Trudeau is exploiting the sick and the fearful
We have read and heard many stories about the various scammers seeking to profit from COVID-19.
And now we have the spectacle of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, following the lead of many of his provincial counterparts, seeking to exploit the pandemic, the fearful, the sick, the dying, and the dead for his own political ambitions.
Another example of a politician living down to public opinion.
Ian MacDonell
Victoria
Nothing ordinary about Elizabeth May
I enjoyed reading Jack Knox’s Aug. 17 column on Elizabeth May, with these words being the exception: “That means that this week, for the first time since 2006, she goes into an election campaign not as party leader but as an ordinary member of Parliament.”
There is nothing “ordinary” about Elizabeth. She has a vision that few politicians can even see, let alone embrace.
She is a voice of reason, and if politicians had listened to her years ago and then acted, we would not be in the climate mess we all find ourselves in today.
Lia Fraser
Victoria
Those fire evacuees have election worries, too
How are the forest-fire evacuees going to have time to think about voting in the federal election, never mind the logistics about where they will vote if they are miles from home in shelters?
Alanna Wrean
Victoria
Maybe he wants to be just like Trudeau
Is it only me or has anyone else noticed Erin O’Toole wearing striped Trudeau-esque socks?
Pundits are commenting on the GQ style of the cover chosen for the 85-page Recovery Plan that Conservatives are touting. Is this O’Toole’s attempt at making conservatism more suave? I know I’ve noticed.
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
Catherine Worthingham
Duncan
Flag redesign could show progress
A suggested redesign for the British Columbia flag offers the potential for a proper redesign that can reflect on our progress.
First, get rid of the Union Jack, a symbol of colonialism that we have outgrown.
Second, restore the sun to its original design position at the top. It set over the British Empire decades ago.
Third, a representation of the land at the bottom. Let Indigenous people design that component; they were here first, after all.
There you have it: Sun, sea, land — B.C.!
While we are at it, let’s update our name. How about Cascadia? It will provide an easy reference to our place in the world.
(Just dropping the “British” would give the U.S. DEA and Homeland Security a field day at the border!)
Roger Love
Saanich
High praise for the reimagined B.C. flag
Re: “B.C.’s flag gets a makeover from First Nations perspective,” Aug. 17.
What a beautiful synthesis Lou-ann Neel has created! As we progress through knowledge and insight and acknowledgment and are presented with different perspectives from which to view our history, it would serve us well also to see our symbols from different perspectives.
I think her offering is a very positive and uplifting contribution to the province.
Geoffrey Robards
Oak Bay
Time to change forest management
The tragedies of this summer’s fires are difficult to think about and watch. Walls of fire destroying forests and wildlife, towns of homes, businesses and lives haunt us all.
A recent analysis of those fire areas shows that the forest management over many decades has contributed to what we are seeing on the ground.
Clearcut blocks of forest with the debris left have dried to form perfect tinderboxes for the increased lightning storms caused by weather shifts due to climate change.
With Western Canada heating at twice the rate of the global climate change average in temperatures, we can only expect this to worsen.
What if we changed forestry courses? Currently, without fire management being factored in, as it is managed now with the jobs it provides, maintenance of the forestry model we have costs us $365 million a year to support.
This figure is from an analysis based on the current government’s own statistics. What if we used that $1 million a day to protect old growth and retrain those in the industry to use locally what could be harvested sustainably rather than exporting logs?
What if the model of forest harvesting were guided by stewards of the forests — logging industry workers, foresters, ecologists and Indigenous advisers — so that healthy forests remained for the forseeable, climate-changed future?
What if 2021 became the year that our government recognized that in the future we will need a different model of forest management so that trees are seen as living carbon sinks that retain soil, water and whole ecosystems?
What if we could say to our generations to come that we finally understood and acted to do everything we could to retain the forests around us? What if?
Marian Hargrove
Salt Spring Island
We must respect that natural gift: Water
Gone are the days when we have taken our water for granted. Water that freely comes out of our taps whenever we want it.
With these ever-increasing hot and drier summers, let us all be mindful to conserve, reduce and respect this essential natural resource gift. Life will grind to a crushing halt without it.
Mary Gibbs
Cobble Hill
We need big action to save the world
The recent letter “Why we are doomed by the changing climate” articulates unwelcome truths that we too often prefer not to deal with.
World political and business leaders, the people with big power to make big change immediately, have not done so, and will not do so. Perfunctory conferences, studies, reports and insubstantial distant cure dates are mere symbols of refusal to tackle climate change seriously.
We celebrate the lengthening of our runways and expansion of passenger-handling facilities as signs of growth and success, whereas we should be grounding as many airplanes as we possibly can as quickly as we can. Governments use armies to maintain control and power. They will not cut back on polluting tanks, fighter jets, submarines, trucks, warships, or any other arms-bearing conveyance.
In the face of such massive obstacles to any serious effort to mend our polluting ways, the small person’s heartfelt purchase of an electric car, or conversion to cycling from driving, is commendable, but not enough to save us.
Like the willingly unvaccinated people who contract fatal disease, with our inaction on climate change we allow Homo sapiens’ evolution to play out to our ultimate self-inflicted demise.
The recent letter spells doom. An honest appraisal. It was dead on.
Terry Huntington
Victoria
Follow the advice of Mahatma Gandhi
“You must be the change you wish to see in the world” — Mahatma Gandhi
Very powerful words, but very true. If we want this world to continue we must change our ways. Look around you and see what is happening, see what has already happened.
By not doing anything we are guilty of being of responsible for our own demise. Look around see what is happening in our world … the time is now, we must be the change.
Rebecca Evans
Brentwood Bay
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