Road pricing is just the start of new taxes we can expect
My comment to the provincial government about adding tolls at congestion points and charging by the kilometre is, “Really?” Didn’t they just get rid of the tolls on the bridges?
We all know that the shoe has to drop. When you take revenue away, you have to find it elsewhere.
Wake up B.C.! Expect to pay more in other areas to make up for the millions of dollars lost when the tolls were removed. Road pricing is just the beginning. Janice Goldring, Langley
Cyclists are way too entitled
Lawrence Solomon’s Jan. 7 column arguing in favour of removing bike lanes before more cyclists get hurt lists many arguments against city hall’s insistence on creating more bike lanes. The column noted that cyclists in Amsterdam are involved in 40 per cent of the traffic accidents while accounting for only 27 per cent of the travel.
What the column doesn’t point out is how many Vancouver cyclists break the traffic laws. Worse, they often ignore the expensive lanes they’ve been given and use the adjacent roads.
Our mayor has given cyclists a sense of entitlement over automobiles. If our city insists on continuing its bike lane policy, cyclists should be licensed, carry insurance and be fined for breaking the road rules. Margaret Stuart, Vancouver
Freeze pay to fund transit
Recently, tolls were removed from two major Lower Mainland bridges. Yet now there is talk of introducing road tolls.
The government should ignore tolls altogether. The solution to raising money for transit infrastructure is to freeze all municipal wages as the wages being paid now are very rich.
This would be a win-win — improve transit without increasing taxes. Joe Sawchuk, Duncan
More Canucks news, please
I buy The Province for two reasons — the comics and sports. Lately, the trend is large articles on the other Canadian NHL teams, which is fine. I understand that there are diehard fans of other teams living here.
But the last few days there have been no articles on the Canucks.
I’m a Canucks fan, not a Leafs, Oilers or Habs fan. I want stories on the Canucks — even if it’s something as trivial as knowing whether Brock Boeser eats Frosted Flakes for breakfast. Don Drinkwater, Coquitlam
Denman needs pub, not park
We West Enders are crying for a decent pub on Denman Street, given the recent closings of the Dover and Comox bar and grill, two places that had long-term regulars now desperately looking for a place “where everybody knows your name.”
Perhaps a couple of pool tables, some keno/poker and pull tabs?
A little live music once in a while and some decent pub grub. “Once you build it, they will come.”
Stanley Park isn’t the place for that. Denman is waiting, people. Will someone please step up? Fern Vellone, Vancouver
He should have got RRIFs
That 76-year-old, still-working letter writer complained the other day that the only thing the government ever did for him was tax his RRSP when he had to withdraw it at age 71. He should have done a little research before withdrawing his RRSP.
He could have converted all his RRSPs to RRIFs at that age and withdrawn the funds over a period of years.
But the purpose of government isn’t to do anything for the well-off, which this man clearly is. Bill Richardson, West Vancouver