Never give up on Victoria city council
We join the City of Victoria and community in celebrating “Never Give Up Day” this summer. It’s a day set aside to inspire the community “to persevere and remember that, even in hard times, they can keep going and accomplish their goals.”
Presumably the day is also meant for crotchety taxpayers to keep the faith and to continue to urge the mayor and council to control their agenda.
Never Give Up Day was one of six proclamations council scheduled for May 4, and one of 17 so far in 2023. Sixty-five proclamations were made in 2022 including Wrongful Conviction Day, Global Meetings Industry Day, and Parachute National Injury Day.
It’s notable because after 10 months of delays there’s still no indication exactly when, if ever, city council will take action on the MNP Governance Review. Remember the report was highly critical of how Victoria council manages.
Efficiency in governance, the review explained, involves ensuring the best possible use of available resources. It’s hardly the best use of precious time for the decision-makers and staff with a $300 million operating budget and issues galore.
The review says that with 55 proclamations in the past year (2021), “…this creates an undue administrative effort and clogging of agendas with items that may have little to do with municipal government.”
It recommended changing the process for proclamations so they are handled under the authority of the mayor, dispensing with a staff report, a committee-of-the-whole review and separate council decision on proclamations.
When will the council focus more on municipal priorities and implementing the 30 sensible recommendations of the landmark MNP Governance Review Report?
Stan Bartlett
Vice-Chair
Grumpy Taxpayer$ of Greater Victoria
Don’t blame those cats when birds disappear
A small handful of cats like to visit our yard, one of them mine. A large number of birds also visit, numerous kinds, all shapes and sizes big and small.
Very rarely an owl turns up during the day and the little birds cower behind any available twig. Less rarely a hawk swoops in at high speed followed by a major kerfuffle in the bush at the back.
The most dramatic event was three years ago when two bald eagles raided a thick tall dense pine tree in the neighbour’s yard — based on the number of crows involved I imagine there was more than one crow’s nest skillfully hidden from all our view.
Oh, did I mention the cats that like to visit?
Recent claims of domestic cats decimating bird populations are emotional exaggerations that should not be taken too seriously.
Malcolm Dew-Jones
Victoria
Look to the right for a better environment
As a long-time follower of Trevor Hancock’s column, I continue to be astonished at his desire to twist and torture logic to justify his ongoing belief in the leftist ideology to which he has devoted his life.
Recently he has been equating economic growth with environmental degradation and the destruction of the planet. Let’s have a peek at the accuracy of that conclusion.
A quick glance around the world shows us that, despite our real environmental problems, the free market economies generally enjoy higher environmental conditions than the chaotic countries of the developing world.
Whatever their problems, the Seine, St. Lawrence, and Mississippi are like rivers out of Eden compared to the Mekong, Congo, or Indus.
And although we find disgraceful slums and homeless encampments in our major cities — mainly the result of the catastrophic failure of the welfare state — they are trivial compared to what is found in Rio, Calcutta, or Nairobi.
Despite their problems, the growth economies enjoy the highest levels of human accomplishment, social cohesion, and political stability to be found anywhere in the world — in addition to the political freedom that appears to be a direct offshoot of free market economics.
One example from my personal experience: In 1990, immediately following the fall of the Berlin Wall, I traveled through parts of Eastern and Western Europe.
The material difference was like the difference between the rich and poor part of any town. And the environmental difference was even more extreme.
On a train between Prague and Frankfurt, I witnessed environmental devastation from the (socialist) Czechoslovak coal fields that made any criticism of the oilsands look comical — as indeed it is.
The reality is that the economic growth provided by free enterprise allows us to demand and afford the higher environmental standards that we desire. Stagnant economies perpetuate and intensify the degradation of their environments; continued steady growth is the path to a solution.
The leftist ideologies advocated by Hancock and other saviour wannabes are not merely false promises, they are signposts to further degradation of both the natural world and our social structures.
Michel Murray
Saanich
Our small farmers need our assistance
The province has announced another $2.3 million on top of an original $7.5 million to assist First Nations to join or participate in the cannabis industry.
These funds will help them to expedite the processes to get their products to market. There is no mention of these growers producing food crops to support their local communities.
On the other hand, small farms that produce so much of our food were told after legalization that by starting small regulated outdoor micro-grow cannabis operations it would enhance their income.
They could then afford to continue producing the food crops that we all need.
No one at the federal or provincial level has done anything to expedite their entry in to the retail market.
In many cases they have failed to be able to bring their product successfully to market.
The fees and restrictions have been so onerous that most of these farms across Canada have given up in sheer frustration of trying to get their cannabis to the retail market.
They continue to market their food products as long they can afford to continue farming.
It is long overdue that both levels of government come to the assistance of these farmers, as so far the concept has been a frustrating failure for many.
David Caddell
Saanich
We need laws to control the harm from drugs
Three cheers to Campbell River. I hope they pass the restrictive law on drug use and the discarding of dangerous related items. The David Eby and NDP plan of legalizing addictive drug use and possession and consumption is irresponsible. It disregards the needs of safety and welfare for the vast majority of people in society, from toddlers in playgrounds and schoolyards to seniors hoping for a peaceful evening stroll.
The facilities, staffing and operational plans for mandatory addiction treatment should have been in place before any moderation of usage/possession laws were implemented. Compassion has turned into a weapon word to justify a government committed to irresponsible social engineering experiments to society’s detriment.
Ending addiction is the goal, protecting all of us as you get there is your first responsibility. Not further endangering us.
G.V. Olafsen
Qualicum Beach
Can we all agree on this, at least?
Disagreements can and should be beneficial, how we disagree affects how beneficial.
Bill Carere
Victoria
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