Hockey season means a great deal to fans
We would like to express our dismay over the probable loss of the 2012 hockey season.
With an embarrassing amount of money involved, we are puzzled as to why negotiations have not been successful.
Considering how expensive the tickets are, surely we should be able to get the players back on the ice as soon as possible, or at least give the people their money back.
Perhaps the NHL should remember that hockey is a form of entertainment, just like a stage play or a musical performance.
People really look forward to hockey games each week, particularly as the weather changes and they go out less.
Hockey souvenirs are also fairly expensive, giving players and owners still more money.
This year, the public won’t have anything to show for the money they’ve spent.
We care about this issue because we’ve seen how our friends are a little quieter and sadder than usual.
We hope the owners and the union people do their level best to bring hockey back! BETTY FLICHEL ALISON PEYMAN Vancouver
Liberals’ beefed- up election gag law was opposed by NDP
Re: Outrageous fine highlights folly of B. C. gag law, Editorial, Sept. 8
While The Vancouver Sun is correct in its opinion that the court decision rightly demonstrates the advertising provisions in the Election Act are wrong and harm free speech, it is dead wrong in implicating the BC NDP in this Liberal legislation.
It only takes a quick look at Hansard to see the BC NDP voted against this legislation, arguing strongly against these particular provisions.
Finance critic Bruce Ralston was particularly eloquent in his opposition to this section. It’s a bad piece of legislation and the BC NDP had no hand in it whatsoever. The sole responsibility for this act lies with Wally Oppal and the Campbell government. IAN REID Vancouver
MLAs choose not to run again for a number of reasons
I am getting tired of the references to “rats leaving a sinking ship” every time a Liberal MLA announces he or she won’t be running in the next election.
There are many good reasons for not running again: personal or family commitments, business obligations or just becoming tired of all the personal sacrifices involved.
It is unfair and unreasonable to conclude all Liberal MLAs choosing not to run again are doing so because they think their party is going to lose.
I note that three NDP MLAs announced on Saturday that they wouldn’t be running again and that no one has called them “rats leaving a sinking ship.” GARTH M. EVANS Vancouver
Are cross- border milk shoppers saving money or taking a bath?
Re: Canadians flocking to U. S. for cheap milk a sign of a much larger problem, Sept. 7
How much milk do cross- border shoppers have to consume before they save enough to cover gasoline costs and make it worth waiting in customs lineups?
What do they do with a load of perishable dairy products?
Perhaps they take milk baths, and use bricks of cheese to prop up windows. Mystifying, isn’t it? NORMA DIXON Vancouver
Ending supply- managed system will lead to subsidies
Re: Canada- China deal belies APEC’s fading role, Column, Sept. 10
Canada’s supply- managed system is not subsidized by the government. It is based on cost- of- production calculations.
If you want to talk about subsidies, you don’t have to look further than the pork, beef and grain industries. If Canada gives up its supply- managed system, you can bet your bottom dollar the dairy and poultry industry will be subsidized as well, as it is in the U. S. New Zealand, Australia, etc.
If you think a gallon of milk can be produced for $ 2.50 retail without subsidies, you really don’t have any idea about agriculture.
Let’s not hide the real cost of food production in this country while the price of fuel, electricity, services and realty are going through the roof. BEATA KUNZE Mission
Taxpayer shouldn’t fund prisoners’ chaplaincy services
Re: Prison chaplains say halted contracts breach Charter rights, Sept. 7
Why are taxpayers requested to pay Wiccan priests to attend to their parishioners in jail?
It seems to me the Wiccan group should be paying their own priest for that service, as should Catholics, Protestant, Jewish and Muslims etc. CLARENCE ASH Richmond
Report on organic food fails to examine important issues
Re: Organic foods offer few health advantages, study suggests, Sept. 5
The report, based on short- term studies comparing the safety and nutritional value of conventional versus organic food, misses long- term issues and the big picture.
The report findings indicate eating organic food reduces exposure to pesticide residues and antibioticresistant bacteria, but it does not examine the long- term health risks involved in ingesting any amount of pesticides.
It fails to take into account the higher rates of cancers among farm workers when pesticides and herbicides are used.
It also does not examine the longterm harm to humans, wildlife and habitats due to water contaminated by pesticides and herbicides.
And it ignores the harmful effect of genetically modified foods and monoculture farming on our bodies and environment ( e. g. colony collapse disorder, the disastrous effects on bees that are responsible for pollinating so much of our crops). FIONA T. LAM Vancouver
Evidence Network comments peer reviewed, not partisan
Re: Bias in Evidence Network opinion piece evident, Letters, Sept. 10
David Lowy accuses EvidenceNetwork. ca, and one of our expert advisers and OpEd author, Damien Contandriopolous, of being one- sided and partisan. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The commentary by Contandriopolous was based on a Canadian Institutes of Health Research ( CIHR)funded project that was peer- reviewed before funding, and subsequently published as a journal article that was also peer reviewed. As such, the results of the study were produced in conformity with the best scientific practices.
EvidenceNetwork. ca has more than 60 expert advisers from across Canada and the world who are selected based on their standing in the health policy, scientific and academic communities.
Our experts commit to being free from political party and lobbying affiliations. This does not mean our experts lack opinions — but that their opinions must be steeped in evidence and not ideology.
If readers find a problem with the evidence ( which our experts may understand differently), they are welcome to let us know via our Facebook, Twitter and email accounts. NORALOU ROOS SHARON MANSON SINGER Co- founders, EvidenceNetwork. ca
Charges must be laid against polygamists without delay
Re: Fathers from polygamous sect fight for access to children, Column, Sept. 8
On Nov. 23, 2011, Chief Justice Robert Bauman of the B. C. Supreme Court declared S. 293 CC, proscribing polygamy, was constitutional in that polygamy is an anti- social practice that harms all society.
On June 30, 2009, Const. Shelley Livingstone produced an affidavit in B. C. Supreme Court stating polygamist Winston Blackmore had impregnated nine underage girls.
Later, the RCMP announced certain Bountiful parents had been trafficking their underage daughters to the U. S. to become concubines in Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints ( FLDS) harems.
Yet, in spite of all this mind- boggling lawlessness, and in spite of the attorney- general’s department knowing for several years about the multiple alleged rapes and trafficking of girl children, no charges have been laid.
Justice delayed is justice denied. It is way past time that B. C.’ s latest attorneygeneral, Shirley Bond, showed Bountiful’s elders that Bountiful is not a sovereign country, but is part of Canada and must obey Canadian law like all the rest of us.
There is no place in Canada for the abuse of children, for concubines, harems, and the banishment of young men in order to make room for “polygamy math.”
There has been enough shameful governmental prevarication. In the name of justice, let charges be laid now. JANCIS M. ANDREWS Stop Polygamy in Canada Society Sechelt