Councillors’ comments unfair and inaccurate
Re: “Vic West six-plex moves ahead despite neighbours’ objections,” May 13.
One of the distressing aspects of this public hearing were the comments made by members of council and Mayor Marianne Alto when they voted in favour of this development.
Their comments suggested that anyone opposing the new normal laid out by Coun. Jeremy Caradonna, of a minimum of six housing units on a zoned single lot, is seen as change-resistant and not changing with the times.
This is unfair and inaccurate as the majority of diverse residents in this area who spoke or wrote in are not opposed to increased density, rather they are opposed to the scale of the density on that particular location.
The so-called bold vision espoused by Alto and these councillors along with this attitude breeds cynicism in any kind of public engagement, and is condescending to residents who wish to be partners in refashioning their neighbourhoods.
Terri Chyzowski
Victoria
Car-free accommodation is a bit of a fantasy
Re: “Vic West six-plex moves ahead despite neighbours’ objections,” May 13.
Council members are having the wool pulled over their eyes by developers. I’m all for some densification, for instance, duplexes on corner single-family lots.
But this six-plex seems quite extreme. The idea of “car-free” units is a bit of a fantasy, I think.
How can you guarantee that folks who purchase or rent these units will be car-free? Not everyone can cycle or bus. There is also the issue of visitors who will need parking.
Another issue is the ability of emergency vehicles to be able to move freely and safely, which they cannot do when roads are clogged with parked cars. Parking spots should always be part of any development.
Plus, there is a big move toward EVs. These prospective buyers or renters should be able to charge up at home.
Annie Weeks
Victoria
To get health care, we need to pay more taxes
Re: “Maternity doctor shortage leaves pregnant women scrambling,” May 14.
The article shows clearly the mismatch between our expectations for medical care and the realities of our political and social system.
In a part of the province where housing and office or clinic real estate costs have put a stranglehold on the average person, how can we expect doctors to practise here, or to start here?
Aside from the really unfortunate past lack of medical school spaces and sufficient provincial payment for their services once graduated, over the past 20 years, our entire political economy is not set up to make access to medical care easy.
As well, everyone now expects to “have a life,” time off to raise their own children, avoid burn-out, etc.
We could, but have never wanted to, have a high-taxation system such as Scandinavian nations do, to provide social and child-care services readily, reducing social inequality, nor have we restricted real estate costs across the spectrum.
We have insisted instead, really on a national basis, on a “free economy,” live where we refuse permission to build suites or enlarge houses to contain apartments, offices or parking in neighbourhoods considered sacrosanct.
Trees are more important, we have told each other. In a region with a delightful climate, we have become almost a resort-based economy.
Our NDP provincial government is making changes to provide more medical services, via clinic services to aid doctors who otherwise would pay very high costs now for staff and space — but the socio-economic system we have developed and our revulsion for high taxation and “socialism” is not going to make this a simple fix.
Think and act more broadly, if you want real change. Why are there “no staff” anywhere? Try shopping at Hudson Bay and find a salesperson — all moved to other provinces or elsewhere in B.C. to afford to rent or purchase a home.
We baby boomers and older are expecting to have family doctors. In Europe, much family medicine is provided in clinics which function well, and as long as medical records are kept and used, in online or whatever format, we can adjust to clinics, too.
But we need more of them, and staff for them too. Pay more taxes.
Janet Doyle
Victoria
Maternity woes another sign of system in crisis
Re: “Maternity doctor shortage leaves pregnant women scrambling,” May 14.
Health Minister Adrian Dix must be pretty fit: after all, he has to travel huge distances to cover self-induced crisis after crisis.
He doesn’t appear to have noticed that he could save himself some effort had he followed the three Ps he is mandated to deliver….Prevention, being Pro-active and Providing adequate health care for the electorate.
Government inertia and lack of foresight has led directly to the 50 per cent drop in the number of family practitioners (FP) providing maternity care in the past two years in Greater Victoria.
The closure of maternity units in smaller communities is widespread across Canada for understandable and inevitable reasons. But to allow this to happen in a provincial capital region is negligence.
Hundreds of B.C. women will suffer sub-standard maternity care that they would not obtain in most developed nations.
Pregnancy is normally a stressful condition. Seeking a non-available maternity provider adds considerable and unacceptable burden. Both the mother and fetus face extra risks.
Cringe-worthy deficiencies have been hallmark features of our Ministry of Health.
From the highest proportion of citizens unable to find a FP in Canada to an astonishing up to six months wait time for a routine mammogram, from a six-eight week delay for the results of a skin biopsy to the ludicrous five hundred days for a routine CT scan, our Health Ministry sparkles with long-standing ineptitude that negatively impacts the very citizens who voted to put them in office.
A betrayal of trust for sure.
Adrian Fine MD, FRCP
Retired physician
Director, BC Health Care Matters
Victoria
Evidence raises doubts about the civil service
Re: “Public workers demanded too much, given too much,” commentary, May 11.
While I don’t always agree with Gwyn Morgan, I appreciate that his opinion is generally supported by factual information, whether I agree with him or not.
Specifically in regards to the recent PSAC settlement, my view is that civil servants received much more than what was reasonable.
