sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½

We are under threat, so we must fight for sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½

Our prime minister has promised to resign. Parliament is prorogued. Donald Trump is closely hovering. sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ has put itself into a precarious position. And who is standing up to the bully?

Not Justin Trudeau, not Jagmeet Singh, not Pierre Poilievre or Yves-François Blanchet. The citizens of our sovereign nation have been left swinging in the wind.

The only politician I have seen speaking for sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ is Ontario Premier Doug Ford. However it was done in a very weak-kneed way.

In relating the news that Donald Trump Jr. was planning to visit Greenland in the coming days, a CNN anchor stated as she pulled up a map: “Look how close Greenland is to sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½. Aren’t you concerned?”

Again, a very namby pamby answer, how the U.S. will continue to trade with us because we have what they want. Why bother with trade agreements when the whole country of sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ could be absorbed?

Trump has seen Putin invading a neighbouring country. China may soon take over Taiwan. It is definitely a new world order. And we must fight like hell.

Annie Weeks

Victoria

Hey, we’ve got a deal — how about Trumpland?

Let’s offer to sell to Trump’s America our Ellesmere Island and Baffin Island for $3 trillion (or one for $2 trillion) and use the sale proceeds to pay down or retire the entire federal debt.

Then 20% of federal tax revenue presently paying off interest could be redirected into tax cuts and to new program spending.

It would be the priciest land deal in history, which the incoming president could not resist, particularly since he could rename the islands Trumpland.

S.M. Shuler

Victoria

Trudeau won’t blame the person responsible

The reign of error of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is mercifully approaching its end — none too soon most would agree.

However, in his resignation speech, the outgoing Liberal leader was true to egotistical form in portraying himself as the victim, never approaching even a thread of accountability for the prime role he played in his own demise.

And even in defeat, our lame PM deplorably abuses the application of prorogation — to afford his Liberal party time to replace him.

By doing so, he is of course ducking his main adversary, Pierre Poilievre, from meeting him on the election battlefield, while retaining a lead role in whatever is left of the Liberal administration.

In his speech, Trudeau mentioned Parliament had been paralyzed for months (due to the Liberals not providing required documents!), yet he shamelessly extends the paralysis by virtue of his prorogation — I mean, really!

At such a critical juncture, he has left sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ exposed and vulnerable in dealing with the new aggressive administration of our major trading partner.

Thanks, Justin, for nothing.

But a sincere thanks to two Albertans, Chrystia Freeland and Poilievre, (and others) who directly effected the demise of this narcissistic PM.

Gordon Zawaski

Parksville

We need to stand up to the bully Trump

I would like to propose that all government leaders across sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ at all levels of government — federal, provincial, and municipal — make a politically polite comment back to Donald Trump about the pride, love, history, and joy of living in the greatest country in the world that is sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½.

A response has to be made, period.

We cannot ignore the bully in the room.

I’m sure no American citizen would appreciate this nonsense if the shoe was on the other foot.

Let’s get up off our comfy chairs and let Trump know that his comments are ignorant and we don’t need to put up with this — not now, not ever.

Janet Getty Baker

Victoria

No real understanding of police in schools

Re: “Board won’t back down on keeping police out of schools,” column, Jan. 7.

The Greater Victoria School Board continues attempting to justify its negative stance regarding SPLOs in schools using dubious excuses.

Les Leyne’s column, which includes a reference to the safety plans proposed by the board to the Ministry of Education, demonstrates a preposterous assertion made by the board:

“The board says there is already a police presence in schools and ‘it is difficult to understand the minister’s objection [to the first safety plan] as anything other than a desire to see … the kind of unfettered, unsupervised, unaccountable access police previously enjoyed in schools’.”

The latter part of this quote is completely, in my mind, untrue and simply adds to the fear-mongering caused by such ridiculous statements. If anything happens within a school that is deemed “unfettered, unsupervised, unaccountable” it would be obvious to any principal/vice-principal/teacher and, most likely, parents.

Tight tabs must be kept on all school activities, and that suggestion from the board is absurd. It just didn’t happen.

School administrators were fully aware of the SPLO program within their schools and administration had a close connection with their appointed SPLO.

The suggestion made by the board demonstrates their lack of understanding of how SPLOs were used in schools, who oversaw their relevance and success in schools and, of course, ignored the preponderance of evidence given from school administrators, many teachers, many parents and students of the value SPLOs provide.

And, of course, we have to remember the chiefs of the Esquimalt and Songhees strong response to the board when they lost their SPLO and the “immediate and intangible harm” this is causing in the schools attended by their children.

Dave Hockley

retired principal

Victoria

Why do some people feel targeted by police?

Re: “Board won’t back down on keeping police out of schools,” column, Jan. 7.

This column indicates that the Greater Victoria School Board’s members are no longer interested in trying to come to a solution that’s acceptable to all involved parties, nor, in fact, that they want to continue to be school board members at all.

This is indicated by their attempts to drown the opposition with a blizzard of paperwork and a rather strident, childish dare to the education minister to replace them with a trustee.

At the outset, when the board defended its position of barring police officers from entering schools because “some students and staff do not feel safe with police,” I was reminded of Tina Fey’s impersonation of former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin when she said: “We’ve seen our children targeted by the police for no reason, other than they’ve committed some crime.”

But now, 18 months after the board suspended SPLO programs, and after ignoring the pleas and complaints of a variety of stakeholder groups, including parents and local Indigenous authorities, they’ve definitely left “stubborn” territory and are firmly in the region of “sheer stupidity.”

I can’t wait to see the education minister call their bluff and replace them.

Lorraine Lindsay

Saanich

A new pool would help the region’s seniors

I hope Victoria seniors will support a new recreation centre in February.

The older I get, the more I realize how important it is to stay active, exercise a little and gather with my friends. The best spot to do this is at our local recreation centres, which I attend regularly.

Lately, I’ve been busing to Oak Bay Recreation, but it’s crowded and too far away. The current Crystal Pool doesn’t work due to excess stairs and poor layout.

I’ll be supporting a new Crystal Pool and gym in Victoria, even if I’m not around to enjoy it. This is preventative health care at its finest, and helps keep seniors like me out of the hospital, freeing up space for others.

Susan Podmorrow

Victoria

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