Does the investigator have qualifications?
Before the investigation into the comings and goings of the legislature clerk and the sergeant-at-arms, no one ever heard of a “Speaker’s aide” or “chief of staff.”
Now this individual is mentioned consistently in the media relating to the Speaker’s office and its ongoing issues.
He is now assigned to re-examine the review already completed by Beverley McLachlin with respect to the sergeant-at-arms, who was exonerated in her report.
I find it puzzling how, and why, an ex-corrections officer would be remotely qualified, or have the legal experience, to have anything to do with the Speaker’s office, let alone this type of investigative authority.
John Stevenson
Victoria
Subjective taxation is simply wrong
Despite overwhelming proof of an abundant supply of affordable housing in Langford, an insurgent effort by the mayor and his council has failed to change the position of the Horgan government even though it adversely affects the premier’s own constituency.
Specifically, Langford’s resort community, Bear Mountain, is unfairly ensnared in the provincial government’s juggernaut speculation tax.
After years of playing catch-up, recent capital investment and improved access has created a welcomed exuberance on Bear Mountain, fast becoming a mecca for sports and outdoor activity, while Whistler, a similar-styled community, continues to have hundreds of vacant homes exempt from the tax.
The reason for the disparity: Communities that are primarily dependent upon seasonal tourism and pastime investment will remain tax-free as it would unduly undermine their existence.
Home to Golf Canada, Tennis Canada, Bike Canada, a five-star golf and tennis resort and plans to to open its doors to hundreds of Canadian Olympic athletes, the Bear Mountain of today surely qualifies under those guidelines.
Disrupting the real estate market of a community that is already contributing more than its fair share of property transfer taxes seems counterintuitive amounting to less available housing, not more.
Similar comparisons exist across the province. Subjectively taxing one city, one town or one community over another is unmitigated favouritism.
Richard Welch
Victoria
Simple ways to reduce council meetings
Saanich council learns slowly, if at all.
I repeatedly pointed former mayor Richard Atwell to the basics of running meetings properly. Councillors Susan Brice, Judy Brownoff, Fred Haynes (now the mayor), and Colin Plant would have seen much of that advice.
Now study is suggested — nonsense! It isn’t a complex subject.
Besides the chairperson not doing his or her job, reasons for long meetings include:
Council has too much on the agenda (government is meddling in too much); there are talking heads on council — members who think they have to say something about every topic — and vague rambling comments from council members who can’t essentialize and communicate succinctly.
Presenters should be given instructions for presenting to council, including tips on length and effectiveness.
Some presenters are dense or devious, such as the outfit that spent 15 minutes reciting its long history before getting to the particulars of its status and desire for money from Saanich taxpayers. The chair that night was negligent.
Presenters should practise their speech to be succinct. That should be in the instructions for presenting to council. I suggest the chair remind people at the beginning of the meeting. I’d even ask each speaker if they read the instructions.
Saanich staff are verbose and worse. Typical reports from the planning department have gratuitous information. And they don’t present succinctly either.
Long meetings are a recipe for poor decisions.
Who elected this government?
Keith Sketchley
Saanich
Don’t forget the disadvantages
Re: “Combined police forces the safest solution,” column, July 14.
Catherine Holt, the CEO of the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce, neglects to include an important word in her opinion piece about amalgamation.
She wrote: “Victoria and Saanich are committed to a Citizens’ Assembly exploring the benefits and costs of amalgamation (and where are they with that, anyway?).”
The missing word is that the Citizens’ Assembly has a mandate from the voters in Saanich and Victoria to also explore the “disadvantages” of amalgamation.
Here is what the voters in Saanich and Victoria approved in the 2018 municipal election (source: District of Saanich website) — “Are you in favour of spending up to $250,000 for establishing a Citizens’ Assembly to explore the costs, benefits and disadvantages of the amalgamation between the District of Saanich and the City of Victoria?”
Roger Stonebanks
Saanich
What was the cost of Victoria’s bag ban?
Re: “Keep the bag ban,” editorial, July 13.
I’m all for the bag ban. However, the “bit of paperwork” comment is significantly more than a bit off.
How much has been spent to date, considering court costs etc., and how much more in outlays before all is said and done?
As Tom Cruise said in A Few Good Men: “the hits just keep on coming” with this council.
Kerry Blain
Sooke
Fort McMurray took the plastic bag lead
Re: “Keep the bag ban,” editorial, July 13.
“We have been leading the country on this issue, setting the example for others to follow.”
I have seen this kind of bombastic statement countless times in your newspaper’s reporting and opinions on this issue, and it is misleading and wrong.
“That is also why other jurisdictions have been leaping on the Victoria bandwagon, bringing in their own bag bans.”
Fort McMurray — that Alberta city synonymous with the big, bad oilsands — has had a bag ban in place since September 2010. So it took Victoria eight long years to see the environmental light.
Leaf Rapids, Man., implemented the first bag ban in North America in March 2007.
I’d hardly define Victoria council’s actions as “being ahead of the curve.”
Lori Hamilton
Cobble Hill
Free paper bags would cut plastic use
Now that the Victoria plastic bag bylaw has been struck down by the B.C. Court of Appeal, there is a golden opportunity for the bylaw and its copy-cat versions in other municipalities to be amended by removing the charge for paper bags.
In particular, grocery store check-out paper bags are ideal for use as kitchen garbage bags; they decompose much quicker than plastic kitchen garbage bags.
But if they cost more to buy at the check-out counter than the plastic kitchen garbage bags, consumers will just switch to plastic kitchen garbage bags and one of the objects of reducing the amount of plastic bags going into the landfill will be thwarted.
Councils: Ban single use plastic bags if you must, but leave paper bags alone.
David Waldie
Saanich
Make public transit a true alternative
As the discussion moves forward on providing free transit passes for children under 18, there are a few questions I think should be addressed.
First, what is the basis for Saanich Coun. Nathalie Chambers’s assertion that providing the free passes will help get “50 per cent of vehicles” off the road?
That implies that children account for half of motor-vehicle traffic: was she quoted out of context and if so, what was the full context of her remark?
Second, what evidence is there that providing free passes will do any more to inculcate a “culture of transit” than there is now?
Will today’s children be tomorrow’s ardent — and full-fare-paying — transit users? (One could study the U-Pass program, which has been around for a decade, to see if the level of transit use among those who received the passes was maintained once they had to start paying full fare.)
And third, what messages are we sending young people? That if you want a service, “someone else” should pay for it?
One Victoria councillor was heard on tape (aired on C-FAX radio after the concept was discussed earlier this year) that children could “lead” their parents to use transit more, as if parents have “failed” at training up their kids in the way they should go: Is that an appropriate message to send young people?
Isn’t the way to “get cars off the road,” to make public transit a true alternative? That takes investment — to expand routes and increase frequency, and to buy more buses and hire people to drive and service them.
Full disclosure: I worked for TransLink in Metro Vancouver and B.C. Transit here, and both those agencies do stellar jobs with the resources they have.
At the same time, suburban development planning needs to ensure that transit infrastructure is in place before people start moving in; or else the new residents will say, “the heck with it — I’m taking the car.”
Drew Snider
East Sooke
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