Letters Nov. 2: Contaminated soil at Shawnigan, shortage of family doctors

More need to speak out about dump

Re: “Shawnigan landfill could affect Victoria,” letter, Oct. 31.

Thanks to the letter writer for speaking out on the endless assault on our beautiful part of the world, and for cautioning the good people of Victoria and our other Island neighbours that the South Island Aggregates/Cobble Hill Holdings contaminated dump site our NDP government is babysitting sits “bubbling” just uphill of their precious watersheds.

Today, 5,000 tonnes of elemental sulphur is on the site. Since sulphur-laden soils can be oxidized into sulphuric acid, no other landfill site in B.C. will accept it.

Leachate collected from the SIA/CHH dump site has indicated the presence of polyaromatic hydrocarbons.

It’s difficult not to see the appearance of conflicts of interest when the engineering firm brought in by the Ministry of the Environment to develop a Final Closure Plan was owed approximately $100,000 from the dump owners (CHH) when the plan was developed.

For so long, we’ve been standing against an assault that was born in the minds of greedy businessmen, endorsed by the Liberal government and is now being forgiven by our NDP government.

When Premier John Horgan campaigned against the Liberals, he came to our community declaring his stance against such a dump aimed at our drinking water. He looked down at us during a helicopter ride as our community stood on the road to block dozens of dump trucks dripping with contaminated waste. We believed then that he would keep his word.

It’s real nice to know a voice from afar — Halton Hills, Ont. — stands with us. Now if only we could get more from just down the road to speak up.

Paul Jolicoeur
Shawnigan Lake

Contaminant evidence ignored by ministry

Re: “Government delays closure of Shawnigan Lake landfill,” Oct. 29.

Environment Minister George Heyman is delaying the final closure of the contaminated soil landfill site in the Shawnigan Lake watershed “based on careful consideration of environmental risks.” Environmental risks ignored by the minister include:

1) One of the monitoring wells is showing a progressive increase in sodium and chloride over the past four years. In an earlier meeting with ministry staff, the ministry hydrogeologist informed us that if monitoring wells showed an increase in contaminants, this would be an indicator that the site is leaking.

2) In December of last year, the polyaromatic hydrocarbon acridine showed up in the leachate collected from the contaminated landfill. A few months later, acridine showed up in the monitoring wells. You do not need to have years of schooling to interpret such findings, but apparently ministry staff have difficulties, since we have had no response when we pointed out the increase in contaminants in the site’s monitoring wells.

Bernhard H.J. Juurlink
Mill Bay

Loss of doctor drives senior to protest

I have just been told my doctor of 30 years or more is retiring.

I have relied on him for refills, medical visits and referrals to specialists. It’s been so easy as we get older. Now we are having a good cry.

As for clinics, I had to go to one in June and it was terrible. I met a lady with a walker this morning and she said she waited eight hours.

Is this how we Canadians who have worked, paid our bills, saved for our homes and paid our taxes should be treated? To everyone who feels the same way I do, let’s have a protest, like these school kids getting out of school and protesting.

I do not think this is right, but maybe that is the answer. I would even pay more for medical if we got a doctor.

Marching with my walker, a third-generation Victorian, age 88.

Frances Cammiade
Colwood

ICBC savings would be from lower payouts

Your recent reporting on ICBC’s “savings” from the now-rejected limits on expert evidence in auto injury cases overlooks where those purported savings were coming from.

Hidden in last week’s decision from Chief Justice Christopher Hinkson was the admission, made by ICBC management in documents publicly available elsewhere, that much of the $400-million benefit from the proposed court rule change would arise from reduced claim payouts, not from savings on medical expert costs.

In other words, if you prohibit people from presenting evidence to prove how injured they are, ICBC saves money. The costs of those unexplored injuries are then socialized to the rest of us through MSP, rather than being borne by the insured driver who caused the injury in the first place. Sound fair?

While ICBC touts its transition toward a compassionate “care-based model” for dealing with injury claims, its recent reforms have erected numerous barriers to fair compensation that fall disproportionately on the most severely injured and vulnerable members of the public, including those with acquired and traumatic brain injuries.

If the only way ICBC can restore itself to solvency is by downloading the cost for its past mistakes onto the disability community, maybe it’s time to turn auto insurance back over to the private sector and give our Utilities Commission the oversight powers it needs to ensure injury claims costs and insurance rates are fairly managed for us all.

Wyatt Pickett, lawyer
Victoria

Sunrise too late with daylight time

Re: “Matter of timing: Clocks fall back Sunday, but B.C. poised to end seasonal changes,” Oct. 31.

The B.C. government has introduced legislation to allow the province to remain on daylight time year-round.

An important implication of moving to year-round daylight time is that it would mean mornings, when people go to school and work, would be very dark during the winter months.

For example, in Victoria on Dec. 21 with daylight time, the sun would not rise until 9:02 a.m. (versus 8:02 a.m. with standard time).

For communities farther north, sunrise would be later. In Prince George, sunrise would not happen until 9:30 a.m., while in Prince Rupert, sunrise would be at 10 a.m.

The later sunrise under daylight time would add to the challenges already associated with a Canadian winter, particularly in more northerly communities.

In 1974, the U.S. began a two-winter trial period where daylight time was in place year-round. There was such disappointment with the experiment that it was cancelled after the first winter, chiefly because of concerns about children leaving for school in the dark.

As B.C. is, for the most part, located at a more northerly latitude than the U.S., the impact of darker winter mornings is likely to be even greater here.

While last summer’s online questionnaire results favoured year-round daylight time, the exercise did not employ standard survey methods.

Moving to year-round standard time was not one of the survey options, even though it might be favoured by many people who only oppose a twice-a-year time change.

Also, the survey was undertaken in the summer. If the same questions had been posed in January, when the darker mornings associated with year-round daylight time would be more evident, the results may have differed.

Constance Smith
Victoria

New residents offer fresh perspective

We have taken many out-of-town visitors to the downtown Robert Bateman gallery and I always ask the same question when we show them a favourite painting. The diversity of responses is striking.

When new Victoria residents Rose and Ali visited the gallery in September and stood by the large painting of an eagle near the entrance, I asked each of them separately what they thought the large bird of prey, with wide open beak, might be saying.

“Welcome, welcome,” Rose said with a spontaneous big smile and raised arms. Mr. Bateman’s work immediately moved her to joy. Ali was more subdued when I asked him the same question a little later. The brilliant painting elicited a very different reaction. He stared at Mr. Bateman’s raptor standing by a chopped-down-tree, and a moment later, slowly said: “It can’t be helped. Life must go on.”

They were interesting interpretations from people who have lost their home and family members and many friends in Iraq — as a result of an illegal war.

Last week, we introduced Rose and Ali to Goldstream Park, another proud feature of Vancouver Island. The salmon spawning was interesting to them, but the large trees by the river was the attraction that drew gasps.

Both tried to stretch their arms around a magnificent ancient cedar — one that we locals might have seen a thousand times, but sometimes don’t see at all.

Thelma Fayle
Esquimalt