Mistakes were made, but we got through it
Re: “Firing health-care workers was extreme,” letters, July 2.
I have to disagree with the retired physician that suggested that the right to refuse vaccinations was not respected.
This has been a common theme since the pandemic started, that people were being forced to get vaccinations.
The fact is, vaccination became a condition of employment when employers realized the scope of what was happening. No one was forcibly vaccinated.
Fired health care workers made a choice just like I did when I was vaccinated. Same with the convoy crowd.
In a democratic country, in a rules-based society, sometimes you are not going to get your way.
It is easy for the letter writer to point fingers after the fact. Attributing “adverse reactions,” “psychological harms” and “terrible blows” to the government’s policies seems smug to me. After-the-fact finger pointing always does.
Years ago, I was set to watch the NBA game that was cancelled due to COVID. I realized at that moment that a single, senior man in a Victoria high-rise was about to have a rough ride.
Thanks to the people in our grocery stores, to the health-care workers and to the best advice our governments could give us, we all got through this.
Were there mistakes made?
Absolutely there were mistakes made and like the letter writer I hope future pandemics might be better managed.
Mark R. Fetterly
Victoria
Great to see the flag in friendly hands
Last weekend was a great time to celebrate our great country one more time, and the display of our flag this year seems more visible than ever before. Thank you to everyone.
Well actually, cynic as I am, I hate to dampen our enthusiasm, but there is after all a movement of those who demonstrated in blockades and also used our flag.
Even the leader of the federal Conservatives was shown in the company of these renegades.
Hopefully they will get their own flag rather than use ours for their questionable events. (Perhaps Pierre Poilievre should know better.)
Colin Millard
Victoria
Plenty of potential in our small hydro sites
Re: “We won’t have enough electricity for all those EVs,” commentary, June 30.
The commentary states that “almost all viable hydro sites have been developed” and natural gas plants would need to be built to power the growth in EVs.
It is missing critical information. First: there are many small hydro sites that could be developed. A 2013 study for ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ Hydro determined that after removing potential sites with environmental and park impacts and high infrastructure costs, there is the potential for over 11,000 megawatts of small hydro sites in ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½; this is 11 times the size of the 1,110 megawatts Site C.
While not all of these would be developed once more detailed environmental and costing studies are done, it is likely a substantial portion could be developed.
Furthermore these smaller sites take less time to study, obtain environmental approvals and build than large hydro sites. There is not enough room here to elaborate but of course there is much wind and solar generation potential in ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½
The commentary also expresses concern about the cost associated with developing the generation and EV chargers.
However, the cost of fueling the EVs with electricity are substantially less than for gas cars; 60% less according to Consumer Reports. And maintenance costs are less as well.
Furthermore, a 2024 study concluded that the all-in costs of owning and operating an EV is less than that for gas cars when comparing similar size vehicles.
Eduard Wojczynski
EW Sustainable Hydropower Consulting
Victoria
The electricity demand will be manageable
Re: “We won’t have enough electricity for all those EVs,” commentary, June 30.
I want to respond to the EV electricity supply question raised by retired oil executive Gwyn Morgan.
It is significant that Morgan quoted the right-of-centre libertarian Fraser Institute for data bolstering his arguments. I believe that Morgan’s apocalyptic picture of needing the equivalent of 15 more Site C dams across ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ by 2035, due to EV demand, is much too high.
In ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½, by 2035, the federal government aim is for 10 million EVs which would consume about 45 million MWh of energy annually. This is about 4.5% of projected total electrical energy consumption in ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ in 2035.
Because much of EV demand can be off peak – overnight charging, when rates and electricity demand are lower – and because demand timing can be reduced by management, the actual additional power generation capacity required for EVs in ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ in 2035 would be less than this, perhaps only an additional three per cent.
This should be manageable, and is much less than 15 additional Site Cs.
Nor do we have to build more huge hydro projects. Much of southern ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ has high untapped solar generation potential, and wind power still has great potential.
For both types, affordable energy storage options are improving all the time. Safer and cheaper small modular reactors (SMR) nuclear power stations may also be available by then.
Experience in Ontario and Europe indicates that additional electricity demand attributable to EVs tends to be less than predicted.
Morgan makes several other points in his article, most of which I agree with.
Paul Akerhielm, P.Eng (ret.)
Campbell River
Supreme Court ruling moves the bar even lower
Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has granted almost unlimited power to the office of the president, what is to stop the current one from having the former one arrested and shot for treason?
Not that I would ever advocate such a thing, but it sure sounds to me like the U.S. has decided to become just another tinpot dictatorship, even before they get around to electing the guy who actually wants to be a tinpot dictator.
Just when you thought the bar could not be placed any lower, the Americans prove us wrong once again.
Len Dafoe
Nanoose Bay
Maybe Shakespeare was right
Magna Carta signed in 1215, foundation of much modern law held that the sovereign was subject to the rule of law.
July 1, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court in a split decision by the agenda driven right-wing Trump lap dog justices, decided dictator lover Trump was effectively not subject to the rule of law!
Maybe Will Shakespeare was on to something with his thoughts on lawyers, more than 400 years ago.
Have we learned nothing?