Government workers deserve fair compensation for work they perform. Of course. But they do make a good living wage.
Morgan contends federal civil servants are often better paid than in the private sector for comparable work; their health, vacation, defined benefit pension, sick benefits, and potential for advancement are often much better than the private sector.
Job security — ok, job permanency — is also a given in the civil service unlike the private sector. And now, working from the comfort of home as well.
(Interestingly, a recent report indicated office worker productivity decreased significantly by time spent on social emails and websites. Working from home, a main focus of the PSAC settlement, will undoubtedly exacerbate this finding.)
The civil service increased by more than 30 per cent (over 80,000 people) during Justin Trudeau’s reign of error.
The cost? An increase from $40 billion to $60 billion!
Yet the government spent more than $20 billion on consultants last year —for work that a bloated civil service apparently couldn’t do.
And I doubt that the public has already forgotten the recent history of delays and inefficiencies in passport, immigration, EI, and other services. Or that during the pandemic the same civil servants refused to serve Canadians at “Service Canada” Centres.
Such examples speak to anything but an efficient and productive civil service; yet it was rewarded with a signing bonus, generous pay increases, provision to work from home, etc., etc.
Was the generous settlement an obvious attempt to appease a unionized voter cohort to vote Liberal in the next election?
Or perhaps, it’s just me, a former civil servant.
Gordon Zawaski
Parksville
B.C. NDP’s hypocrisy in dealing with unions
Re: “Deafening silence on government lawyer bill,” May 11.
Kudos to Les Leyne for exposing the NDP government’s hypocrisy in dealing with unions.
First the NDP specified that government contracts could go only to firms having contracts with “approved” unions – the ones that would urge their membership to vote NDP and donate cash and campaign time to the NDP.
Then the NDP set aside the confidential certification vote, replacing it with signed cards – which is not confidential and therefore subject to intimidation.
Now they are preventing the formation of a lawyer’s union which probably will not meet the “approved” criteria.
Don Graham
Chemainus
Ban throttled e-bikes on trails, cycle paths
As someone who uses our regional cycle trails and paths routinely, the time has come for the Capital Regional District to drop the hammer on the use of “throttled” e-bikes on these corridors.
They are dangerous, and for all intents and purposes, are best suited for use on our road systems, not these trails.
The riders of these scooters are seldom observed pedalling, but have a heavy throttle hand that reaches speeds exceeding 35 km/h on trails not designed, or intended, for high-speed vehicular traffic.
Recently one of these riders rocketing along near the Jutland overpass nearly careened into a pedestrian walking their dog. The dog, owner, and cyclist narrowly escaped a visit to the ER or a worse outcome!
The CRD, often so eager to implement questionable rules, should pay attention to something really important that requires their intervention. Ban them!
John Stevenson
Victoria
English phonetics is far from the best method
I have read with great interest the correspondence with respect to Indigenous place names.
I am hearing the voices of settlers saying that the current orthography of local Indigenous languages requires too much effort to learn.
Frequently, the orthography is already (essentially) the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), which covers the place and manner of articulation of all extant human speech sounds.
The IPA is far superior to any approximation in English phonetics, which will be doomed to ambiguity and inelegance. Huy tseep q’u! Gilakas’la!
Joe Marrie
Campbell River
Swear oath to Canada, not to another person
The monarchy is a British institution, so we should leave it in Britain.
Try to become a Canadian citizen. You will have to perjure yourself as your first act of becoming a Canadian if you are not quite willing to say the Oath of Citizenship.
Read it. You have to swear an oath to another person and/or their offsprings. An anachronistic oath from medieval times.
I much rather would like to swear an oath to this great country.
Werner Heib
Colwood
The height of a tall leprechaun
Re: “Leprechaun or gnome? B.C. man’s driver’s licence says he’s 23 cm tall,” May 10.
I identify as a 23-centimetre tall leprechaun and I should also be able to list my height as 23 cm on all my government I.D.
To not allow me to do this is gnome-phobic. If you don’t agree that I have gnome identity rights, you deserve to be harassed, shunned, fired and suffer violent retribution.
Kenji Fuse
Saanich
To save the planet, curb capitalism
Re: “Look to the right for a better environment,” letter, May 3.
The ode to “free enterprise” ignores the fact that the world’s wealthiest “free market” nations are disproportionately responsible for global warming.
The Global Carbon Project has found that countries like the U.S., Canada, and much of Western Europe, while accounting for just 12 per cent of global population, have unleashed 50 per cent of all greenhouse gases.
It’s unregulated capitalism that has brought us extreme weather disasters. It was the “free market” that allowed oil companies to lie for decades, about the catastrophic impact of burning fossil fuels.
If we want to save the planet, we best look beyond “left vs. right” and get serious about curbing the excesses of extreme capitalism.
Ira Shorr
Victoria
Bad lifestyle choices by our best friends
It seems almost everything humans do can cause cancer. Alcohol, smoking, processed food, red meat, on and on. Human lifestyle seems to be blamed for every cancer.
If that is so, why do dogs and cats get cancer? Is it their lifestyle?
Don Horwood
Saanich
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