Under B.C. Liberals, costs rise quickly, savings arrive slowly
Every month, I receive my MSP invoice and grind my teeth a bit whilst grumbling beneath my breath.
How is it that the Liberals can raise the price of alcohol and tobacco immediately, but when they lower the cost of MSP by half, it doesn’t take effect for months and months?
Most people need the break now, not months from now.
Hilary Sands, Mission
Ivory tower strikes again
Karen Bakker of UBC’s water governance program is wrong in arguing that the Site C dam should be halted.
Being blinded from working in her ivory tower, with her environmental and resource slowdown comments, is typical. Boots on the ground will have 2,000 to 5,000 people working with good-paying jobs for years. Bakker has given no thought to these hard-working people.
One of her peers, law professor Benjamin Perrin, erred in filing a complaint against Justice Peter Leask (he has since withdrawn his complaint and apologized), the University of B.C. initially decided not to let 2010 Winter Olympics boss John Furlong speak (oops), and now this report on the dam? These ivory tower professors use the “oops card” far too often. Enough.
Hugh Shirreff, Vancouver
A double standard
Why is it that if I want to break the law by smoking marijuana in public on April 20 or block the streets on the last Friday of the month by riding in a mass bike ride, the Vancouver police stand idly by and only intercede when a taxpayer objects to the loss of his freedom of the city? These acts are seen by Vision as politically correct, it seems.
On the other hand, if a meter goes unpaid or a driver stops to pick up a passenger in a loading zone or unoccupied bus stop, a bylaw officer races to ticket the offender, and access to a judicial tribunal is considered to be too onerous for city bureaucrats.
Then, if one has the temerity to question the arbitrary enforcement tactics, it is up to a city staff member to exercise abusive authority to confirm the offence is punishable.
Rick Angus, Vancouver
Pot smoking in public?
Marijuana will soon be legal but the question arises, where will one be allowed to smoke?
For years, pot advocates have been claiming that marijuana is no different than alcohol, beer or wine and should be treated as such. If alcohol is illegal to drink in public without a permit, should marijuana not have the same rules? Unlike marijuana, spirits do not leave a foul and offensive smell to many sharing the same air space. And will landlords be able to ban renters from smoking pot in their suites?
Joe Edwards, Cloverdale
Taxing our air
So, the Trudeau government is about to reap hundreds of millions of dollars in GST on top of the millions of dollars they will reap in federal carbon tax. And they will get away with this without one shred of concrete proof that anything mankind is doing is having any effect on the earth’s climate.
This is the biggest scam ever perpetrated on mankind, and the majority of us are buying it hook, line and sinker. The fact that a majority of climate scientists agree with an unproven theory is not proof of anything other than the fact that a majority believe an unproven theory.
Many years ago, I heard someone joke that politicians would tax the very air that we breathe if they could get away with it. And so it has come to pass!
Gary Tupper, New Westminster