, like Gitsgukla and Gitwangak. Then on to Haida Gwaii and from there back to Vancouver Island, stopping in Alert Bay, visiting the U’mista Cultural Centre, and on to Cape Mudge on Quadra Island with its Kwakiutl Museum (now Nuyumbalees Cultural Centre).

Trips in subsequent years got us to Bella Coola, Neah Bay in Washington, and Meares Island.

These experiences were indeed much richer than the excellent introductory overview provided by the RBCM. They allowed one to anchor the various cultures in their environment, in spatial relation, and above all to meet representatives of these cultures, the villagers, the tellers of great stories, the artisans and the artists.

And beyond the intensified experience provided, it is just right that nations themselves be custodians of their culture and being given the opportunity to generously provide the experience.

Jochen Moehr
Victoria

Bring the roundabout back to Douglas

I’m 77 and I’ve been a big fan of roundabouts all my life (especially the way they are used in England and France).

However, there’s one roundabout that I remember well from visiting this city as a child (I grew up in Kelowna, but my grandparents lived here), and that’s the big one that used to be at the intersection of Douglas, Hillside and Government.

That was in the grand style of the European roundabouts, and I really miss it. I avoid that intersection as much as possible now because of the long time it takes for the traffic lights to cycle through. And sitting there idling when we could be moving through the roundabout seems a waste of time and gas.

I wonder if the city, with its increased awareness of the value of roundabouts, has ever considered restoring that intersection to its past efficiency and glory?

Eric Hayes
Victoria

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