Feel free to leave, just don’t come back
I have no problem with Canadians travelling the world whither they want. I have a problem with their returning!
If someone cares so little about their fellow countrymen, that they would be willing to visit away; frolic on beaches; ski; eat in restaurants or bars without restrictions, risking infection, then they should not be allowed to return home without double inoculations or until the pandemic has subsided.
Cab drivers, baggage handlers, servers, family and others are all at risk by this selfish behaviour. You want to go away? Then, stay away!
Sally Barker
Victoria
Lots of paperwork, but no money yet
I have been a B.C. resident/tax filer since 1992, including 2019.
For me to qualify for the so-called recovery benefit, I have been told to supply all pages of my 2019 CRA notice of assessment, valid identification, and confirmation of residency.
In late June, I underwent an aortic valve transplant and cardiovascular bypass surgery in Victoria. I now must personally expend an additional $290 monthly on medications in recovery not covered by so-called Fair Pharmacare.
Next month, I will have to pay another $100 or more for a requisite medical just to renew my drivers licence as a senior. I have been on modest fixed income for some years now.
Was not the recovery benefit intended for seniors like me, granted by a magnamous NDP government intent on re-election, implying a timely pre-Christmas rollout?
Or, as I am being buried in redundant paperwork, is a money-saving pre-budget boondoggle the objective?
Worse, this newly mandated)government is managing the rollout for the covid vaccination. As an independent senior and long-term resident with higher COVID-19 risk vulnerability who is willingly anxious to receive his vaccination, am I to be lost in yet another paperwork boondoggle and have to qualify once again?
Does the government even know its right hand from the left one?
Terry Mobberley
Qualicum Beach
Victoria needs better street signs
As a driver from a Canadian city, with a similar population as has Victoria, I am disappointed with the poor street signing in this city.
Not only is there a paucity of signs, but those that are present are too small to be seen before one reaches an intersection.
Tourists either need to know their route or continually use GPS. Difficulty navigating makes Victoria an unfriendly city for tourism.
Alex Fetterly
London, Ont.
Biden will not cancel any U.S. pipelines
With the cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline project by U.S. President Joe Biden, all Canadians should be aware that given the millions of kilometres of U.S. pipelines, with millions continuing to be built, and the U.S. continuing to be the leader in the production of oil, gas and other important resources, Biden will not be cancelling one single inch of U.S. pipelines, or reducing a single ounce of U.S. fossil fuel or other resource outputs.
And Biden’s home state of Delaware will still be a world leader in the fracking for natural gas. The Keystone statement will simply appease Biden’s climate change activists, costing him few financial penalties, and has nothing to do with climate change.
But in Canada, we have so called leaders, those of the New Democrats and Greens, and many university academics, actually cheering the statement, with no thought to the loss of billions of dollars of resource income, and the loss of many thousands of well-paid family-caring workers’ jobs.
The world demand for oil will continue to increase, forecast to cost $105 a barrel by 2050, and demand for natural gas will continue for many, many decades.
Canada produces the most ethically produced, and quickly becoming the most environmentally sound fossil fuels, in the world. And one can be assured our resources to the U.S. will be quickly replaced by disparate countries such as Saudi Arabia.
The thought that our oil and gas workers can be transitioned in the short term to unknown “well-paid green “ jobs is quite unbelievable. For a start, windmills and solar panels will not heat homes battling -20 C or colder temperatures.
And sometimes the sun does not shine, nor the wind blow. They always require a backup system of energy. And we are well behind the “green” manufacturing curve.
What the New Democrats, Greens, and all Canadians require are real leaders, who do more than spend taxpayers’ money, depend on taxing the rich for finances, and support cancelling the whole of our absolutely important resource sector.
In fact, Biden’s action on Keystone will have a detrimental financial effect on every single Canadian, and foolhardy political leaders of every stripe should know it.
H.J. Rice
Victoria
Faith community is ready to help all
The suicide of Andre Courtemanche was an unnecessary tragedy. Andre was obviously troubled, but he did not really have to wait to get help.
