Lose the anger and bring civility back to Canada
Dear Editor:
Anger abounds. Polarization prevails. It’s time to wake from our slumber, fellow Canadians.
Extremists at both ends of the political spectrum seem to be taking over.
“Wokeism” needs to be constrained. For example, holding people from centuries ago to today’s standards seems absurd. Ordinary people stay silent for fear of being labelled as bigots.
A balance needs to be struck between essential civil liberties and vital collective rights. Totally unrestricted individual “freedom” leads to anarchy. Critical lifesaving vaccines need to be encouraged.
There are many serious issues in our country which need immediate attention. However, many of our grievances would seem trivial to people in most of the world who struggle just to survive. Maybe we all need to just chill out a bit and smile more.
Our most urgent priorities should be the environment and biodiversity, which need to be cherished and protected. Without these, we have nothing. Our elected representatives are working hard to address these and other current issues. They often have significantly different solutions in mind, and we need to listen carefully and elect the best people to make improvements.
Civility must return to political discourse. Our politicians and servants deserve no less.
Let’s return to the Canadians we used to be – friendly, polite, respectful, caring and tolerant. Let’s genuinely consider the opinions of others and strive for consensus.
Canada is a wonderful country. Nowhere is perfect, but we have an open and fully functioning democracy. A strong social safety net exists. We have a good standard of living and can live without fear for our personal safety. Let’s keep it that way.
Tom Brown,
Kelowna
Veterans, disabled pay the price for highrise construction
Dear Editor:
I am appalled at the avarice and disrespect of engineering, geography, disabled, veterans and the elderly in downtown Kelowna. I am ashamed that I am a resident in this uncaring city when upstanding hard-working non-profits, disadvantaged and elderly people are treated with such brutal disregard by UBC Okanagan, city engineers and provincial, regional, federal and city politicians.
Jim Hadgraft was an amazingly kind, caring human filled with joy and love. His smile was infectious, his harmlessness and goodwill were exemplary. His mental special needs did not limit his value to our community and world.
His mother was in a care home and his father had died; he was starting to have aging short-term memory loss. His amazing team at Pathways supportively assisted him.
He loved his new home, but was worried about the huge cracks in his walls and the elevators that no longer worked in his new building.
He was devastated at being turfed from his building and separated from his friends. He did not deserve this inhuman treatment. He recently cried often as it broke his heart.
My father, Berton McLean, Sr., was a decorated Second World War veteran of the Royal Canadian Air Force and was a member of the Legion for decades. The organization has done exceptional service in this community, but now cannot access its building to get its belongings including the many brass plates with the names of my brave and beloved father and so many veterans and upstanding citizens.
Why do the city, provincial, and university engineers that approved this disastrous university building not understand why we have a floating bridge. There is no bottom to the nearby lake at over 700 feet deep. Just many layers of water, sand, water, sand, water, and silt. Our lake is what remains of the great White Lake from the melting glaciers thousands of years ago. All of Kelowna was at one time lake bottom.
Did the engineers research that the Dolphin Towers foundations and other high buildings needed to be reengineered and strengthened after they were built because of the foundations shifting from the unstable quicksand under Kelowna. Why was the overly tall building approved and why allowed five floors down?
Why is the city, province, and country allowing this absurdly destructive building construction to continue with its havoc and shambles so rampant.
It is obvious that nonprofits, service organizations, veterans, disabled and seniors do not count in this city. Please stop this building and fill in this gaping excavation.
Marilee Goheen,
Kelowna
We already have too many people using our resources
Dear Editor:
If the city was built with regards to water and electricity available, it would be less populated than it is now. How are you going to jam more people in, when there’s not enough resources now?
Why are you encouraging electric vehicles when there’s not enough electricity now? And they’re too heavy for the infrastructure?
I realize the City of Penticton has a plan to increase the population to get more income, but are the people clamouring to densify the city? Why is the city destroying the natural areas and the uniqueness of Penticton?
Who did you make your oath to, the municipal corporation, or the people?
Why are you approving applying for further grants to further build bike lanes when more people are against them than asked for them? That overfunded electric reserve should have been repaid, not “borrowed” from.
As I said last year, I cannot water every other day, since several multifamily developments have been built on my street and in my neighbourhood, severely reducing the water pressure. So. I can only water the front or back yard before 6 a,m.
Teri J. McKnight,
Penticton
Fill your bucket list now before world gets too awful
Dear Editor:
Hardly a day goes by when I am out with my wife that we don’t see a government debacle or blunder,
Penticton has had its fair share of them. One doesn’t have to go too far back.
Remember the Jakubeit parade and the waterslide debacle. Then there was the RCMP Supt. Ted de Jager who told law-abiding citizens ‘If you break the law I will put you in jail. Thankfully, he skipped town to go to Surrey.
And today we have a system where you are struggling to pay for drugs to cope with cancer or diabetes. This after paying taxes all your working life, and now in its wisdom, the government is giving addicts the same drugs for free. Groan.
Who is in charge here? The rich are getting richer. The poor now reside in abject poverty.
