CRD parks fund should be for wilderness
On Feb. 12, the Capital Regional District board will be considering a recommendation to revisit the mandate of the Land Acquisition Fund.
The basic idea behind the recommendation is that individual municipalities be granted access to the fund to help buy small plots of land within their boundaries to develop as parks. Though this might seem like a good idea at first glance, this recommendation must be rejected.
First of all, the recommendation doesn’t meet the original intention behind the fund, which was established to purchase and preserve wilderness lands and wildlife habitats, NOT for buying up small parcels of real estate within urban and suburban centres to be used as recreational parks.
While the goal of increasing park space within populated areas is laudable, development cost charges are a much more effective mechanism for generating the necessary funds to purchase land for use as recreational parks.
A fundamental change to the terms of reference as proposed will essentially cannibalize the fund, rapidly depleting it, withdrawing desperately needed resources away from protecting wilderness areas already under threat from logging, real estate construction and road building. There are funds and innovative solutions elsewhere for these situations.
As our communities continue to grow, however, it is imperative that those directly benefiting from inflated real estate transactions must contribute more to expanding neighbourhood green spaces.
With this fund as it is currently constituted, we can protect far more acreage in threatened forests with each dollar spent than we can in setting aside postage-stamp recreational parks to walk dogs or play frisbee.
J Ocean Dennie
Esquimalt
Friends of the T-Sou-ke Hills Wilderness
Let’s fix those Victoria potholes
Could we please remind this Victoria city council that the “majority” would like them to do what they were elected to do. Could we please get a few potholes fixed!
B.C. Cade
Victoria
Some planning, before moving here
Re: “New rules target Dallas Road van campers,” Feb. 2.
Perhaps people who want to move here should take responsibility and have housing and a job before moving here permanently.
N.L. Clarke
James Bay
Council needs to deal with Dallas Road campers
Re: “Victoria mayor gets earful on Dallas Road vans,” Feb. 4.
At the recent community drop-in at Victoria City Hall, Mayor Lisa Helps got an earful from Dallas Road residents who are distressed about overnight campers along their street. She did her best to deflect the issue, insisting it is a housing issue, essentially sloughing it off to senior levels of government. Staff had been previously instructed not to ticket the Dallas Road van campers. Maybe the campers should be sent to park in front of her Fernwood home, and see how she reacts.
This issue is totally within the scope of her and council’s mandate, unlike free birth control, anorexia and pipelines, which consume their time.
Brian Kendrick
Victoria
Trouble getting B.C. identity card
Re: “Lack of ID holding up man’s return to his family,” Feb. 4.
Dan Vo can’t get ID from Service B.C. I sympathize. I went to Service B.C. with a valid Canadian passport with photo and a valid driver’s licence from another province with photo and they would not give me a B.C. driver’s licence.
I suppose when driverless cars arrive there will be no problem with the computers running driverless cars getting a B.C. driver’s licence, photo ID or not.
Nattanya E.A. Hewitt
Duncan
A perspective given with sardonic humour
Re: “Two once-great nations doing their best to self-destruct,” Heather Mallick column, Feb. 5.
What an amazing woman with such insight and perspective, seasoned with sardonic humour.
More, please, much more of her.
Bill Gedye
Brentwood Bay
Anti-Brexit pundits are being proved wrong
Since the Brexit referendum played out contrary to the expectations and wishes of the established interests, every expert has prophesied the doom awaiting the British economy as punishment for the insolent stupidity and disobedience of its voters. In reality, that economy has been on a tear, well-outpacing the stagnant economies of the continent.
Unemployment is at a 40-year low, and those areas that are not cringing in fear are flexing their muscles in anticipation of the opportunities to be uncovered once the shackles of Europe are struck off.
Germans are more worried about car sales in England than the Brits are about their powerful financial services, while the pitiful French are up to their necks in their own troubles. They can scarcely make threatening noises about tariffs so long as they want to sell their wine and cheese across the Channel.
Michel Murray
Saanich
United States and Britain are faring well
What credentials does Heather Mallick have to write, in my opinion, such left-wing ideas on Britain and the United States? Does she actually talk to the citizens of the U.K. (other than London) and the United States (other than Democrats)?
Her disparaging remarks about “little Britain” are just rude. The economy in the United States is on the rise under President Trump and manufacturing is coming back, both of which the country can be proud of.
Ann Nelms
Victoria
Provide traps to help get rid of rats
Re: “Wildlife protection sought after owl found poisoned,” Feb. 5.
How terribly sad that owls are being poisoned by residents of Victoria trying to control the rat population.
The whole city is overrun by rats. Each rat pairing can produce up to four to six litters of 10 to 12 babies per year.
They are filthy, destructive, disease-carrying creatures and it is about time that all municipalities organize a co-ordinated effort to deal with the out-of-control situation.
Poison is not the answer. Free traps should be given to every household and a public education program implemented immediately before the spring mating season begins.
Nita Montgomery
Victoria
Doctor shortage discourages newcomers
Re: “Doctors association largely to blame for underpaid GPs,” commentary, Feb. 2.
During a recent golf holiday to Maui, we were paired up with other couples, as is the practice on most public golf courses.
One couple was from Calgary. They noticed that I had a tag on my bag showing I was a member of a golf club in Victoria. He said they had intended to move to Victoria, as he had just retired.
They had checked out housing and the golf club as part of the process and were keen to join the club when they got settled.
Then he talked to several people he knew in Victoria about his plans and they all told him one thing: Getting a doctor would be a much bigger challenge than joining a golf club.
The more he investigated, the more he saw that would be the case. As a result, they decided to remain in Calgary, where they had a great GP. At his age, he felt having a good family doctor was far more important than anything Victoria had to offer.
The B.C. medical system is a mess and anyone living in places such as Victoria can certainly attest to that, yet the provincial government continues to get a failing grade in ensuring that the public health system meets the needs of the residents of the province.
The letter that we all fear will arrive one day. It’s the one that states: “Your current general practitioner is retiring and there will be no replacement.”
Brian Reynolds
Saanich
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