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Power transmission should be storm-proof

For years I have wondered why sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ Hydro doesn’t come up with a more substantive or rigorous power ­transmission system.

Every year, we read and hear stories of power outages caused by windstorms. By now, one might think that Mother Nature has cleared out all the “weak” trees through her massive storms.

Now, I understand how underground power transmission must be more expensive to install than the hydro pole system. Still, can we not approach a wee bit at a time?

As well, is there not another more robust system to use than hydro poles? Or is there a way to make this system more resistant to wind storms?

It seems to me that every year, it is the same areas that get trashed by Mom Nature and their power goes out.

Does sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ Hydro have a research arm that can come up with strong power transmission systems?

Jim Parker

Victoria

People looking for homes in a city in transition

I tire of the insensitivity directed toward folks like myself. Recently renovicted, I’m searching for a decent, reasonably priced, nearby new place to live.

Anyone following the news knows how this goes. Yet while sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½’s government tries to remedy a situation unregulated markets make worse, I repeatedly encounter the same comments: transparent complaints about overreach, coded messages about preserving character, and dismissive descriptions of renters as transients.

A Dec. 23 letter linked my need for housing with the “destruction of neighbourhoods.”

First off, the use of “destruction” here is inappropriate. If one wants to see destruction, Gaza may be the place to look; a better term for what’s happening in Victoria is “change.”

And if neighbourhood change is so objectionable, perhaps we should embrace this view fully by removing any who came to this region after 1970?

Or disrupted the farm-land tranquility of the 1910s? Or whose ancestors were not here in pre-colonial times?

In the absence of this, perhaps those disparaging neighbourhood “destruction” could pause when feeling this impulse.

Pause to consider the historical good fortune that was part of their purchasing nice homes on comfortable lots in good neighbourhoods at a time when two — or one! — incomes could reasonably manage such a feat.

I’m certain many had to work hard to do this, but I work hard too. As does my wife. As do other people in our building. People now looking for new homes in a city that will never again meet this need unless things change.

Neil W. McKinlay

Victoria

Humans really need to change their ways

Troubles are multiplying and intensifying greatly, and many of them are best or only possibly dealt with by governments.

We already know that the healthiest, happiest, and most equitably rich nations are generally those in Scandinavia, where taxes are among the highest. The utility of similar social structures is also likely to increase as long as technical societies endure.

We must bite the bullet, tax the rich, stop using fossil fuels, and keep our energy consumption low, so as not to waste it on unnecessary fripperies causing overshoot and various forms of pollution.

If we don’t reduce our reproduction rates drastically, nature will reduce our population most painfully and catastrophically.

It has repeatedly been thus on local levels, but now with a global economy, the mechanics of it will be worldwide.

As individuals we can and must do our bit stave off disasters, but strong and sustainable government policy is essential, and we must all engage in the political process from start to finish and bottom to top to make it happen

No exceptions, and no delay. Failure to do so will produce widespread regret amongst those who understand this, even amongst those now living.

Glynne Evans

Saanich

Get ready for gridlock in downtown Victoria

I am amazed at the lack of response from downtown Victoria business owners regarding the soon-to-be-lane closures on Douglas Street and Blanshard Street.

This will cause gridlock conditions even worse than they are now. Shoppers will say, why on earth would I shop downtown?

Equally puzzling lack of response from Jeff Bray, the CEO of the Downtown Victoria Business Association.

Paul Baldwin

Victoria

Publish a book of Hancock collected works

Re: “True wealth Is much more than money and material goods,” column, Dec. 22.

With Trevor Hancock switching to a monthly column from a weekly one, let us take a moment to acknowledge him as surely the foremost Canadian writer of our time on human and planetary health.

I have cherished his clear thinking and rational arguments for putting public health first amongst our priorities. I have also appreciated his efforts to introduce us to United Nations research underlining the urgent need for this kind of shift in our priorities.

Here’s hoping that efforts are underway to publish Hancock’s collected works, for I can think of no better gift at this time of year.

Hancock generously donated his time to come to speak to our community in the Highlands and we hope to have him back again soon.

Scott Richardson

Victoria

Singh’s no-confidence idea seems odd

The NDP announcement, that they will vote no confidence in the Liberal government, is very odd.

The Liberals and NDP are quite close in philosophy, except that the Liberals aren’t in bed with unions.

Imagine what would have happened with the dock, rail and postal strikes if the NDP had been in power. We’d still have no trains, no shipping, and no mail.

But if the government falls, there is every chance the Conservatives will take over, and the NDP is about as far from the Conservative view of the world as one can get.

sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ under a Conservative government will be much further from whatever Jagmeet Singh would view as nirvana than what he’s got now.

Ian Cameron

Brentwood Bay

Higher education should be a priority

It’s been a difficult fall for colleges across sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½. The projected deficits due to the abrupt drop in international student numbers precipitated by changes in federal immigration policy, have staggering figures attached: $32 million at Ottawa’s Algonquin College; a revenue loss of $112 million at Sheridan College, outside Toronto.

Compared to those numbers, Camosun College’s efforts to cut to deal with a projected loss of at least $5 million can seem insignificant.

But layoff notices have been going out in the weeks before the December holidays. Colleagues who were excited newly hired staff members at late August’s new staff orientation are deeply anxious; it’s devastating, especially, for the colleagues who are in sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ as Ukrainians fleeing war.

And the toll on the college’s executive team must be enormous. Even our relatively small local cuts have a substantial impact, and the silence from the provincial and federal governments is telling: higher ed seems to be on its own.

Parents and students need to know that the influx of international students over the past decade has sustained the high quality of post-secondary education that Canadians expect, as government investment has dwindled.

Please reach out and let your MLAs and MPs know that you care about your kids’ educations and futures, and you expect them to step up.

2025 can be the year when our governments decide to re-commit to education across the higher education sector. If we want to keep tuition relatively low, then government needs to invest more.

Our students deserve no less, and our economy needs their skills and training.

Heidi Tiedemann Darroch

Victoria

Cabinet shuffle? Call an election

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s rather expanded cabinet shuffle was a bit like changing the deck chairs on the Titanic.

It is a rather desperate attempt by a leader to paper over the fissures in his administration.

The only resolution to the current situation is to call a general election as soon as possible, and let voters decide who we want to lead us.

David Collins

Victoria

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