Remember our children on election day
I encourage everyone to remember the school board elections as they enter the voting stations on Oct. 15.
We all have a stake in education, whether we have kids in school or have neighbours or family who do.
Like many people who are familiar with the missteps of the current Greater Victoria board, such as the unlawful dismissal of two board members, I feel we need fresh, reliable faces around the table.
If you are uncertain about all the choices among the candidates, you could check the website of the Greater Victoria Teachers’ Association and the candidates they endorse.
I believe we can trust our teachers, who work in the system every day and are committed to quality education for our children.
Like our bodies and minds, democracy must be exercised to remain a strong, positive force in our society. Let’s vote for the future.
Sid Tafler
Saanichton
Let’s talk about soil on the islands
Re: “Election an existential moment for the Gulf Islands,” commentary, Oct. 5.
In his comment piece about the Islands Trust election, Frants Attorp, one of the organizers of the Friends of the Gulf Islands lobby group, tries to paint many trustees and islanders as being either for or against words like “environment” and “water.”
He grossly misrepresents one vote, out of the hundreds at Trust Council this past term — full disclosure, I’m almost through my four-year term as an elected trustee for the Gabriola Local Trust Area — to make that case.
But here’s the thing: aside from fossil-fuel execs and unhinged dictators, we all care about those fundamental values — the preciousness of this unique planet and all the life its water supports. Those values, and trying to update the land-use planning tools that could take care of them and each other better, are why I ran four years ago and made the decisions I did along the way.
Those values are why many of us have found ourselves here, together, in the rural remoteness of the islands of the Salish Sea, home to Indigenous Peoples and First Nations since time immemorial (lest we forget).
Where there are differences is in how to apply the mandate of the Islands Trust — in full, not just some snippet of it — when the current regime of Trust processes and so many of its out-of-date plans and bylaws greenlight high-cost, highly intensive market real estate development and resource extraction yet seem to make everything else — the low-cost, low-impact ways to live lightly and support thriving ecosystems — more difficult to realize.
Please, can we talk about soil instead of throwing dirt?
Scott Colbourne
Elected Trustee, Islands Trust
Snuneymuxw First Nation Territory, Gabriola Island
Local jurisdiction includes old growth
Re: “Old-growth forests not to be found in Victoria,” Oct. 5.
A recent letter-writer suggests that actions to protect old-growth forests are beyond local government jurisdiction. This is simply not true.
The City of Victoria includes remnant old-growth Garry oak ecosystem in municipal parks, such as Summit Park and Beacon Hill Park, and on a number of privately held parcels.
Within the Capital Regional District, there are substantial and threatened old-growth forests, including coastal western hemlock rainforest (and associated species) in the Juan de Fuca Electoral Area, and coastal Douglas fir forest (including Garry oak) on the Saanich Peninsula and Gulf Islands.
City of Victoria jurisdiction is engaged within the city limits through powers including land use regulations, tree-protection regulations, land acquisition and parks management.
CRD jurisdiction is engaged across the region through the Regional Parks function, management of Regional Water Supply lands, and Climate Action services, including actions to protect the carbon sequestration values of old-growth forests and other actions to protect and restore biological diversity.
Ben Isitt
Victoria
Incentive contract worthy of praise
Re: “54 newly graduated doctors sign incentive contract, 65 in talks,” Oct. 6.
With all the controversy, health-care issues and backlogs, the agreements and incentives for the new graduated family physicians is one of the steps in a right direction.
Health Minister Adrian Dix is trying to resolve a crisis health-care situation. He still needs to work with the federal government and licensing authorities to come up with a workable solution to resolve the shortage of family physicians.
I am glad the minister is including the international medical grads as well. Good job, Minister Dix. You have a long journey ahead of you.
Mano Sandhu
Victoria
Eby’s housing ideas are too late, or not needed
So David Eby, premier-in-waiting, proposes to introduce an anti-flipping tax. Earth to Eby: “You are 10 years too late.”
Property flipping happens in hot real estate markets, not cool/cold markets. Another new tax we don’t need. Another form for property vendors to fill out to justify why they sold. Another snoop by Big Brother into our lives.
Next he wants to meddle into stratas regarding the rules/regulations/bylaws on renting. Stratas have worked things out with and for the benefit of strata owners.
Take heed, David Eby, of that old but ever true bit of advice: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
Alan Hoey
Oak Bay
Liberals in no position to talk about health care
Re: “Dix repeatedly asked for his resignation as fall legislative season opens,” Oct. 4.
Assigning blame is never a difficult task; finding solutions can be arduous.
I have not heard a single peep from the B.C. Liberals on their solution to the ongoing health-care problems.
I do, however, recall how they attempted to solve the ICBC dumpster fire and the criminal money-laundering fiasco at our casinos. Their approach to education left a decade of our children holding the bag for a lack of opportunity and educational resources.
Chucking stones at others when you spent your political career nestled in a glass house is, indeed, rich.
John Stevenson
Victoria
Blame Social Credit for the problems in health
Re: “Dix repeatedly asked for his resignation as fall legislative season opens,” Oct. 4.
B.C. Liberal Leader Kevin Falcon calling for Adrian Dix to resign as health minister gave me a laugh. The real culprits in our health crisis are the members of the former Social Credit Party (present-day B.C. Liberals) who closed Riverview and Essondale hospitals in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Their plan was to dump the vulnerable mental patients and drug-addicted residents on the community, a plan that didn’t work out as there were no proper facilities to house them, but the Socreds saved piles of money or, at least, they imagined that they would.
Now the people who need care have no place to go except sleep on the streets, in tents or flophouses. They clog up emergency rooms, tie up ambulance services, take up hospital beds and the cost of policing services is off the charts.
Families can’t cope, nor can the community. I see nothing wrong with involuntary hospitalization under certain circumstances, and many countries have adopted this practice including the Netherlands, Israel and Belgium.
Victoria Chief Constable Del Manak has advocated such a solution, and is a far more informed and less politicized figure than Falcon on the subject.
I wonder how Falcon and the rest of the B.C. Liberals/Socreds would have handled the recent COVID crises. Surely nobody could have done a more exemplary job than Dix and Dr. Bonnie Henry.
“Those who don’t remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Let’s not forget how past Social Credit policies are the root cause of our homeless and mental-health problems.
Jacquelyn Ross
Coombs
Racially motivated crime, but selective concern
The vandalism of the Orange Bridge has been pointed out, and the Port Alberni RCMP would like to interview any witnesses.
I don’t see why they are worried about this, because there has been vandalism directed toward statues in Victoria with many witnesses. One article even mentioned a police presence.
To my knowledge, absolutely nothing has been done to the vandals. Were these statues trashed for another reason that does not spring to mind?
Was this not racist-based vandalism? Or is it only racism if it’s not directed against the majority ethnic group?
Racism is racism. If it is only bad if carried on one way, then racism is not the problem. Common sense is.
I realize in this day and age of feelings and hypocrisy, one has to follow the popular belief and is not supposed to mention the centre position or face criticism.
If it is OK to be racist against one group, what does that say about oneself?
Ken Sharp
Ladysmith
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