My church (Broad View United) and dozens of other faith communities have trained counsellors on staff.
These compassionate people are available almost 24/7. There is no charge. They do not try to recruit troubled people. They are convinced that every human being is worthy of acceptance and love.
They would have tried very hard to convince Andre that he was worthy, too.
I hope that anyone who is wondering whether life is worth living will reach out to a faith community or a helpful agency such as Our Place. Acceptance and love are waiting for them.
David Stocks
Saanich
Metchosin council has serious problems
Talk about making the matter worse!
Metchosin Coun. Kyara Kahakauwila has apologized, as she should. Now the council needs to bring in a mediator as a result of this debacle?
Talk about adding fuel to a smouldering fire. If five adults can’t move on without having an intervention, then Metchosin council has real problems, well beyond the magnitude of this inappropriate outing on behalf of the former deputy mayor.
John Stevenson
Victoria
Tone of letters has turned darker
I note with trepidation that the tone of many letters that have moved from “we’re all in this together” to something quite different.
Are we harkening back to previous times of plague where expressions like “bring out your dead” and “raise up the drawbridge” become the norm? We live on an island, but not unto ourselves!
Max Miller
Saanich
Is racism behind Dubow reaction?
Notwithstanding the legitimacy of voiced disagreements with recent travels of local and distant politicians and public officers, I can’t help but wonder if there exists a vein of racism fuelling the vociferousness of opinions expressed toward the travel of Victoria Coun. Sharmarke Dubow.
Connie MacDonald
Victoria
Question priorities for giving vaccines
Because our governments have procured only a minuscule amount of vaccine, we find ourselves in the most unfortunate position of having to deploy a wholly inadequate supply to our citizenry.
It is tragically, therefore, a certainty that some British Columbians are going to die in the coming months because they could not be vaccinated in a timely fashion. The best we can do is try to mitigate the deaths due to the delay we now face.
Presumably to this end, Premier John Horgan has put seniors in long-term care at the top of the priority list for the scarce COVID-19 vaccines because as he says they are the “most vulnerable.”
That means that a 94-year-old woman I know living in a long-term care facility has already received her first dose of the vaccine.
Thus, our government is vaccinating elderly residents who stay in place even in the very safest of times. The 94-year-old woman I mentioned has been stationary long prior to the pandemic, due solely to her age.
We know with certainty who she comes into contact with. We don’t need to worry that she might be “breaking physical distancing rules.” We know what she is up to.
I suggest that instead of having given her priority for the vaccine, we should have vaccinated the long-term care staff, their families and visitors to long-term care and simultaneously instituted a testing regime for long-term care (as advocated by B.C.’s seniors advocate).
Then, after working our way vaccinating down to our youngest citizens we could finally offer vaccines to residents in long-term care.
If that had been our deployment model, we had a chance of ensuring the safety of the very stationary residents of long-term care facilities without ever having to vaccinate any of them.
Now that we have run out of vaccines and have at least a couple of months to think about what we did with the first batch, perhaps Horgan will show us some sound governance in deployment of the next batch.
Roxanne P. Helme
Victoria
Why so much ink about MP Laurel Collins?
While I wish to convey my sincere best wishes to Victoria MP Laurel Collins to deliver a healthy first child, I cannot understand why the event warranted a half-page spread in the Times Colonist.
Had it been that Katie DeRosa mentioned it as a sideline to a review of Collins’ efforts on behalf of her Victoria constituency, it would have been more palatable.
Remember that this is the same person who was vilified for causing a costly byelection, after a brief stint on Victoria council — although in the end, the cost was a good investment in ending the Together Victoria chokehold on council!
Her work in Ottawa is to dance to the drumbeat of Jagmeet Singh, which is a requirement for any NDP MP, but in addition, doing something positive for Victoria — would be more of a reason to celebrate her.
There is nothing special that she does that would make me proud that she is from Victoria.
George Zador
Victoria
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