Mars on the sidelines as the province burns
Re: “Why is Island-based water bomber sidelined as wildfires burn B.C.?” Aug.22.
According to the plane’s owner, the aircraft is operational, and ready to fly. It has only been retired by the wildfire service, not Wayne Coulson.
I have personal experience being on the ground with 27,000 litres of water dropping all around me. Our crew was notified by radio signal to take cover.
In my 49 years of logging, the Mars was the answer to end the burning, and let the ground crew do the mop up.
The wildfire service has 38 fixed-wing aircraft under contract, with a total skimming capacity of 42,000 litres, not only a difference in water dropped, but dollars spent.
Coulson, owner of the Mars, flew over the Mount Hayes fire near Ladysmith and said a few dumps of water from the Mars would have “a huge effect on the fire.” Enough said.
For some reason, the wildfire service has shunned the Mars, and the increased, combined loss of property, buildings, forests and wildlife is a travesty, not to mention the increase of dollars spent.
Rob McKenzie
Duncan
Best to log trees before they start to rot
Re: “Time to change forest management,” letter, Aug. 19.
While there are some clearcuts that have tinder-dry debris on them, the vast majority of the clearcuts in the Interior where the wildfires are have had most of the debris burned or chipped and hauled off to be used.
Within some of this year’s wildfires, there are areas where the wildfire has burned all around older cutblocks.
Very few logs are exported from B.C. forests any more. They are made into products and sold as finished ones.
Old-growth forests are actually net carbon contributors to the atmosphere as they are rotting and releasing the carbon.
The best thing to do is log them before they burn. Then all that stored carbon ends up in houses for a long time. A young forest is generally more wildfire-resistant and also a carbon sink as it rapidly grows.
What we need to do to protect our forests in the long term is more controlled burning in the spring and fall, more thinning of our forests, and more permanent fuel breaks of 100-metre-wide thinned mature forests with most of the small debris piled and burned. Private homeowners must also use firesmart principles.
We must mimic the forests of 200 years ago, which in most of B.C. were more open and had light intensity wildfires every seven to 25 years.
Chris Betuzzi
Registered forest technician
108 Mile Ranch
Old-growth forests are protected in B.C.
Re: “Forest industry not needed on panel,” letter, Aug. 20.
More than 50 per cent of old-growth forests are already fully protected in B.C., and to say otherwise is fiction.
Old growth is a term that is too often thrown out without any shared understanding of what it actually means.
Old growth on the coast means trees more than 250 years old; in the Interior it means older than 140 years. And, about 70 per cent of B.C.’s old-growth forests — nine million hectares — are protected in perpetuity from harvesting.
All forest areas of high conservation value — regardless of age or size or species — are protected by law and through ongoing evaluation and consultation, until the creation of this advisory panel.
Previously, recognizing that the best decisions are made by diverse, qualified, experienced, trusted voices at the table, consultation has always involved all stakeholders.
This has included collaboration with Indigenous governments, communities and industry stakeholders all over the province to ensure that the 0.1 per cent of the total old-growth forests harvested each year is appropriate, and best serves our province and future generations.
There can be no justification in a democracy to prevent multi-stakeholder dialogue, and to disrespect First Nations governments, 50,000-plus voters employed in the forestry industry, their families and their communities.
Bill Nelson
Campbell River
Amazon’s arrival not worth an uproar
The proposed Amazon warehouse coming to the Sidney area seems to be causing uproar about the threat to local jobs and economy.
Unless they are changing tactics, Amazon is not a “drop in and shop” retailer, it is for those who prefer to shop online.
There are those who have done so for decades and those who steadfastly refuse … I can’t see any reason that a warehouse would change that.
And from what I read here and see on the news, the rush to fill job vacancies anywhere is not happening. Unless Amazon offers incredibly high wages (which is not known to be so), I doubt the impact will even be noticeable.
Doreen Barratt
Sooke
Amazon the wrong idea for airport lands
It is understandable that the Victoria Airport Authority is absolutely desperate for cash with the COVID collapse of air travel over the past 18 months.
An Amazon distribution centre on airport property is not the way to go, for all the sunshine pumping. Air travel is not coming back to previous levels, nor will our economic prospects initially improve very much if we get serious about dealing with anthropogenic global warming in the immediate future.
Amazon in our backyard is not a step through a doorway into the future, but a freefall into the pit of burning fossil fuels.
John Evans
Brentwood Bay
Amazon will not cost local jobs
People are complaining that the Amazon distribution centre will cost jobs. This is not true.
No one will be able to go there to shop. The jobs people are saying will be lost are already lost.
This building at the airport will just be a place to sort the parcels coming to the Island for distribution.
Paul Crozier Smith
Victoria
Afghanistan brings shame to Canada
The Canadian government’s response in the evacuation of Afghanistan has been cowardly and shameful.
We tell those whose lives are very much at risk from death and torture by Taliban forces to make their own way to the airport. The French, meanwhile, have picked up and driven multiple fully loaded buses through Taliban checkpoints to save the Afghan lives.
We have a great military in Canada that is trained to be capable of this sort of action, but they are not being used as they should be.
