sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½

New Crystal needs a 50-metre pool

I have been disappointed to hear people saying the proposed Crystal Pool is a “regional pool,” as this is simply not true. A rapidly growing city of 100,000 people needs a 50-metre pool with ample water space, to help accommodate all the different users and groups.

This means that youth swimming lessons can happen at the same time as seniors aquafit, Masters Swim Clubs and parent and tot swims. A new pool should be open all day long for all to use.

There is nothing worse than arriving at the pool, only to find out it’s closed for another user group. A pool should be like the library, open all day to anyone who needs it.

Victoria needed a 50-metre pool in 1971, and it needs one today. New Westminster has a population of 80,000 and just built a 50-metre pool.

A smaller 25-metre pool is for cities of 10,000 to 50,000, not growing Victoria.

Wendy Friesen

Victoria

Care about our wellness? Don’t spend our money

The City of Victoria has announced the details for the referendum on the proposed replacement for the Crystal Pool. Once again, city council has presented us with referendum questions that are biased to get the answer the majority of councillors want.

In plain language, the questions for the referendum on the replacement of the Crystal Pool are:

1. Do you want us to spend tons of your money on a grandiose new Pool and Wellness Centre or not?

2. Where do you want us to put it?

Where is the option of a modest replacement pool suitable and affordable for a city with a population of less than 100,000? I could be in favour of that.

As to where to put it, we are offered the choices of North Central Park or South Central Park. The south location would mean the loss of the Steve Nash basketball court, tennis courts, kids playground and picnic area. These are all free, well-used amenities important to the North Park neighbourhood’s wellness.

It would also require the destruction of 28 mature London plane and Garry Oak trees also important to the wellness of the city.

If council were really concerned with our wellness, they would not burden us with this expensive proposal.

Wellness is being able to pay the mortgage or the rent and put food on the table at this time when so many households are feeling economic pressures.

Barbara Marshall

Victoria

Give voters a choice: The pool or health care

Here’s an idea about the Crystal Pool referendum: Let’s have an option, since Victoria city council is so determined to spend taxpayers’ money.

How about asking voters to choose between the pool and spending the same money on health care?

Approach that issue in the same manner as Colwood — to end up with a small number of large, integrated, health ­centres providing primary care and all medical support services in a timely manner and reducing ER access at Royal Jubilee Hospital to only ambulance-borne cases.

Roger Love

Saanich

Something’s not right with Donald Trump

In only a few days, Donald Trump will become president of the United States.

He is still talking like he is going to impose a 25% tariff on Canadian goods imported into the U.S. when he knows that it will have an enormous negative economic impact on both sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ and the U.S.

And then he is holding a gun to Canadians’ heads and threatening to impose economic pressure on sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ that will force us to become the 51st state.

I think that Trump is out of his mind. Tariffs will create a trade war that will hurt all of us and if he thinks for one minute that he can force sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ to become part of the U.S., he doesn’t understand Canadians at all.

Paul Arnold

Saanich

We should be nine states, not just one

Not that I have any ambition to join the United States, but that offer by Donald Trump is such a low bid as to be insulting.

The whole of sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ to be one state — ridiculous! According to Wikipedia, the U.S. has 5 states with populations of less than one million, we have six provinces with more than that, and three others which are similar to the lower-populated U.S. states.

So that should be nine states for sure, each with two representative senators, P.E.I. could perhaps be treated in a similar manner to the District of Columbia and get one senator.

Also the territories should have suitable representation, First Nations need a voice in any settlement, and we’d need a Quebec supreme court judge.

Still interested, Mr. Trump?

Don Woods

Sidney

Check other countries for health care ideas

It is no surprise that sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½’s health-care system was ranked ninth out of 10 ­countries, only surpassing the United States.

What the countries ahead of sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ have in common is that all of them provide a private option, which does not deplete their public system but instead relieves the strain.

As long as we only compare ourselves to the United States when it comes to the viability of a private option, that is the only country we will beat.

It’s time to examine how those other countries make this work.

Peter Scott

Victoria

At least we still have people like Carney, May

I was somewhat taken aback by the suggestions of some letter writers for prime minister: a hockey player and a woman who couldn’t accomplish raising a moral son.

Allegedly, sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ is the best educated country in the world. After these letters, I am questioning that.

Fortunately, though, we still have many Canadians who qualify as well-educated, moral and intelligent such as Elizabeth May and Mark Carney.

