Training your dog will improve its life
I encountered a retired professional dog trainer while walking in a regional park. We had a long conversation about how few dog owners know how to train their dogs, bother to learn, or hire a professional trainer to assist them.
It is not hard to train a dog to respond immediately as desired to voice commands, but it requires specialized knowledge based on centuries of scientific study of dog behaviour and how to modify it.
Training a dog does not require violence or deprivation of any kind. In fact, being trained is a pleasant experience from a dog’s point of view because it provides clarity to a dog what its owner wants it to do and not do.
Letter after letter in these pages screaming about “Democracy!” and “Freedom!” concerning the issue of unleashed dogs in Saanich parks not under voice control of their owners are embarrassing.
Please be aware that if you have not trained your dog, it is not trained. You may have a wonderful, loving relationship in your opinion with your dog, but the dog is not under your control.
Every dog owner can do their dog, themselves, and everyone in Saanich a favour: learn what training a dog is and how to do it, and train your dog. If this is beyond your scope, hire a professional to teach you.
And please. Stop screaming about “Democracy!”.
Bill Appledorf
Victoria
Cedar Hill Golf Course cannot be developed
The Cedar Hill Golf Course has been cited as an example of why golf courses shouldn’t be in an urban setting. The theory is that housing for 10,000 people on these lands better suits the needs of the greater public than does the golf course.
Saanich Coun. Zac de Vries says Saanich is looking at its entire portfolio of assets to see where housing development gains may take place.
More housing (affordable) is an admirable goal and I wish all developers the best of luck to achieve those housing numbers, however, please note a vital piece of information that has not mentioned. When the McRae family gifted/purchased by Saanich this property, a covenant was agreed upon that no development can take place on it.
The golf course property is an amazing and valuable greenspace in our community. The trails, ponds and trees are a great ecosystem that benefits humans, birds, insects and animals.
This area is my recreational centre and as others choose to swim, skate, play pickleball or go to the gym I choose to golf.
Wayne Messer
Cedar Hill Golf Club member
Saanich
Highly manicured grass does not help our Earth
Are golf courses really the lungs of the environment?
An Oct. 10 letter asserts that, rather than helping solve the housing crisis by building homes on golf courses, we should preserve them to help solve the global climate crisis.
Positing that the green grass on golf courses serves as a critical carbon sink, the writer further asserts that they act as the lungs of the planet.
While there is evidence that natural grass lands do indeed help sequester significant amounts of carbon in the soil, the highly manicured grass on golf courses has the net opposite effect.
The amount of carbon used to mow and fertilize golf courses far outstrips any value they have as net carbon sinks. Then there is the fact that golf courses consume large amounts of limited ground water and require regular spraying with polluting herbicides to consider.
In sum, there are body parts other than the lungs that would more accurately describe what golf courses do to the environment.
Dr. Howard Brunt
North Saanich
Consider emissions on a per capita basis
I would like to defend Trevor Hancock’s recent column on climate change vs. corporate greed.
One recent letter suggested Hancock’s article was a tribute to communism. Gwyn Morgan’s recent diatribe dismissed sa国际传媒’s carbon dioxide reduction efforts as irrelevant in the light of the Chinese emissions status.
It is true that China is the No. 1 country in carbon dioxide emissions whereas sa国际传媒 rates at No. 7. However Morgan is arguably disingenuous when he quotes China as the largest CO2 emitter on a per Gross Domestic Product basis.
We should look at the per capita basis where both sa国际传媒 and the United States, each at some 15 to 19 kilotons of CO2 per year per capita, are more than twice China’s output of less than eight kilotons per capita per year.
If one compares a rich Canadian driving round in his Hummer whilst the average Chinese might be lucky to own a bicycle, we can understand that statistic.
Another issue which Morgan omits is the fact that in the 1980s, Alberta’s gas processing industry missed a golden opportunity to reduce its CO2 emissions through co-generation.