Grant Maxwell
Nanaimo
It was a great day for the world’s dictators
I am reeling from the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in essence giving the president carte blanche power to do whatever he wants while in office. The Jan. 6 insurrection is merely a dark cloud compared to this maelstrom!
I don’t feel confident that the majority of the American public will grasp the significance of this shredding of the Constitution by a handful of right-wing justices.
It is 1938 repeating itself. The brownshirts have claimed America, home of the free no more. Can this fascist wave be stopped?
SCOTUS has denigrated not only women’s rights, but all people’s rights. What a gross violation of democracy while Trump crows it’s the greatest day.
Yes, indeed it’s a very great day for dictators world over. And as usual Democrats are unprepared and blindsided even though the court has been goose stepping unremittingly towards this goal.
I’m afraid for the darkness this portends.
Vijaya Taylor
Victoria
Accident victims not getting support
There is a long back story about these People with Disability advocacy groups. There are many though out the province.
But the short version is that in the lead-up to introducing no fault auto insurance, the province lobbied these groups not to oppose no fault on the basis that under their proposed new system crash victims would get all the care they needed when they needed it. Hence the term “enhanced care model.”
Their silence was a key component of the province’s strategy to ram this through. And here we are.
David R. Schneider
Saanich
At Victoria airport, precipitation is up
Re: “Water worries: Drought in ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½,” June 30.
The article references the ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ government drought level classification (from 1 to 5), but does not explain what the classification levels mean.
According to the most recent provincial drought map, more than 70% of the province is at drought level 0, 1 or 2.
Drought level 1 indicates “adverse impacts to socio-economic or ecosystem values are rare,” and at level 2 “adverse impacts to socio-economic or ecosystem values are unlikely.”
Only 4.8% of the province (just parts of the Peace River basin), are classified as level 4 “adverse impacts to socio-economic or ecosystem values are likely.”
What about Victoria? As pointed out in the article, east Vancouver Island is classified as level 2 “adverse impacts to socio-economic or ecosystem values are unlikely.” Victoria has a Mediterranean climate so experiences very dry summers and wet fall/winters.
There are many factors that determine how much precipitation falls in Victoria each year, and the total amount can vary significantly from year to year. For example, even though the past two years (2022 and 2023) were drier than average at Victoria airport, over the past 10 years, the airport has recorded five years with above average precipitation, and five years below.
Long periods of wet or dry years also occur. There were four years in a row of well below average precipitation between 1941 and 1944, and conversely six years of above average precipitation from 1994 to 1999.
Do the last two drier than average years mean that Victoria climate is getting drier? Actually the opposite appears to be true.
At Victoria airport the average annual precipitation has been slowly rising since the station opened in 1940. In 1941, the average annual precipitation at the airport was 856.5 mm, but the recently released 1991 to 2020 averages from Environment ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ shows that this average is now 901.2 mm, an increase of more than five per cent.
G.K. Gudgeon
Saanich
Bringing back memories of Taber sugar beets
Eric Akis’ excellent ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ Day food quiz was a great sea-to-sea-to-sea survey of the country’s culinary delights.
Question 16 on Taber sugar beets sparked great memories of my time in Southern Alberta and the frantic late summer, early fall harvest of the sugar beets for kilometres around the southern Alberta town.
Stacked high on trucks and trailers en route to the refiner or nearby weigh stations, the commercial sugar beets are larger than grapefruits and slightly smaller than pumpkins.
Sometimes these dense dull coloured orbs can fall from their transport in a shattered mess on the highway. These are locally known as “dead beets.”
Bill Seymour
Esquimalt
Political leaders, work to improve health system
Re: “Can ambitious political leadership restore our health system?,” commentary, June 30.
Ken Fyke has hit the mark in his commentary highlighting the problems with ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½’s health-care system.
Primary health-care reform and the necessary improvements in accessibility have been a hot topic for more than 20 years with many reports written recommending changes that would ensure that every Canadian has access to the services and supports involved.
Yet in most parts of the country, little has been done to achieve this goal.
Yes, there are many players involved, yes, there are long standing traditions of how health-care workers are organized and rewarded for their essential care and yes, there has generally been little political leadership to put more appropriate models in place.
But surely now is the time to act – to establish “primary care homes,” with physicians, nurse practitioners and other allied health personnel; to increase the availability of the necessary education and training for those who aspire to enter the field and to introduce more appropriate models of compensation that adequately reward all those who provide these vital services.
The health of our citizens is a necessary prerequisite to a healthy nation – so let us urge our political leaders of all stripes to work together to achieve the goal of ensuring that all Canadians have a “primary care home”!
Mary Collins
Victoria
ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ law is clear: Stop for red lights
Re: “Yielding, not stopping, is better for cyclists,” letter, June 22.
While I am open to exploring the benefits of introducing the Idaho stop here, it gives me pause that the letter writer says it has been around for over four decades and yet has been adopted by only a dozen or so other states — a substantial minority.
Besides, Montana used to have a sky-high “reasonable and prudent” freeway speed limit. Should we have adopted that as well? Should we not allow right turns on red lights, as in Montreal and New York City?
Other jurisdictions have various laws, and we can certainly learn from them. However, as a cyclist who always obeys the rules of the road, I am amazed every time I see another Victoria cyclist go through a red light.
Plain and simple: In ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½, it’s against the law.
Colin Gardiner
North Saanich
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