Recent Published Letters

Olympic value
Spending $550 million on the Olympics seems like a lot -- more than $500 per Vancouverite.
However, the city has a lot to show for it: great train connection to the airport, fast road to Whistler, Olympic village housing, not to mention new sports facilities.
Any excuse to build the facilities a great city must have is fine with me and if it's as much fun as the Olympics what more can one ask?
(Vancouver Province, 18/04/10)
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Power trumps promises
Re: “Tory transparency gets failing grade,” (April 15). Dave Breakenridge needs to be reminded of the old cliche: Politics is for power. Those out of power will promise anything to get it and those in power will do everything to hold on to it. Harper is no different. To expect anything else is naive.
(Calgary Sun, 16/04/10)
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Bill 16 and the nanny state
I have never understood the government's reluctance to ban cellphone use while driving. But Bill 16 might excuse the delay; it covers more ground and proposes a substantial fine.

As someone who has had to take action to avoid drivers on their cellphone, applying lipstick or eating a burger, I can only hope the police enforce this law with vigour.
(Edmonton Journal, 16/04/10)
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Chief's logic saluted
Re: "Balance in justice system a tough call," (April 7). I couldn't agree more with police chief Rick Hanson. We need to put gangsters and repeat serious offenders behind bars for a long time but with one proviso: Make the prisons less of a holiday and more of an endurance test with strict patrols to eliminate drug smuggling. No one will dispute that petty criminals, particularly mentally disturbed individuals, should be treated in a medical facility, not put in jails.
(Calgary Sun, 09/04/10)
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No, no, not this model
Bank of Nova Scotia CEO Rick Waugh (Canadian Bankers Tell G20: Don’t Suffocate Our Growth – Report on Business, April 8) is quoted saying: “Leaving it just to the regulators is dangerous, leaving it just to the politicians is dangerous.”
The recent crisis taught us that leaving the system to the bankers is catastrophic. I will take the suspected danger over proven catastrophe any day, particularly when the protesters caused the catastrophe in the first place.
(Globe and Mail, 09/04/10)
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Charge more
Re: "Report warns of water shortage," April 2.
At a cent a litre, there is no incentive to turn the tap off when brushing teeth, or avoid waste in so many other ways. It makes no economic sense, for example, to call a plumber to fix a leaky tap or to improve the plumbing fixtures. If the province were to become serious about improving water management, the first step should be to price it at what it is worth, not what it costs to treat and put in the pipeline. In Delhi, water costs are significant and my relatives there use every drop that comes out of the tap. We could be in the same boat in the not-too-distant future if proper steps are not taken soon.
(Calgary Herald, 04/04/10)
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Parents guilty of negligence
Re: “Parents dodge manslaughter ruling,” (March 12). It is rare that I agree with acquittals, but in this case I do. It was a clear case of negligence and incompetence in child rearing, not deliberate murder. Why would the prosecutors bring such a charge is beyond me. Perhaps you need to be an ex-MP and the spouse of a minister to get due consideration. In any event, the proper penalty in this case would range from extensive training in child-rearing and social responsibility to a ban on having any children at all.
(Calgary Sun, 16/03/10)
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Wildlife doesn't have a vote
Re: Weakest link in chain appears to be Stelmach himself, the Journal, March 11.
Graham Thomson may sympathize with wildlife biologists as much as he wishes, but the unfortunate truth is that ducks and caribou don't vote and neither do the children or the future generations. So the politicians will continue to disregard the wildlife and our future interests in favour of 'development' for short-term benefit.
You can't expect business to worry about the distant future; their responsibility is to meet current demand. The consequence of this dichotomy is that the goose of wildlife and our future generations is cooked.
(Edmonton Journal, 16/03/10)
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Society losing balance
Re: "Officer finds husband among murder victims," the Journal, March 13.
My heart goes out to the young brave officer whose life was turned up side down by a deranged individual. While the issue will reignite the debate about gun control, the problem goes deeper. What prompts a person suspended from the job to take lives knowing full well that he is consigning himself to a long term incarceration?
Did the loss of pay cause such desperation and such desire for revenge that several lives needed to be sacrificed? Surely a society claiming to the high moral standards like ours should be able to inculcate in its citizens some sense of proportion. The society failed in this case, and unfortunately such instances are becoming commonplace.
We need to look at where our education, social and cultural systems are failing us and take appropriate action before the situation becomes unmanageable.
(Edmonton Journal, 16/03/10)
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