Government isn’t the solution

Re: If Government Can’t Even Build Bridges, editorial, Jan. 13. In 2005, Alberta experienced massive flooding resulting in millions of dollars in property damage. Of course, the government did a study and in 2008, it tabled a number of recommendations to mitigate damage from future floods. In 2013, Southern Alberta was again hit with heavy rains, but because the government failed to implement the 2008 recommendations, Albertans were hammered again.

Then, the day after the flood, the RCMP went on a police raid in High River, allegedly kicking in the doors of hundreds of homes, ostensibly looking for trapped citizens. What actually happened was that they ended up confiscating citizens’ private property. In short, the government abjectly failed to do what it is entrusted to do.

How any thinking person can believe that more government is the solution to any of our problems is beyond me.

Dave W. Reesor, Calgary.

That old saying seems to be as relevant today as ever: if you don’t remember your history, you’re bound to repeat it. The Titanic was done in by ice and questionable metal. The Challenger was done in by ice and questionable O- rings, which became brittle in the cold. And now the Nipigon River Bridge has buckled due to cold temperatures and questionable or flawed materials.

Well, what have we learned? Sea captains, NASA administrators and provincial bosses, blinded by hubris, with no real appreciation of the fact that there is no eraser on the end of a scalpel. Douglas L. Martin, Hamilton, Ont.