Column on a ‘just society’ was divorced from reality
I am not sure if Michael Den Tandt is living in an isolated little shiny bubble suspended by copious amounts of pot smoke on a distant planet, but if he thinks we may finally be living in a just society, then he is just plain wrong.
What kind of society mollycoddles criminals and puts them back into circulation to commit new crimes and quickly forgets their damaged or dead victims?
What kind of society has one set of laws for one group of people and another set for the rest of us?
What kind of society allows and promotes the iniquitous system of homelessness and drug-abused poverty among so many of its citizens and the hopelessly inadequate mental-health system where unfortunates end up in jail instead of getting the help they really need?
Just? Maybe not!
Jerome Henen, North Vancouver
Devoid of sense
Michael Den Tandt’s column on Monday was worse than Pollyannaish. In his mind, now that all things Christian have been dispensed with, we “finally, may be living in a just society.” He celebrates that “debates about matters of individual faith and morals are over.”
I shudder at what a Canada devoid of faith and morals will look like. Let the booze flow, the drugs stupefy us, open all the neighbourhoods to brothels. Pornography is art. Marriage is anything you say it is. Massive street riots are the young expressing their just indignation.
I grew up with a clear understanding of crime and punishment, swiftly meted out to offenders, young or old. And I was safe to wander all alone all over the countryside. God help us if the moral void of Den Tandt’s world view becomes more of the norm in Canada.
Gerda Peachey, Abbotsford
Shameful article
Phil Hochstein’s tirade against Gus Van Harten was shameful. If anyone didn’t read his article in Friday’s Province they could be forgiven if they thought his article was a rallying cry for unions.
Hochstein intimates that Mr. Van Harten is somehow deeply involved with unions, but neglects to mention that he is a law professor and his article was a warning about how the Harper government is whittling away at our democracy by using this latest move against unions as an example of what could be next in the erosion of our rights under his command.
Doug Marsden, Vancouver
Law fails again
Tracy Lloyd Caza, “the man with 100 convictions” on Tuesday’s front page, should not be walking the streets again.
There should have been no timeand-a-half for time in segregation, since the only reason he was there was to protect him since guys like him and his vile crimes against the elderly usually get them beaten or worse in prison.
Judges don’t seem to care about the public perception of them.
Shawn Storey, Surrey
Hang-glider tragedy
It is very sad that such a young woman fell to her death after losing grip of the pilot’s feet in that hang-gliding accident.
But may be the out come would’ve been even worse had she managed to hold onto his body. The hangglider could have stalled, killing them both.
Jerzy Rudowski, Langley
Mayor replies
Re: “Vancouver has no right to regulate the oil industry.”
Contrary to the position taken by The Province, I firmly believe that Vancouver should take every possible action to protect our taxpayers from the risks and costs of a worst-case, crude-oil spill.
Currently, $1.33 billion is the maximum liability funding from industry for cleanup and damages in the aftermath of an oil spill in Canadian waters. This is despite the $3.5-billion costs since 1989 of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska, and the alarming costs of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, which are estimated to be approaching $100 billion.
It is unacceptable that taxpayers and small businesses are on the hook for such massive unfunded liabilities in Canada. My motion seeks to ensure Vancouver is protected from the serious risks of Kinder Morgan’s plans for a fivefold increase in oil-tanker traffic through our harbour.
Mayor Gregor Robertson, Vancouver
Pipeline builds B.C.
How many catastrophic oil-tanker spills have there been in North America? I can only think of the Exxon Valdez.
Before demonstrating against oil tankers, someone needs to compile the true facts and risks of a spill. The drilling-rig spill in the Gulf of Mexico was not a tanker accident and small spills will happen if there is a pipeline or not.
People who say B.C. gets nothing from the pipelines are ignoring the jobs it will create: pipelines don’t magically construct themselves; oil doesn’t magically get from the pipeline into the ship.
As for a possible increase in prices at the pump, that might reduce vehicles on the road.
Dale Laird, Vancouver