A U.S. C-17 departed Kabul with 640 grateful people. Canada only managed 106 on our C-17.
I have never been so ashamed of my country as I am today.
Greg Robinson
North Saanich
Letter was close to anti-Semitism
A letter written by a member of the Green Party and unfortunately published by the Times Colonist on Aug. 20 is borderline anti-Semitic and slanderous.
The letter includes the phrase: “… the position of our current leader, Annamie Paul, who supports the Zionist view of the supremacy of the Jews over Palestinians.”
Zionism is simply the movement for establishment of a Jewish state and its ongoing existence. Unfortunately, in recent years, “anti-Zionism” has been used as a cover for anti-Semitism.
Most people in Canada vote for the party and leader who is closest to their own set of beliefs. However, candidates of every party may have viewpoints on specific issues that are contrary to a voter’s fundamental views.
This is certainly the case with Green Party candidates. We should question all candidates in our ridings on their opinions on issues that are important to us.
I find it ironic that many Green candidates are pro-Palestinian, when the favourite tactic of Hamas is to launch incendiary balloons against Israel in an effort to burn down forests in Israel.
Kenneth Mintz
Victoria
Green Party’s issues have destroyed trust
Re: “Greens not squabbling, but the leader has to go,” letter, Aug. 20.
The letter-writer has sadly shown that anti-Semitism is alive and well in the Green Party and a number of its supporters.
For a party that claims to accepting of all peoples, these bullying tactics against your own leader show the Greens have lost the trust of many Canadians.
David Findlay
Chemainus
Canada in chaos, so let’s call an election
Justin Trudeau runs for re-election amid a pandemic, wildfires, the Afghanistan evacuation, refugee claims, financial over-expenditure, rising crime, homelessness, addictions on a dangerous increase, mental-health issues gripping a beleaguered population, and opening our border to increased American demands, among other blunders.
“You can’t fix stupid,” but you can re-elect it!
James Cooper
Victoria
Horgan is competent, Trudeau is not
Commentators reference the NDP majority win in B.C. during the COVID-19 crisis as proof elections held in these times can work out for the incumbents.
What’s forgotten is that John Horgan has offered a calm and competent government, free from much of the loopy left agendas we often see, and last, but far from least, one that has been scandal-free.
I’m definitely not NDP, so all that is offered grudgingly, but again, though I hate to admit it, gratefully.
This situation bears utterly no resemblance to the Justin Trudeau government. Take the scandals involving just the military alone, starting with the utterly disgraceful treatment of Admiral Mark Norman, through to the firing and now prosecution of Dany Fortin for an offence committed in his youth that was far less serious than that of Trudeau when he was both older and actually laid on hands on an unwilling woman.
It just goes on from here.
Vote for who you like, but please have a conscience when you do so.
Terry Sturgeon
Victoria
Disaster around the corner because of virus
The Ministry of Health has decided to close the majority of its vaccination centres for COVID-19, even though cases of this disease in B.C. have doubled every nine days, primarily due to the unvaccinated.
The fourth surge is upon us, with the Delta variant as the cause. In addition, the weakening immunization from the first two shots indicates the need for a third vaccination or booster shot.
Coupled with this is the imminent arrival of students in schools, colleges and universities, the return of people from summer holidays and also workers coming back to offices, tired of working remotely from home, and the need for everyone to remain inside due to colder weather.
The Ministry of Health is acting foolishly. The only rationale I can think of for closing these vaccination sites is to save money. The ministry is penny-wise and pound-poor.
It will cost us a lot more financially when this fourth surge of COVID-19 blasts any hope of a recovery come autumn.
Disaster awaits us.
Margot Todd
Victoria
Maybe they will care if they lose freedom
Big banks have joined the growing chorus of employers who insist on mandatory COVID-19 vaccination of their employees. I’m delighted each time another business comes on board.
It’s time for those laggards who refuse to listen to science to face personal consequences for their bad choice.
It doesn’t seem to be enough that they are a danger to themselves, their family members and society in general, so perhaps loss of their personal freedom will get their attention.
Dorothy Whittome
Duncan
Mandatory COVID-19 vaccines on campus
With the move towards mandatory vaccinations, why have our post-secondary institutions not followed suit?
The federal government announced that all of its employees must be vaccinated. The provincial government has mandated vaccines for long-term care workers and even B.C. Hydro will be requiring Site C workers to be vaccinated.
Post-secondary institutions should be leading the way for mandatory vaccinations.
Students are living in shared accommodation both on and off campus, lecture halls and common dining areas mean students are continuously put in close proximity and then add in the inter-provincial and international transmission factor.
Do we really want to use our children to start the fourth wave?
Mandatory vaccinations for teachers and students is both prudent and justifiable. I understand if a person wishes to exercise their rights and not get vaccinated, no problem, they can attend/teach virtually as they did last year; however, if you want to attend in person, you need to take responsibility for your actions and protect not only yourself but those around you.
I hope those leading our schools will also be leaders in protecting our most valuable assets — our children.
Spencer Evans
Saanich
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