Victoria’s city council shouldn’t mess with Christmas
It is clear Coun. Ben Isitt and other Victoria city councillors have too much time on their hands if they spend taxpayer dollars discussing the extremely spurious connection between poinsettias and Christianity.
If we extrapolate on this line of thinking, there would be no roses (symbol of British imperialism), no onion soup (symbol of French imperialism), and no leeks (Welsh choirs may be singing, God forbid, Christian hymns in secret).
Canada is known for its tolerance and celebration of all its citizens’ cultures and faiths — witness Diwali and Chinese New Year. I have Sikh friends who put up Christmas trees just because their kids love it. Isitt is trying to create a division where there is none. The majority of us celebrate each other’s cultures with genuine respect and affection. This is what Canada is about.
His ideas will not only foster division, we will lose our identity in a beige blandness of political correctness.
Marguerite Caunt, West Vancouver
Isitt doesn’t get it
I hope Victoria council does not fall prey to ideas like those of Coun. Ben Isitt. Leave Christmas alone! I have Jewish friends who partake in Christmas festivities with relish and who say, “Merry Christmas” to me. I have Muslim acquaintances who mingle with Christmas revellers every year. Why? Because they are all open-minded, dear friends who value freedom of religion and expression.
Hilda Parker-Jervis, Davis Bay
Electric cars aren’t HOV
I always understood that HOV lanes were for “High Occupancy Vehicles.” So why are electric vehicles allowed in that lane?
I get the pollution thing, but that’s a different issue. The idea of HOV lanes is to encourage people to carpool and reduce the numbers of vehicles on the road to reduce traffic congestion. There is no incentive for the owner of an electric vehicle to carpool. Forget the fact that if projections are correct, there will be more and more electric vehicles in the HOV lane.
Eric Huffey, Port Coquitlam
Sssshhhhh!
Stop the music! Every grocery store, drugstore, vegetable stand, doctors waiting room, restaurant, swimming pool, etc., all have music blaring.
They should show some respect. Their customers all enjoy different music and they shouldn’t be shoving this down our ears. Stop the insanity!
Joan Bridal, Delta
Wrong captain quoted
Letter-writer Bryan Stocking favours Uber and that’s fine. But he ends his letter by referencing Captain Kirk of Star Trek and the need to “Make it so” in B.C. He’s got the wrong captain. Captain Jean-Luc Picard of Star Trek: The Next Generation used that phrase.
Don Francis, West Vancouver
We need Yellow Jackets here
When the Yellow Jackets protesting in France win their fight against the government of elitist Emmanuel Macron and bring that out-of-touch president to his knees or resignation, whichever comes first, and win their war against his carbon taxes, indiscriminate taxation of the working class and refusal to act for the voters of his country, only then will they have won victory.
When this happens — and most believe it will and Macron will become a one-term wonder — the French taxpayers will have spoken.
I hope some of the Yellow Jackets come to Canada so we can learn from their example. We’ve been taxed so badly in Canada we can’t afford yellow jackets!
Pete Rose, Langley