Plenty of no-emission alternatives
Re: “Still seeking fossil-fuel alternatives that work,” letter, Dec. 10.
The letter writer is seeking energy alternatives that work. Let me oblige!
Electric cars operate without fossil fuels, saving their owners $1,500 a year in fuel and servicing charges. Since B.C.’s electricity is renewable, they create no emissions. Electric pickup trucks and 18-wheelers will be on the market soon.
Electric buses, of which there are 900,000 in China and an increasing number in Canada, also create no emissions in B.C. Nor do the gentle arts of walking and cycling. Victoria’s goal is for 60 per cent of all trips and 70 per cent of all trips to work by Victoria residents to be made by walking, cycling and public transit by 2041.
Passive homes release no emissions — all they need is a small heat-recovery ventilator. They cost five per cent more to build, but with no heating bills, the cost is neutral.
Wind, solar, hydro, geothermal, wave and tidal power can produce the power we need, provided we reduce our power consumption by using the most energy-efficient lights and appliances. Hydro, electric batteries and smart grid management can provide stable, reliable power.
Flying and shipping present an unsolved challenge — and kudos to Harbour Air for starting the era of small electric planes.
Our biggest challenge may be to stop consuming so much and so wastefully, so that we can live peaceably within Earth’s ecological footprint, and to cease insisting that none of this is possible.
Guy Dauncey
President, Yellow Point Ecological Society
Ladysmith
Seeking shore power isn’t anti-cruise ship
Re: “Cruise ships are not causing problems,” letter, Dec. 8.
The writer believes the City of Victoria should lay off when it comes to the cruise industry emitting 12,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions a year. I guess it’s cruise ships: love ’em and leave ’em alone.
But in a time of climate emergency, can’t one love the fact that tourists enjoy our beautiful city, and also demand that the multi-billion-dollar cruise-ship industry plug into shore power, and help contribute to combating climate change?
We’re not “opposing” cruise ships. We are fighting for the life of our planet.
Ira Shorr
Victoria
Ash and Cedar Hill roads are speedways
Re: “Horn hit to alert driver but it was too late, trial told,” Nov. 27.
All of Cordova Bay Road to Ash Road and the Ash Road/Cedar Hill Road areas are dangerous, and Saanich should lower the speed limit to 40 km/h.
Driving along Ash or Cedar Hill roads at night, especially when students and workers are commuting back from UVic, is like venturing on a speedway.
What is wrong with these drivers? Same applies to the morning commute to UVic and elsewhere.
It’s time for Saanich and the province to do something about the road idiots who are putting so many people at risk. Yes, you’d get angry squawks from those who worship speed and think their need to get someplace is paramount, but the public would be grateful.
Reduce speed limits, impose greater fines and remove driving privileges for speeding.
Along Ash Road, trim the tree cover and add more lighting.
It is a major thoroughfare and very dangerous for drivers and pedestrians.
Janet Doyle
Victoria
Jaycees helped fight racism in Victoria
Re: “B.C. polices the camps,” Nov. 17.
I read with interest this article by John Price. I was one of those Japanese Canadians interned during the war and like the Madokoros, we spent time at the cattle pens of the Pacific National Exhibition and many years at Lemon Creek in the Slocan Valley.
I was one of the first Asians to be accepted in the Royal Canadian Navy.
In all, I spent more than 15 years in the service, including eight stationed at Esquimalt.
I started as an ordinary seaman and rose through the ranks to petty officer first class and then received a commission and was promoted to lieutenant. I received a Canadian Forces Decoration.
During my stay in Victoria, I was a proud member of the Victoria Jaycees.
They were helpful in fighting racism in Victoria and helped me open doors closed to Asians.
One well-respected citizen of Victoria, Eric Charman, was a fellow Jaycee.
Prior to 1949, Orientals were not permitted in movie theatres of Victoria and many clubs refused entry.
I experienced no racism in all the years I spent in the navy.