I was a Professional Engineer in that industry in that decade, and a group of us were dedicated to improved gas plant efficiency. Co-generation options in Alberta were abundant and had reasonable economic payback, but nearly every time, oil and gas CEOs opted to spend their money drilling more wells.
Neville C. Hircock
P. Eng (retired)
Qualicum Beach
Open Vancouver Island with another city
In 1960, Brasil moved its capital from Rio de Janeiro inland to the newly created city of Brasilia. This move was made to open up the country which had hitherto amassed all of its larger cities in proximity to the Atlantic Ocean.
Here on Vancouver Island, I am not suggesting moving our capital city, but rather begin planning and eventually building a sizeable city north and inland from Comox to entice families to locate there.
The immediate advantage would be to decrease the current influx of people looking to find residence in the vastly and quickly becoming pressure-cooker that the lower Island is starting to contend with.
This suggestion would provide large-scale and long-term employment opportunities, lower building costs, decrease if not eliminate homelessness, and maintain the City of Victoria as the mecca it currently is.
Eric J. Ronse
Shawnigan Lake
Great experience at three hospitals
My husband was recently transferred to Royal Jubilee Hospital from our home in Tofino. He received excellent care and thankfully is back home, recovering .
The emergency staff were excellent in their care and professional demeanour amid the chaos of so many patients! Recovery team and Seventh Floor staff are caring and professional!
With so many I see complaining about our health care we have nothing but respect for the care we received from emergency in Tofino, emergency in Nanaimo, and then in Victoria.
Lastly we found the wonderful Heart House! A non-profit home for out-of-town patients and spouses.
Clean large rooms and common areas, as well as tastefully decorated. It certainly helped ease the burden while waiting for the operation.
Camilla and Ray Thorogood
Tofino
End burning permits, consider air quality
A recent letter writer raised the issue of bylaw enforcement and the futility of having bylaws that are not enforced.
I am vexed by this issue in a different area but it reinforces the point.
Saanich is one of the few municipalities still allowing burning of garden waste. The cost of a permit is $10.
The burning season begins on Oct. 16 and there are specific guidelines that need to be met for safety. There is a limited size, need to be in attendance continually and have fire suppression equipment at hand.
Given the air quality issues we are all enduring I find it hard to understand why this practice is still allowed. The municipality will pick up garden waste and there is an easily accessible site to deposit it if you wish.
The fires are most often larger than allowed, unattended and virtually never is there a fire suppression strategy evident.
The fire department has a number to call for bylaw complaints but they are usually too busy. I also feel that there are better things for them to do such as put out real fires.
The most appropriate solution would be for Saanich to implement a permanent ban on such burning with a significant fine attached for breaches. Other options are readily available and at this juncture my lungs and those of all residents will thank them for it.
Jim Dooner
Saanich
Major changes needed for post-secondary
As long as various levels of government continue to underfund Canadian universities, colleges and secondary schools, these institutions will remain addicted to the massively higher fees paid by international students that enable them to balance their budgets while well-qualified Canadian students often find themselves fighting for fewer and fewer spots.
Given the alarming shortage of skilled workers in many industries (including health care) along with the apparent inability of the Canadian immigration system to process applications from skilled workers as quickly as they did in past decades, there needs to be a massive overhaul of the way secondary and post-secondary education are financed — including the implementation of quotas for foreign students — in order to open up more places to Canadian students who plan on staying and working here.
Ann Jessey
Qualicum Beach
Consumers need help with grocery prices
When asked if the federal government was satisfied with the grocery chains commitment to stabilize prices, the industry minister indicated that it was an “ongoing process.”
The finance minister added that tax measures are still an option.
Grocery chains have used inflation as cover for price increases that have exceeded inflation. These increases led to record profits.
Canadian households are finding it more and more difficult to afford necessities. The government’s wait-and-see approach will not make it any easier.
Kip Wood
Nanaimo
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