Ministers’ earnest concern comes a decade too late
Re: “Urgent action needed to aid threatened southern resident whales,” comment, Nov. 2.
It was gratifying to read the column by two federal ministers earnestly declaring their concern for the endangered southern orca pods and the activities that are planned to reverse that trend.
It would have been even more gratifying had it occurred when the whales were first declared endangered 10 years ago, when there was not a failed attempt to ram a climate-change-enhancing pipeline through the system without taking the whales into account, and if their new-found love extends to other less-charismatic species languishing on the endangered-species list.
Philip Dearden
Professor, department of geography
University of Victoria
Councillors should act for neighbourhoods
Re: “Amalgamation study must focus on details,” editorial, Oct. 26.
The editorial is right about the pain of folding different labour groups together upon amalgamation, but there has been plenty of experience across the country to draw on for advice, as you point out.
Much more important than the staffing issue, though, is the neighbourhood representation issue.
Our current system of voting for a basket of assorted candidates, who might all live on the same street, is fine for small towns and villages, where people know each other. But we are big enough to deserve representation on a ward basis.
At our recent all-candidates meeting, 22 people were on the podium, and only one made a point of referring to the area sponsoring the meeting.
Since moving here, I have never felt there was someone representing me or my neighbourhood in particular at city hall. Who do you call? How can we hold councillors accountable?
We need our councillors to be specific to our neighbourhoods. How much more lost in the swamp would our voices and local concerns be if our municipalities were even larger?
I suspect this fear is what causes a lot of the resistance to amalgamation. And certainly I will resist amalgamation until this governance issue is addressed.
Mary Lynn Reimer
Saanich
StatCan plan is government run amok
Re: “StatCan plan to harvest private banking on hold,” editorial, Nov. 9.
My thanks to the Times Colonist for the editorial regarding the massive invasion of privacy planned by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Statistics Canada.
There has been limited coverage by the press so far about this gross invasion of privacy. Now that the voting-preference referendum in B.C. and American midterms are old news, it’s time for the press and media in general to get active on this major Canadian issue that potentially affects us all.
StatCan and the prime minister (who thinks opposition to this is “anti-data”) want the personal banking records of 500,000 Canadians, without their knowledge or permission, and all account activity including social insurance numbers, addresses, purchases, donations, etc. Why? The editorial did not mention that banks also would not be permitted to divulge to customers whether they are on the list.
Surely this is illegal? Government run amok.
As Remembrance Day approaches, we ought to recall the fight of our parents and grandparents against fascist police-state tactics, as we should be fighting this one now.
Write to your MP and the prime minister.
Mike Spence
Victoria
Political climate-change leadership urgently needed
Last week, I visited MP Murray Rankin’s office to deliver the new report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world’s most authoritative voice on climate science. I also called on my MP to champion legislation that aligns Canada’s climate policies with the urgency of this report, which clearly states that we have 12 years to prevent global warming beyond 1.5 degrees, and avoid the most devastating impacts of climate change.
The report stated that in this time frame, we need to transition off fossil fuels to a 100 per cent renewable-energy economy. In concrete terms, this means we must stop approving and expanding massive fossil-fuel projects such as the TransMountain and Line 3 pipelines, and take concrete steps to build a renewable-energy economy, and we must do it in a way that respects Indigenous rights and leave no worker behind.
Rankin listened to me and the many other constituents who came to his office. He put forward a strong motion in Parliament calling on the government to recognize the severity of the risks we face; that limiting global warming to a maximum of 1.5°C requires rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes; and to ensure that Canada’s laws are in harmony with the recommendations outlined by the IPCC.
That kind of leadership will be the most important consideration for me, as it should be for all of us, as we head for the ballot box in 2019.
Alice Whitehead
Victoria
Tobacco, pot could cancel each other’s effects
Re: “Campus rules for cannabis use range from bans to selected areas,” Oct. 17.
The University of Victoria has set the rules for smoking marijuana and tobacco: each in its own area.
Seems the obvious affinity of their use has been overlooked: tobacco is a stimulant, marijuana a depressant. Surely, each could smoke in the same space and suffer lower bad effects if they were housed together.
That would liberate space to the real adults on the campus, now free to enjoy a less-stressful environment.
Based on my experience with three smokers in my family: all dead too early of emphysema, stroke or heart attack.
M. D. Meagher
Saanich
Where are B.C. Hydro’s financial statements?
B.C. Hydro’s financial year end was March 31, 2018. Seven months later, the audited financial statements for B.C.’s largest Crown corporation have yet to appear.
Taxpayers and the opposition B.C. Liberals haven’t seemed to notice this delay. This is surprising, since Hydro is facing huge increases in interest expenses by borrowing 100 per cent of the cost of constructing Site C, the largest investment ever made in the province.
Will these interest expenses be treated in the same way as the millions of dollars of other operating expense which for many years were not recognized as expenses in the annual profit-and-loss calculation? Instead, they were deferred in order to avoid reporting large operating losses. Deferral means these expenses are capitalized and treated the same way as an investment in, say, a generating station, which is ridiculous.
Hydro justifies this accounting trick by arguing that deferral is necessary since the tariffs allowed by the B.C. Utility Commission, as directed by government, are too low to cover all of its expenses. Hydro assumes that someday in the future, tariffs will be high enough to let it start amortizing its deferred expenses.
However, with the future debt load from Site C, this will never happen. Instead, these deferred expenses should be transferred to retained earnings. Doing so could render B.C. Hydro insolvent, and thus require the government, in fact the taxpayers, to come up with the money recapitalize it.
Charles Woodruff
Oak Bay
Allegiance to Queen is allegiance to Canada
Re: “Most councillors eschew traditional vow to Queen,” Noiv. 2.
The attitude of the councillors who will not state their allegiance to the Queen seems to stem from a misunderstanding that should have been dealt with in school.
Allegiance to the Queen as the head of state is allegiance to Canada. And it is allegiance to the high standard of public service set by the Queen. After all, as our head of state, she is the symbol of parliamentary democracy, national unity and justice. We are privileged to live in a country that enjoys the rights and privileges that, for the most part, are the result of the development of this system in Britain, now in operation for at least 300 years, after gradually developing when many other nations lived under absolutist rule.
It should be viewed as an honour to serve under the Queen, and by a simple act of allegiance to recognize her as the symbol of the nation and the form of government we hold dear.
S.R. Sinclair
Victoria
Vacancy tax unfair to retirees from U.S.
We protest the unfairness of the Speculation and Vacancy Tax to non-Canadian homeowners who have resided in Canada for many years. We are not speculators, but people who have invested in and contributed to the economy. Yet we understand there is no grandfather clause.
We purchased our Sidney townhouse in 2000 as a retirement home. We quickly learned our days in Canada were restricted to 183 days per year. As we fell more in love with B.C. and the people who live there, we decided to emigrate once we retired. But we have found we are ineligible to be either permanent residents or Canadian citizens. We are well-educated, but too old.
We are not wealthy people. Once we realized that we would have to maintain two homes, it became impossible for us to retire. Though in our mid-80s, we both continue to work, one as a teacher and the other as a tax consultant. Our Canadian home will shortly be paid off, and at this point we had planned to spend a full six months there. The Speculation and Vacancy Tax will make this impossible.
For the past 18 years, we have contributed to the Greater Victoria area financially through our taxes and our purchases. We have adequate retirement income and would never be a burden on the province. We also have good health insurance. It seems grossly unfair that in a country known for its fair-mindedness and compassion, we would be taxed out of living there.
Richard and Jane Kernaghan
San Antonio, Texas
