Calgary Herald

Horses suffering at Coutts crossing

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Re: “Costly border confusion frustrates Alberta ranchers,” April 6.

I am affected daily by the inconsiste­ncies that the Canadian border vets present. I have a commercial horse transporta­tion company that has spent countless hours sitting with full loads of horses that have travelled thousands of miles.

The situation last weekend at Coutts affected hundreds of people and put horses’ lives in jeopardy because of inconsiste­ncies. The Coutts border is the absolute worst; we have been denied water and held for hours when the border vet had been told by his superiors to release us. The situation is out of control and the horses are paying the price. Kimberley Elliott, Okotoks Kimberley Elliott owns Elliott Equine Transport.

Woody Allen movie

Re: “City is ignoring the plight of motorists,” Stephanie Kusie, Opinion, April 3. Stephanie Kusie is absolutely correct. Calgary’s city administra­tion thinks they are living in Manhattan in a Woody Allen movie, where no one has a car.

Traffic signals remain unsynchron­ized for cars, wasting fuel and time. Pedestrian­s are encouraged to walk right out in front of moving cars, sometimes causing their own injury or death, or a rear- end collision, and, of course, it is the driver’s fault. Traffic signals are installed in new interchang­es instead of using cloverleaf­s or circles to aid the flow. Entire traffic lanes are eliminated downtown to accommodat­e a few bicyclists in good weather.

Citizens try to fight school and playground zones with ridiculous hours and locations, then “no turn on red” pops up. We try to correct photo radar traps in artificial­ly slow speed zones, and then bike lanes pop up. We are concerned about the effect of citywide rezoning for basement suites, and then huge shopping centres and apartments are planned in our communitie­s to increase the density.

Kusie would make a fine new mayor next time around. Perhaps then we could stop fighting to maintain a realistic lifestyle out here on the Prairies. Jim Thornton, Calgary

Inner city deficit

Re: “Still waiting on arena proposal, officials want to explore project’s impact,” April 4. Project West Village sounds like a good plan and keeping it inner city is best. It’s one way to get the contaminan­t cleaned up. Our Stampeders have been playing in an antiquated field for decades, while other cities are sporting newer venues. It’s time!

Maggie Schofield comments that suburbs need new recreation­al facilities. She may be talking about the Flames, but inner city does not have proper sports arenas for kids. The ones we have are very old and cold, such as West Hillhurst arena ( rumoured to have black mould). As the kids move into contact hockey and lacrosse, we are out of our inner city arena because of cement walls and we have to go to the suburbs ( which have newer, nicer sports complexes).

Time to level West Hillhurst community centre and rebuild it with the current sports facilities it has. We pay some of the highest taxes for living where we do ( with density rising) and it’s time we demand these facilities be rebuilt ( when the economy turns around, of course). The Heritage Fund has plenty of money. Robyn Benner, Calgary

Perilous faith

Re: “Parties get rolling on the election trail the second day of campaign,” April 8. The PC canvasser who called my house Tuesday seemed genuinely shocked when I told her that their representa­tive in my area “should not count on my vote.”

I have never understood the way this city and province have continued to throw their support blindly at the PCs. Take a look in the mirror: blind faith in anything will get you burned. Marvin Matthews, Calgary

Reconsider­ing

In the speech announcing the election, Premier Jim Prentice told voters we have a choice in an honest plan or extreme ideas. The word “honest” bothers me.

Is he saying that in the past, the PC party has not had an honest plan? I have been around for a lot of votes in Alberta and the new premier says to trust him. Now I am really worried about him. He has all the answers — according to him.

Who ever heard of a 10- year plan in politics? We all know that is a ridiculous statement. Most businesses only have one-, three- or five- year projection­s. I am rethinking my vote. Garth Brown, Calgary

Math basics

Premier Jim Prentice stated that the cost of an election this year would be the same as the cost of an election next year. So what? Does he think we are all stupid?

Does he think we cannot do the basic math to figure out that the cost of an election every three years is 33 per cent higher than the cost of an election every four years? Is this the man we are going to rely on to solve our financial woes? Not likely! Gord McLure, Calgary

No refunds

I have consistent­ly voted PC since moving from Montreal to Calgary in 1970. Premier Jim Prentice says he needs a mandate for his “honest plan” now, so he has chosen to bend the law and call an early election. I urge all PC supporters to recognize that a vote for the PCs comes with a no- refund policy.

When the price of oil rises — and it will — the Prentice government will happily keep all the additional taxes PC supporters granted to Prentice because his “honest plan” proves that’s what Albertans want. It doesn’t matter if oil rises to $ 200 a barrel, the PCs will happily keep all our money from higher user fees, health- care premiums, increased gasoline, liquor and tobacco taxes, and income taxes. With a PC mandate, there will be no relief for Alberta families, because there are no refunds. Sorry. Myron Achtman, Calgary

Polarizing

Re: “Look to the left to make Alberta politics right,” Naomi Lakritz, Opinion, April 8. I find it odd the way Naomi Lakritz makes assumption­s about people. She assumes those who are politicall­y right wing are not much concerned about protecting the environmen­t, helping the marginaliz­ed and improving health care and education.

The problem I have with left- wingers like her is that they think they have a monopoly on compassion. It’s one thing to want all those nice things and another to have a realistic plan to pay for them without damaging the health of the economy and passing on a huge debt to future generation­s. It’s easy to be generous with other people’s money.

Regardless of our political leanings, we would accomplish more if we tried to be more fair with one another. There is no difference in the humanity possessed by typical conservati­ves, liberals and socialists. It’s not fair to paint the majority with the brush used for radicals. Peter Mannistu, Calgary

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 ??  ?? A reader says her horse transporta­tion company has suffered major delays trying to enter Canada at the Coutts border crossing.
A reader says her horse transporta­tion company has suffered major delays trying to enter Canada at the Coutts border crossing.

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