Spelling out the racket/racquet rules
Re: “Making a racket about racquet,” letter, Sept. 10.
The International Tennis Federation, based in London and with which Tennis Canada is affiliated, is the world governing body of tennis. The ITF spells the word “racket.” “Racquet,” a misspelling of the French “raquette,” was introduced to the English language in the 19th century.
Regardless of which spelling one prefers (personally, I’d side with the ITF in England), saying that Canadians “know how to spell correctly, unlike our southern neighbours” displays an interesting attitude. Who is to say that “colour” is right, and “color” is wrong?
English, like many languages, has different shades. To self-righteously state that Americans — including the brilliant minds at Harvard, MIT, Stanford, etc. — don’t know how to spell strikes me as rude and, therefore, un-Canadian. Perhaps reading the official rules of tennis, written in England, would be enlightening.
Colin Gardiner
North Saanich
Province’s Bluetooth snooping will lead to money grab
Re: “Province intercepting your car’s Bluetooth signals to study traffic patterns,” Sept. 12.
It appears that Big Brother has been busy here in B.C. and is now using our Bluetooth signals to snoop through our phones as we travel from point to point. This of course is the entry point for the future enforcement of so-called “average speed” violations as yet another revenue source for a government that has never met a dollar it didn’t want.
Worse than that, though, is the inevitable disclosure that at some point someone within the government or an external hacker has accessed our private data for their own nefarious reasons.
I once thought that I had an expectation of privacy for my data and telecommunications unless a judge somewhere felt otherwise and had issued an intercept order. I appear to have been wrong.
Len Dafoe
Nanoose Bay
Giant houses allowed on fertile farmland, but restaurant closes
Re: “Restaurant not allowed on farm, panel rules; Nanoose Bay eatery forced to close,” Sept. 9.
I find it bizarre that the Agricultural Land Commission would pull the plug on the Rusted Rake restaurant for not using enough of their land for agricultural purposes. After driving through the Fraser Valley’s prime farm land and seeing houses the size of hotels, many times bigger than the restaurant, sprawled across acres of rich soil, it makes you wonder who is shovelling this manure.
Greg Peters
Victoria
We need campaigns with honest information
Partisan political campaigns are designed to win the next election. They are not designed to serve the greater good for this and future generations. To win, partisan campaigns use tactics designed to elicit emotion, not critical thought.
Attack ads deflect our thinking from issues that affect us all. Campaign slogans never solve anything.
Instant gratification in the form of tax breaks, ultimately increases the national debt or decreases social services. Both come with a far greater long-term cost.
As a society, we will continue to spin our wheels until we see a campaign with honest information only, that we can reflect upon before casting our vote.
Graeme Gardiner
Sidney
She’s not leading by environmental example
It has been interesting to watch Elizabeth May’s lack of “lead by example” on environmental issues with respect to her work as an MP and Green Party leader.
Riding in a Viper during the Victoria Day Parade, trips in her husband’s gas-powered car, flying to the Calgary Stampede to “wear her cowgirl hat,” dipping her toes in Frame Lake near Yellowknife and swaying with music at a parade in Montreal. All of this frivolous travel done during what many call a climate emergency.
I called her on it at one of her recent Sidney town hall meetings and was told in no uncertain terms that her work as an MP is so important that she has to burn carbon in order to do her job. She emphasized that we need to change our way of thinking if the planet is to survive.
Meanwhile, she and all of the other candidates will burn up the carbon (as usual) during this federal election campaign.
At the end of the town hall meeting, her supporters, who tisk, tisked about oil pipelines, big hydro electric dams and the like, streamed out to their gas-burning cars as I watched from the edge of the sidewalk on my bike.
Vince Kreiser
North Saanich
Selling beer and wine on ferries is a bad idea
Re: “Beer, wine to appear on B.C. Ferries Pacific Buffet menu in October,” Sept. 9.
Instead of “don’t drink and drive,” is it now “drink and drive”? I’m not a teetotler by any means but selling alcohol to ferry passengers, then sending them off to drive their cars on these busy highways is unbelievable.
Blanche Barrett
Port Alberni
Send us your letters
• Email: letters@timescolonist.com
• Mail: Letters to the editor, Times Colonist, 2621 Douglas St., Victoria, B.C. V8T 4M2.
Letters should be no longer than 250 words and may be edited for length, legality or clarity. Include your full name, address and telephone number. Copyright of letters or other material accepted for publication remains with the author, but the publisher and its licensees may freely reproduce them in print, electronic and other forms.
