Anti-vax protests not welcome on Island
The anti-mandate protests are a sad and futile fight that will gradually resolve itself through the careful guidance of our wonderful scientific medical community. The energy of these protesters could be put to much better use.
Apparently a convoy is heading across Canada, destination Victoria. I beg the mayor, council and the police to be very proactive in protecting our city from this convoy. I would love to see it mandated that they not even be allowed on the Island, but at the very least, all roads around the legislature should be blockaded to truckers and the anti-noise bylaws enforced.
Karen Rennie
Victoria
When do we take the foot off the pedal?
I have to admit some sympathy for the situation truckers have been put in due to the restrictiveness of COVID measures. For many, there are real concerns about their livelihood, which benefits us all in so many ways.
However, their cause is being undermined by a faction who would seem to prefer there to be no government at all. Extrapolating the situation in the Ukraine to support one’s narrative is not really valid, no matter which side of the fence one occupies.
Upper levels of government have an extremely difficult tight rope to traverse. No matter which way they might turn, a fall is inevitable. You do too much or too little.
What tends to happen with government, particularly in our current times, is following the Precautionary Principle. There are numerous examples of this right now, including the so-called climate crisis. There are always consequences to not only actions, but our inactions as well.
As someone who has reacted poorly to the vaccine, you might think that I would be standing amongst those rallying against mandated vaccination. But I do not. I think it is clear that vaccination protocols have been the most prudent thing to do for the majority of folks. The question for me is: When is the most appropriate time to take the foot off of the pedal?
As a local politician, I will tell you this with great emphasis: I would not envy that political task.
Brett Smyth
North Saanich
You have a warning, so use it
It is with regret that I learned of the forthcoming truck convoy anticipated to arrive next week in Victoria. Our home is in Ottawa, and we live close to the “Red Zone” where the trucks, horns and fumes prevailed for three weeks. We arrived in Victoria for our scheduled mid-winter visit only to learn of the convoy due here next week.
Downtown Ottawa businesses, restaurants and tourist sites were shuttered. This also included the Rideau Centre (equivalent to the Bay Centre). No doubt you would have seen images of downtown Ottawa that were sent around the world. The only glimmer of light was the decision to reschedule Valentine’s Day from Feb. 14 to March 14 to help restaurants recover some lost business.
I would hope that an effective Victoria plan will be in place to maintain the vibrant downtown for residents, visitors and the businesses that are just beginning to see a new post-COVID vitality.
Bob Whitelaw
Ottawa
With real freedom comes real responsibilities
I wonder if any of the anti-COVID-mandate protesters have ever spent even one day in a totalitarian state where freedom is really curtailed.
During the Second World War, Estonia was occupied first by Russia, then Germany, and then again by Russia. My parents fled from Estonia in a fishboat under the cover of night in December 1943. I was four years old, but I remember that dangerous trip vividly. My sister was one. Our family landed in Finland, then went to Sweden, and in 1948 came to Canada. Canada was and is a free country. Here we were able to make a good life for ourselves.
Estonia did not regain its freedom until the collapse of the USSR in 1991. Every Estonian family that I know lost members during the Soviet occupation.
I think the anti-COVID-mandate protesters should read the excellent article penned by retired chief justice Beverly McLachlin (Globe and Mail, Feb. 22) on freedom. “Freedom is not absolute,” she wrote. “Freedom — subject to reasonable limits that allow us to live together — is essential to a peaceful and prosperous future for us all.”
I hope that our government remains protective of our freedom. Freedom to protest is essential, but the unlawful actions by the anti-COVID-mandate convoy, as took place in Ottawa, require an immediate response. The rights of ordinary citizens should not be impeded. With freedom comes responsibility.
Helene Malvet
North Saanich
Convoy’s pollution is not welcome
How dare James Bauder arrange a truck convoy starting from back east to block the streets in our city?
He has made it clear that his main goal is to overturn the government duly elected by a significant majority of B.C. citizens. He thinks he knows better than the majority of B.C. citizens because we’ve “had our way for too long.”
Then think of all the problems we had with wildfires last summer, attributed to climate change. Think of all the unnecessary pollution a truck convoy travelling across Canada and stifling our city for three months would cause.
The B.C. government should have a blockade at the border allowing only those trucks with legitimate business in.
Carolyn Hockley
Victoria
Block the streets when protesters arrive
Who in God’s name does James Bauder think he is? What gives him the right to think he can come into VIctoria and protest for something that has kept us relatively safe through the pandemic while other provinces have seen substantially higher numbers of COVID cases?
We are in the process of winding down our mandates in B.C. after a fairly successful fight with COVID. Obviously, he is using COVID as a ruse to perpetuate his agenda, which is essentially a form of anarchy. This exercise will adversely affect businesses and tourism in Victoria and should be condemned and stopped before they get started. People of Victoria should block the streets and prevent the trucks from entering if the police will not do it.
J. M. Rodgers
Mill Bay
Put Bowker Creek land sale to good use
Victoria is a city brimming with trees and green spaces, both natural and created. One needn’t travel far from one’s front door to find them.
And yet, some folks object to a small corner of green space being sold by the Greater Victoria School Board to the Victoria Hospice Society. A hospice is a place dedicated to easing end-of-life suffering for the dying alongside the grief of final goodbyes for their loved ones.
I suggest the revenues received by the school board on the sale of these two acres to the Hospice Society be dedicated to funding a new school program. The goal of this program would be to foster the understanding in children at a young age that human life merits respect, at all of its stages. The hope would be these kids would then grow up with compassion for both the dying, and the living.
Hannah Wells
Cordova Bay
Just shuffling the deck at B.C. Ferries
Do politicians believe that Joe Public is stupid? It sure seems that way to me. To say that B.C. Ferries is not controlled by the government when the government is the only shareholder — give me a break.
The reason the Liberals made it a quasi-private company, which the NDP continued with, was so that they could go offshore and build all those new ferries at the expense of jobs for shipyard workers and the taxpayers of B.C., and they could deny it was out of their hands because it is a private company. After the ships were built and they ran into financial difficulties, who did B.C. Ferries come running to to bail them out? B.C. taxpayers.
Now the NDP are setting up another board to control the existing board. How does that make any sense, and why not just dismiss the old board?
Ivan Crosett
Victoria
NDP should remember who voted for them
For more than two years now, the majority of the people of this province have followed the directions of the government with regard to the COVID virus. While all government employees managed to keep their jobs and full pay while working at home for a significant extent of time, other citizens such as grocery workers, truckers, medical personnel, etc., were obliged to work as usual, while others lost their jobs, had their hours reduced or lost their businesses.
Now with inflation affecting the most vulnerable workers trying to get by, the province refuses to even consider reducing taxes on fuel to help them through this new crisis. The price of fuel will be abnormally high for a long time. The NDP should remember that at one time they stood by the common working man and women in this province.
Dan Nicoud
Kamloops (recently from Victoria)
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