Look at our lawless courts, and their benevolent flip-flop decisions. The parole board sets murderers free on day passes or puts them into halfway houses.
It doesn’t matter how many kids or people you have murdered, we will set you up with all the support you might need, we will even help you change your name and identity.
Again, who is calling the shots here. Who is in charge in this once lovely safe province?
I despair for young family people growing up. They will have to adopt a new lifestyle, one where you will have to live with a severe lack of trust in government, be it municipal, provincial or federal.
Sadly, our world is taking on a different tact, Anger and fear are now too near the surface, Kindness and goodwill things of the past.
Me, at 82 years of age, has some sound advice for you: Do not set aside your plans thinking that in the future you will have the funds and the time to fulfil your bucket list.
Live for today. Seek out the things you love to do. Sadly your future is no way as secure as your grandparents had it.
Don Smithyman,
Oliver
Food-waste pickup might turn into a banquet for bears
Dear Editor:
I hold mixed opinions about the recent roll-out of Summerland’s program to divert food wastes, but understand the need to alter how our community manages garbage volumes.
There are wildlife conflicts that seem obvious to me. Summerland residents have been advised over and over to not place garbage bins on the street before their pickup day so as to not attract bears. We often hear about bears being killed after becoming habituated to garbage as an easy food source.
Bears are breaking hibernation now, are hungry, and will forage residential areas since there are few food sources available in their upland summer ranges.
Once habituated to yard-waste bins containing dense quantities of food waste, expecting them to decide to head for the hills is simplistic, as is suggesting that homeowners find a place to store two weeks of food waste or the entire bin prior to the pickup date.
The district likely has timing issues to observe, but would it not be a better idea to wait until bears are not wandering residential areas just after coming out of hibernation?
And then there is the rat problem. The district has declared rat infestations on private property to be a homeowner problem.
Some homeowners do accept that responsibility, but many people won’t or can’t face the challenges of eliminating clever rodents that are an entrenched and growing problem.
I now see commercially-managed bait stations next to buildings everywhere in the downtown core, including three around the Municipal Hall. Seems that rats have become a taxpayer, rather than simply an irresponsible homeowner problem.
Additionally, last year in the middle of an August afternoon, I observed a young rat exit a public waste bin located at Main and Henry.
Normally rats are nocturnal, hence rarely seen. Despite mostly working night shifts, overpopulation drives rats to forage during daylight hours.
Shall we connect the dots to the upcoming rat banquet in bins layered with kitchen scraps?
Please consider ways to mitigate looming wildlife/food waste problems.
Pati Hill,
Summerland
Name-calling Poilievre is not the leader for me
Dear Editor:
How embarrassing it would be to have Pierre Poilievre as our prime minister.
His lies, his childish behaviour, his name calling are too much for me.
Being interviewed with a F—- Trudeau flag behind him is too much for me.
I think he’s trying to create more chaos and anger in our country.
This is not the leader for me.
Anne Henschel,
Penticton
Blame Trudeau, not the grocers for high prices
Dear Editor:
Canadians should be venting their anger toward the Liberal government over the root cause of inflation and high food prices in Canada.
Obscene government overspending, continual multi-layered carbon taxation and mismanagement (including the stifling free enterprise for new investment) are the real culprits of high prices at the grocery stores.
We need a new government that embraces and encourages free enterprise and growth, which is the best way by far to create competition and lower prices effectively (similar to the Liberal track record on new housing – sound familiar?).
The socialist/communist leaning governments in Canada right now are by far and away the biggest problem for high grocery prices long term in Canada.
Don’t only blame Galen Weston and Jim Pattison, blame Trudeau.
Who in their right mind would invest their money in business in Canada right now when the Liberals pillage and steal from both individuals and corporations through regulation and obscene taxation?
The hard fact is business needs profit to survive. But they need competition, not over regulation to drive down prices.
I worked for both these companies for half my career in retail and wholesale as well as helped establish Costco Wholesale when they entered the Canadian market in the 1980s.
With potential food shortages looming around the world, be careful of what you wish for.
Greg Snider,
Creston
Support the people in Gaza, not the pampered protesters
Dear Editor:
The situation is Gaza is tragic. The world’s condemnation of the events there is justified.
Israel had no choice but to react to events of Oct 7, but the Israel Defence Forces have gone way too far.
Closer to home, we are witnessing a pampered group of students expressing outrage on campus to the events in the Middle East.
While they protest by putting up tents and holding professionally made signs, they are asking for funding to continue.
If you look at their protest sites, you will see ample supplies of food, water, porta-potties and even hand cream! Those poor, brave souls.
University students seem ill prepared for the real world. They are guided by a bloated university system that is focusing on profits and correctness, in equal measure.
Deadlines come and go. Police are called and then withdrawn. Media breathlessly reports abuse. To what avail?
There is a real tragedy unfolding in Gaza.
Instead of focusing on student springtime social events, we should be supporting the innocent people who are being killed, maimed and dislocated in Gaza.
Ron Ramsay,
Penticton