Ken Kiyoshi Koyama C.D. Lieut. RCN
Retired in Mexico
No more sex, please, we’re legislators
Re: “Book of ultimate B.C. lists prompts a list of its own,” Dec. 8.
I was the journalist who wrote the Victoria Times story on Agnes Kripps’ attempt to replace the word “sex,” as in sex education, with BOLT (Biology of Living Today) in 1970.
Her proposal was greeted in the press gallery with hoots of laughter and much discussion of lightning bolts and thunder clap (the latter, if I recall, a suggestion from Iain Hunter).
When then-NDP leader Robert Strachan left the legislative chamber, he looked up at the gallery with a grin, and said “I’m bolting.”
The hilarity was renewed when a few days later, Kripps had to introduce a class of students from Sexsmith School in Vancouver.
Vic Parsons
Saanich
Richardson design discourages car use
The city’s design for shared cyclist and vehicle use on Richardson Street will create conflict: The cyclists will believe that these are “their” lanes. But what will happen when a passing car encroaches into a bike lane and an e-bike catches up to the encroaching car? How will the police attending an injured biker look at the scene? How will ICBC assign blame?
Remember, these are not “legal protected bike lanes.” They are only “traffic separation suggestions.”
This is not about bike lanes — this is about frustrating the use of the car. The city should just call it what it is.
Gordon Berg
Victoria
Don’t scale back byelection process
Re: “Byelection to fill Victoria council seat could cost $170,000, report says,” Dec. 8.
While I am angered that Together Victoria council member Laurel Collins cost taxpayers $140,000 to $200,000 for a byelection to fill her seat, I oppose scaling back the byelection process.
The reduction of polling stations on Election Day from 12 to four and failure to send out voting cards to every household reduces engagement.
For Mayor Lisa Helps and staff to accept that byelections see lower voter turnout merely perpetuates this “bargain-basement vote process” to become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
This reeks of incumbents putting their fingers on the scale to favour their choice candidates.
Democracy comes at a cost. Sadly, Collins increased that.
Council members need to protect the process and advocate for more participation, not less.
We all need to insist the City of Victoria does a thorough job.
Stephen Andrew
Former Victoria council candidate
Victoria
HandyDART facility in residential area
How shameful of the provincial government to insist that the handyDART facility be built in the middle of a multi-dwelling residential area, across from a primary school and close to Craigflower Creek and Victoria General Hospital.
Residents voiced their objections a year ago but obviously were not listened to by any provincial government officials.
View Royal should have the right to determine the zoning of our area, not the provincial government. Sadly, this does not seem like a democracy.
Marianna Browett
View Royal
Surrendering of psychologist’s licence was publicly posted
Re: “Better oversight needed for B.C.’s health professions,” editorial, Dec. 6.
We appreciate your commentary regarding the steering committee’s proposals to change how health professions are regulated. However, we wish to point out to your readers that it is not accurate to state that Dr. Allan Posthuma was allowed to “quietly” surrender his licence.
A public notice regarding the outcome of the investigations into Dr. Posthuma’s practice was posted on the College of Psychologists of B.C. website on Jan. 1, as was the change in his registration status, and it has been the subject of significant media commentary since that time.
The most severe penalty the discipline committee can impose following a hearing is to cancel a registrant’s registration. In this case, Dr. Posthuma voluntarily surrendered his registration prior to a hearing. He no longer practises as a psychologist.
The college uses its authority to protect the public and ensure practitioners who present a risk to the public are appropriately limited in their practice or, when necessary, are denied the right to practice as a psychologist.
Unlike most other health-profession regulators, the college does not have the authority under the current regulations to prevent unlicensed individuals from engaging in the practice of psychology using a different title.
We encourage the public to go to the college’s website at cpbc.ca to verify they are receiving services from a registered health professional.
Andrea M. Kowaz, PhD, R.Psych.
Registrar, College of Psychologists of B.C.
Vancouver
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