Virus no excuse for bad service

DEAR EDITOR:

I have never seen so many monopolies like local governments, banks, credit unions, major chains and, of course, our post office provide such poor service and blame it on COVID-19.

Reduced hours and reduced staff, and our postal system now does not deliver mail if it’s too smoky.

Masks and distancing are not enough — reduced hours must be required.

Please, Andrew Wilkinson, sell the ICBC monopoly or at the least decertify its unions.

Stores have the right to make masks mandatory, but signs must be posted.

Mike Polvere, Peachland

They insist the redactions by the Privy Council are not non-partisan enough for Conservative liking and insist that the Liberals are hiding something.

Liberals side-stepped the attack by agreeing with the NDP to strike a special committee to study COVID-19 spending, including the contract with WE charity, which dilutes the Conservative bid for a separate focus.

What do we know? Forgetting to rescue in this case doesn’t rise to the level of conflict. That a son’s celebrity provided opportunity for his mother to advocate for mental health awareness in front of thousands of Canadian youth — only a conservative partisan would see this as a conflict. Demanding further documentation is partisan overkill.

Conservatives feign outrage that only resonates in the Ottawa bubble; the rest of Canada worries about the pandemic.

Liberals will focus on the pandemic and economy regardless of what the

Conservatives do. Liberals don’t have a majority to block the Conservative’s endless partisanship attacks; this is the peril of a minority government and why less gets done.

Our parliamentary system was designed to operate best with a majority government; a lot more legislation gets done. Advocates say minority governments stimulate more collaborative input, but we mostly get partisan deadlock and little legislation. The next time you vote remember, a productive government needs a majority.

Jon Peter Christoff,

West Kelowna