Call them vandals; racist is not the right word
With respect to toppling statues, a recent writer made a strong point about misleading language. Racism involves prejudicial behaviours, and to be effective, that needs an unequal power, a thing that white culture has here.
It was not the right word to apply to the vandals. However, having said that, this writer is also guilty of fostering misunderstanding.
It’s clearly a fact of human nature that once any group gets its nose out in front, it promptly rewrites the rules to handicap others. It’s not just a white thing. It’s happening now in India, the government holding onto power by pandering to Hindu extremism.
No different with us, I’m afraid. Here as in Australia, Anglos were the first to the trough, soon building strong walls to keep out the rest. And when those walls also invoked colour, that prejudice could rightly be called racism.
On the other hand, this writer has confounded racism with bigotry, because at the level of the individual, any person can have a chip on his shoulder, and a Black person can be as bigoted as anyone else, so back to the statues.
Pulling them down was clearly the work of vandals. That’s the name for those destroying property.
It is possible among these vandals you might also meet some bigots, and that’s an earlier writer’s point. By focusing solely on racism, the second writer risks not only validating these bigots but also sacrifices any common ground he might have found with the first.
Clarification one, communication nothing.
Chris Scattergood
Sidney
Please, stop charging all those extra fees
Add-on fees are getting out of control. The latest is the new fee for using a credit card. This fee is being charged by the same retailers who, not long ago, wouldn’t accept cash payments.
We are already saddled with “eco” fees, “recycling” fees and “deposit” fees, not to mention “tips.” Car dealers also have unwanted options, forced loans, “documentation” fees, “market adjustment” fees and deposits without interest. Many of these charges are substantial. I was charged a “recycling fee” on a set of kitchen scales that amounted to 27.5% of the purchase price.
Advertised prices are reaching the point where they are meaningless.
Every payment method has costs associated with it. Counterfeit cash is a 100% loss and requiring cash payment reduces the likelihood of impulse purchases. More cash on the premises has security risks, and if robberies increase insurance rates will increase.
How long before there is a “cash security” fee? Customers cause maintenance and cleaning costs and holding stock is expensive. When can we expect a “business overhead” fee? All these fees are just a legalized “bait and switch” scam.
This all needs to stop. The advertised price should be the actual price the item can be bought for, and all accepted methods of payment should be treated equally.
S.I. Petersen
Nanaimo
You don’t need to vote to fill all seats
I live in an area whose council contains a couple of very long-term councillors, so it’s been quite refreshing this year to get acquainted with some fresh new contenders who have chosen to stand on our town’s electoral slate.
This situation seems to also be the case in quite a few other municipalities.
This coming election — with longer lists of candidates — means that we voters must do a bit more homework than in past elections as we try familiarizing ourselves with who’s who.
Every responsible voter should review each candidate’s qualifications and be aware of what said persons promise to contribute, if elected, to the municipality or school district they will represent.
Despite a greater number of candidates this time round, in my own area I find that I really have no wish to vote for certain candidates.
This means that I actually will vote for less than the full number of seats on council. No matter, there will still be the required number of seats filled.
My “undervoting” is quite legal; you don’t have to vote a full complement if you do not wish to do so. I just want to remind voters that if, like me, you find you cannot in good faith fill in the space next to the names of certain candidates, please don’t.
Jocelyn Skrlac
View Royal
After a long lineup, not enough voting stations
What a disaster for Victoria folks who tried to advance vote on Oct. 12. The line outside city hall went all the way back to the parkade.
That was just the line to get inside, where another long queue snaked through a narrow unventilated hallway until you got to … wait for it … only 11 voting stations to serve the hundreds of waiting voters needing to fill out the two-page ballot with more than 90 names on it.
Our other advance choices were only Our Place on the part of Pandora where sadly many folks feel unsafe, or at UVic, which is not even in Victoria.
What a farce; Victoria voters deserved better. Is this some kind of political shenanigans or simply ineptness?
Richard Lucas
Victoria
Hockey’s elephant in the room
While the focus on Hockey Canada is more than necessary, it is causing us to miss a broader and deeply troubling point.
The violence issue, and our unfortunate failure to address it, is not just Hockey Canada but hockey itself. No other sport accepts or in fact glorifies violence more than hockey.
Television ads for the coming season are as likely to show some violent interaction as they are Connor McDavid skating through the whole Rangers team.
This acceptance of violence in our national sport and passion has unfortunately promoted violence off the rink as well as on it.
It is time for all of us to recognize and deal with this broader reality.
David W. Drinkwater
Victoria
Endless talk getting us nowhere on health care
Timidity isn’t going to correct the disaster all Canadians find themselves in, having trusted their governments to provide this basic, critical service.
For provinces who jealously guard and, for Quebec and Alberta, even try to expand their jurisdictions outside the confines of the Constitution Act, it is a bit rich to say improvements require the federal government.
Are you listening, Premier John Horgan? You, who received prompt and professional treatment for your cancer? The treatment we all deserve but can’t get?
I cannot imagine what it will take for the electorate to convey the message that nipping and tucking at the edges of the problem (are you listening, Health Minister Adrian Dix?) are too little too late, and bold moves are necessary.
I am weary of the incredible lack of imagination or courage of our politicians. But then again, we elected them.
Adele Malo
Victoria
Federal government’s dental rollout flawed
I am troubled by the federal government’s plan to provide dental care to low-income Canadians. Providing this care is a great idea, but the way the government is going about it is alarmingly incompetent.
Providing dental benefits to a defined cohort of individuals is a “known solution.” Employers all over Canada do it every day.
The government already provides dental benefits to their own employees and also to members of First Nations right across the country. They provide these benefits through a third-party insurer and billing is handled through the insurer at the dental office; that proven system makes sense.
Our government instead is going to send out cheques to low-income Canadians and trust they will go to the dentist. Wow! Do I really need to explain the problem with that?
The complete incompetency of our governing bureaucracies is fuelling divisiveness in this country. The public sector now enjoys pay and benefits that the private sector can only dream of, and yet the government machine can no longer implement simple tasks.
The outrageous passport-renewal debacle and the Phoenix pay-system fiasco go hand in hand with the dental plan rollout.
Many in the private sector perceive government employees as vastly overpaid chair-warmers achieving nothing of real value throughout their entire workday.
I believe this feeling is what actually drove the freedom convoy to Ottawa, and unchecked it is going to steer this country in a perilous direction.
Bryan Tronsgard
Victoria
MLAs should have pay based on performance
Given the performance of the MLAs of all stripes over the past several years with regard to public safety, education cutbacks, health care, mental health care, the addiction crisis and homelessness, it would be more appropriate for them all to get a 10 per cent decrease until they actually accomplish something.
It seems the only area that has received a meaningful increase in funding is the pork barrel. And not surprisingly it always gets almost unanimous approval from the legislature.
In the real world, management raises are based on performance.
Jack Trueman
Brentwood Bay
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