Council candidates knew the requirements
I was a candidate in the 2022 City of Victoria election. Every candidate clearly knew the stipend to be received and the time obligations required. This was posted clearly on the city website and was not a secret.
Successful candidates are saying that “this is a full-time job,” “I have student loans,” “this is tough on my family,” and “this is tough on my career.”
These woe-is-me arguments don’t cut it. Having held elected office in Victoria, I know that a candidate needs to understand the obligations of an elected office before seeking that office.
If you find that holding elected office has become too costly to your family life, finances/career, or you are spending too much time in exercising your elected responsibility, the correct action is to resign and the public can then have an opportunity to elect someone who can understand the obligations that are required to hold office and can meet those requirements.
This process that council has undertaken disgusts me, is wholly inappropriate, without public discussion, input or consent. This is blatant greed.
Again, all councillors knew the remuneration and requirements attached to being elected when they ran for office.
They should be ashamed.
Steve Orcherton
Victoria
A little support can go a long way
Re: “It’s time to help at-risk members of our society,” commentary, March 11.
We are long past the point in time where clear thinking and action were needed to address the homelessness, drug overuse and abuse, and criminal activity on our Victoria streets.
The commentary comparing how we deal with children and seniors needing care is welcome. The gap in care for those living on the streets is only becoming greater and at the same time more institutionalized in our midst.
There are those for whom homelessness is a temporary stage in their lives. With the right support, they can get back on their feet again and we owe these people our support.
But there are far too many people living on the streets who cannot and who will probably never be able to.
They need living arrangements that protect them and us. The combination of lethal drugs, addiction, criminality, poor mental health, homelessness and broken bodies is too much for our various disconnected public systems to cope with.
Let’s get on with measures to fix this, not put more Band-Aids on the problems.
Jan Mears
Oak Bay
The B.C. NDP’s ‘moral deficit’
Re: “One-time goodies designed to smooth path to fall vote,” opinion, Feb. 23.
Les Leyne seriously underestimates the intelligence of the average person. Just do the math. A B.C. Hydro rebate of $100 works out to about $8 per month, almost enough for a cauliflower. The “prevailing public reaction” will likely be “thanks for nothing!”
In the NDP’s family-friendly budget, the only reference to the large voter-heavy senior demographic is in broad generalizations about enhanced home, community and long-term care. Sorely needed, and conspicuously lacking, is direct financial help to poor seniors so they can maintain their independence at home.
There’s no funding for B.C. Housing’s Shelter Aid for Elderly Renters program, which still only subsidizes up to $767 a month for a one-bedroom suite in Victoria, forcing many elders into homelessness as they face rents up to three times that amount. And no help for low-income seniors with the high cost of hearing aids, even when studies show that any loss of this vital service can be a risk factor for dementia.
Given that provincial benefits for low-income seniors in B.C. are mere crumbs compared to other provinces, the NDP’s silence on this issue in their budget seems ruthless and callous. While single elders here get a maximum monthly B.C. Seniors’ Supplement of $99.30, the same benefit in Saskachewan is $360; $300 in Alberta and Nunavut; and $288.61 in the Yukon.
The moral “deficit” within B.C.’s governing party is more alarming than any financial one.
Doreen Marion Gee
Victoria
Governments and some reasons for anger
Regarding recent articles about people angry at their local government.
• Fourteen governments (with 100-plus councillors) for 450,000 people, ignoring how convenient and silly to be un-amalgamated, despite two overwhelmingly positive referendums, looks selfish.
• Elected and unelected governments using a reverse onus process to borrow huge sums of money, presumably because they won’t get consensus.
• Governments so afraid of their communities, they limit participation or cancel engagement, for any topic where difficult decisions need to be made.
• Huge budgets and tax increases with no distinction between “need-to-have” and “nice-to-have,” where input is engineered to be from “the right people.”
• Governments so afraid of their citizens they choose a conflict of interest over a real complaints process.
• Governments that conveniently treat winning contests where one-quarter to one-third show up as resounding mandates for their ideas, rather than working to improve participation.
• Governments with councillors who make racist comments about a people.
Call me a right-wing, fascist, middle-aged white male … but these things don’t make me happy, proud or confident in our local governance.
Stephen Ison
Victoria
Conservative leader is not playing games
A letter-writer made an interesting point by suggesting that Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre could learn from the good sportsmanlike behaviour of a recent curling champion.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his handlers seem to think that running a country is just a game, and the damage that they cause doesn’t matter as long as they win and the photo ops continue.
Poilievre might seem harsh but everything that he says is true, and sometimes the truth hurts; he’s not playing a game.
Since the Liberals took power in 2015 the federal debt has doubled, the budget has not balanced itself. Canada has become an embrassment on the world stage, led by a man who likes his socks and his costumes.
Scandals are covered up and replaced by more scandals, and the list goes on.
I must confess that I voted for the Liberals in 2015. It seemed like a good idea at the time, and now I offer my sincerest apologies to Stephen Harper and his Conservative party of the day.
I implore all Liberal supporters to make their own list of the pros and cons of Trudeau’s performance since 2015. The list will not balance itself.
Rob Schott
Victoria
Hey Saanich, we’ll take that noise camera!
If Saanich doesn’t want that noise camera, send it to Oak Bay, specifically to the stretch of Foul Bay Road north of Fort Street.
Maybe then we can leave our windows open during the hot summer nights ahead.
Dianne Woodman
Oak Bay
Trudeau has achieved his popularity goal
Re: “ ‘My job is not to be popular,’ Trudeau says,” March 14.
Mission accomplished.
Robin Farquhar
Victoria
Patient care at General is worthy of praise
Our health-care system receives a lot of negative press these days. However, I was fortunate to receive wonderful care several weeks ago when I was taken to the Victoria General Hospital after a stroke.
The doctors, nurses, nurse assistants and physiotherapists in the sixth floor Neurosciences Unit, despite their busy schedules, were all outstanding and deserving of thanks.
Walter Balfour
Oak Bay
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