Driving retirees out is not the solution

Re: “Socialism is not something to worry us,” letter, March 17.

While I will avoid weighing in on the partisan political debate the letterwriter pursues, I do feel compelled to add my two cents’ worth to the socalled “speculation tax” proposed by the B.C. government.

After a three-year search, and now nearing retirement, my wife and I recently purchased a property in Nanaimo. We just love it here, and we are excited to launch into a new phase of our lives in the company of kind folks and surrounded by natural splendour.

Imagine our dismay when we heard the B.C. government declare us “foreign speculators,” and targeted us for a hefty new tax. That’s a bit of an insult — I had thought Yukoners were Canadians, and retirees were investors.

Right now, long before we move here full time, we pay property tax and strata fees and sales tax on every purchase.

When the time comes to move here permanently, we will bring our life savings (earned outside of the province) and spend it in B.C. Should we reconsider?

Having adult children, we are certainly not indifferent to the plight of younger people who are struggling with the rising cost of real estate. Surely, though, declaring Canadian retirees “foreign speculators” and possibly driving us out of B.C. is not the solution.

Rob McIntyre Nanaimo