Deborah Crawford

Saanich

Saving the $350,000 was Clark’s best idea

So Christy Clark “misspoke” when she said that she had not been a member of the Conservative Party, when in fact she had been. In other circles that might have been called lying.

Given her lack of fluency in French, she has probably done well to save herself the $350,000 she would have had to commit had she decided to run for the leadership of the Liberal Party

David Collins

Victoria

We need a leader stronger than Poilievre

On Pierre Poilievre’s recent whistle-stop tour of Vancouver Island, I kept hearing the refrain from the same old song he has been singing for the past year, Axe the Tax.

While Canadians are facing a serious threat to our economy (as if it isn’t bad already) from south of border, Poilievre seems to be stuck in the same groove as an old vinyl record with too many scratches on it.

OK, to be just, in passing he did mention that the economy and housing is a problem. He must have picked up a newspaper on his way to Nanaimo to get that gem of information.

To educate myself, I watched as many interviews with Poilievre as possible (there aren’t many) and tried hard as I could to try to grab something of substance that he might accidently let slip. All I keep hearing is lots of slogans, generalizations, and a rhetoric that leaves me scratching my head.

The man is not only tone deaf about the current events about to overtake our country but hasn’t a clue on how he would handle Donald Trump, the economy, housing, health care.

The best we can expect from this guy, who never held a job in his entire life, is to Axe the Tax. Surely, we can do better.

After all, we are proud Canadians, and we need someone who will stand up to the bully south of the border without causing an all-out war with the United States.

Alla Marinow

Mill Bay

Disappointing response from Justin Trudeau

Interviewed by CNN, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said our response to previous Donald Trump tariffs on steel and aluminium was to put tariffs on ketchup and playing cards.

This is so pathetic a response it makes us a laughing stock.

Our oil and gas sales exceed the balance of payments surplus with the United States. That oil and gas is also deeply discounted against world prices because we have a shortage of export pipelines.

If the exports are compared to world prices we would see that we subsidize them to the tune of tens of billions. We should be pointing that out and sitting back to see what oil tariffs will do to their prices.

Bill Gibson

Victoria

License the bicycles to pay for path work

I have a bike and ride on the bike paths and streets of Greater Victoria.

My automobile uses the streets and highways of Victoria and sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½, other provinces in sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½, and highways in the United States. I pay a licence fee for the car and every time I fill my gas tank there are taxes included in the price per litre. I know some of those taxes are used for building, repairing, and maintaining those roads no matter where they are located.

The auto licence is also registered with the police in case it is stolen. If found the authorities know who it belongs to.

Victoria is one of few cities in North America that does not license nor register a bicycle, skateboard, or scooter all of which use bike paths and streets of our city. Why not have a licence fee to register the bike, which monies would help pay for and maintain the bike paths? Autos pay licence fees and gas taxes to use our roads and highways.

Is it not logical to have a bicycle and scooter fee for the bike paths? Victoria is always scratching around for funds so this fee would be a new revenue stream and contribute to the building, repairing, and maintaining of the bike paths.

Gordon Viberg

Victoria

Leaders at all levels are failing us

I am not a fan of becoming a 51st state, but I can understand why some Canadians are thinking it couldn’t be worse than things are now.

After all, it doesn’t matter which party you support, they are all asking the same question.

Is it alright to increase the tax on the tax we’ve already increased the tax on to tax them again before we introduce another tax increase on the taxes we have already taxed before?

We are one of the richest resource countries in the world.

However, we have been told by our leaders that mining is bad, forestry is bad, fishing is bad, oil and gas is bad, eco-tourism won’t work, and yet we should be the richest nation on the planet in water sales alone.

Why should Nestle get a million litres of water for only two cents? It doesn’t make sense.

We need true economic and financial leadership.

In sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½, our health minister has no experience in the health-care industry.

I shake my head at the ineptitude of our so-called leaders, provincially and fderally.

Even municipally, our local government is worthless.

I am fatigued in trying to keep up with the worthlessness of our leadership.

Dewane Ollech

Victoria

Better focus needed in serious problems

I hope Los Angeles serves as a wake-up call to all levels of government, but especially to our municipal governments.

Stop wasting valuable time and tax dollars on unnecessary projects like bike lanes and start thinking about actual infrastructure that will help most of the population, not just a small minority of people.

Also, maybe the fires would be less devastating if governments brought back sound forest management practices.

Katherine Carlson

Victoria

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