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Chickens should come home to roost

Re: “Victoria hopes B.C. court will back city order to limit chickens,” Aug. 2. Why does the City of Victoria have to apply to B.C.

Re: “Victoria hopes B.C. court will back city order to limit chickens,” Aug. 2.

Why does the City of Victoria have to apply to B.C. Supreme Court for an order to enforce a city bylaw limiting the number of chickens a homeowner can keep?

Why do the City of Nanaimo and the District of Saanich have to ask the courts if they can enforce laws for public safety, or bylaws limiting campers to pitch tents in city parks only between certain hours?

Why does the City of Burnaby have to ask the courts for an order to remove a camp and temporary structures outside the entrance to Kinder Morgan?

Shouldn’t we expect our lawmakers to enforce the laws rather than wasting our tax dollars by running to the courts and asking the judiciary to govern? Are the decisions of a single judge, interpreting the law based on his or her inclination on the issue, or as often occurs, deciding lawmakers don’t have the authority to make the laws, preferable to the democratic process of lawmaking?

I think it’s time to elect people who are prepared to do their job and that job is governance. If they are not prepared to, they shouldn’t seek office in the first place. If we don’t like the laws they make, the chickens should come home to roost at election time.

Wayne Cox

Saanichton