sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½

I’m an Airbnb host and here’s why

I wanted to relate some of the reasons I got out of renting long term and opted for Airbnb. The sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ government banned evictions during COVID and some bad tenants took advantage of it, knowing a landlord had no recourse.

This government policy put me and my home in jeopardy, and I can’t chance it happening again.

Then the government dictated a rental increase of only 1.5 per cent when inflation was running at nine per cent, guaranteeing a loss on my investment.

The government also changed the rental rules to include a possible penalty of 12 months’ rent to a departing tenant and anyone with experience dealing with the sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ Residential Tenancy Branch knows how biased it is toward tenants, putting even good owners at risk.

Airbnb didn’t “lure” my property onto the short-term rental market, the government forced me into it.

Now the same entitled government is drafting laws to try and take away my property rights to solve a problem they created by not permitting enough housing starts to keep up with population growth.

This is another in a long line of bad policy that has driven myself and others out of rental ownership. And in case anyone from the NDP government reads this, I will try and help: To fix the housing shortage, you need more money and people drawn into the sector, not driven from it.

Richard Green

Saanich

Suzuki not helping debate over the climate

Re: “Repeating climate truth until it sinks in,” commentary, Oct. 14.

When you have lived long enough to be less of a follower, the path less travelled is the bonus that comes with aging — particularly when voices like our illustrious David Suzuki demand an unquestioning acceptance that we dismantle our fossil fuel industry as soon as possible.

We are facing a recession. The “boomer” burden and huge debt servicing costs put us in a precarious position. Radical cuts in state services and higher taxes cannot be ignored.

Our treasury is the benefactor of oil and gas revenues that sustain much of our welfare programs, government pensions etc. Suzuki knows full well how fine this balance is and should be more careful not to endorse the hysteria being promoted by the prime minister’s office.

Not all the business community is at odds with Suzuki’s ideals. Gwyn Morgan and others state their case for rational compromise but Suzuki’s latest diatribe has a worrisome and fanatical drift.

Idealists have their fondness for solutions but the business world knows that “trade-offs” are what lead to survival.

Russell Thompson

Victoria

Nothing new about heading south for health

British Columbians have been paying privately for joint replacement surgery out of province for a long time.

In 2003 I spent $34,000 to have my hip replacement done in Vancouver, Washington. It was a mere four weeks from the first contact to the surgery date.

My sister had to take time off work to drive me there and back. The only assistance I received from the government was two ferry ride vouchers and three feet of exercise band. Oh, and a handful of basic physiotherapy sessions.

I received a phone call from VIHA 13 months post-op, telling me that they had a “timely” surgical date for me!

I was self-employed and had already been off work for six months before my private surgery as I could no longer stand to perform my physiotherapy work.

We do not “elect” to have arthritic joints … so please stop calling it “elective” surgery.

The health-care (a.k.a. “sick care”) system is broken and has been for a long time. We urgently need a much more proactive “health-care” system.

Jennie Sutton

Oak Bay

When MacPhail travels, does she use the ferry?

On the subject of good management and accountability, I have a question for Joy MacPhail, the sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ NDP’s most qualified choice to lead the board and fix sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ Ferries: When you travel back and forth on sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ Ferries business, as you often must, do you take the ferry at an average cost of $50, or are we paying for you to take the helicopter at $450?

Just curious.

(There’s one right answer.)

Stephen Ison

Victoria

Salt Spring ferry brings additional stress

Again the Salt Spring ferries have been cancelled due to crew shortage.

I regularly use this ferry as I have weekend obligations in Salt Spring. I can not express the frustration the cancellations cause people who need to make this journey. This is becoming a more regular occurrence. The public is simply thanked for their understanding, but no remedy, no solution or compensation is ever given.

On Saturday, the announcement that ferries for the rest of the day would be cancelled was made about seven minutes after the ferry had left Swartz Bay terminal on its 9 a.m. sailing.

I do not believe that sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ Ferries did not know about this before the ferry left the terminal. Had they told us before the ferry left, we could have left the terminal and made other arrangements.

However sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ Ferries did not want this and instead we were made to stress, and figure out accommodations on Salt Spring or decide to take the ferry from Vesuvius with all the other passengers and drive down the Malahat from Crofton, adding another hour and 15 minutes to the return journey, provided that ferry was not then overbooked. So, sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ government, go ahead and charge sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ Ferries for this. However, I feel it is taxpayers and sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ Ferries customers that will be paying for it in the end.

Francy Pesek

Central Saanich

Provocation, not policy in Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe has invoked the notwithstanding clause to traumatize children, and Alberta is apparently next.

Moe is trying to justify this nonsense under the banner of “parents’ rights,” as if children are the property of adults, and why?

To drive wedges between people in the so-called culture wars. This isn’t policy, it is provocation.

This isn’t the first time these provinces have used this clause to circumvent the rule of law in our country. Among other things, the governments of Alberta and Saskatchewan have used the notwithstanding clause to renege on their governments duty to compensate the victims of eugenics, to marginalize queer people by not allowing them to marry, to fund religious schools with public money, and to strip people of the right to collectively bargain.

Ultimately the citizens of these provinces are responsible for the policies of their government, are they holding them accountable?

No. Which means they support this policy, or they just don’t care, I am not sure which is worse. If we continue down this road, using the notwithstanding clause to erode the Constitution, is sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ even a country anymore?

How can we say that with a straight face when in Quebec they have language police, and religious freedom is denied, or when a child is not allowed to express themselves as they choose on the ­Prairies, and people have to worry about the legitimacy of their marriage?

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, who thinks we should all “just butt out,” has a slogan “sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ is broken.” Yes, it is, and people like him, and Moe, are the ones who have broken it.

Neil Dancer

Victoria

Loss of the time signal a punch in sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½’s gut

CBC Radio has stopped broadcasting the National Research Council official time signal.

What could be more uniquely Canadian than the-end-of-the-long-dash announcement that we’ve heard every day at the same time for the past 83 years — the longest-running program on our national airwaves?

For a few seconds of the CBC’s precious time, this faithful signal has unified Canadians, giving pause and delight to households from coast to coast since November 1939. We’d rather have it off by a few nanoseconds (a millionth of a second) than off the air. But excuse me, sorry to interrupt, you are kindly asked to gratefully accept this betrayal, this punch in the gut to your national identity.

If you don’t mind, please step aside while we take an axe to the Peace Tower clock on Parliament Hill.

It’s not enough that we have gutted your health-care system, massacred your forests, and broken all our electoral promises. We don’t have the time of day for you, but thank you for your time.

Over and out.

Anne Hansen

Victoria

Waiting, waiting unless the ferry is cancelled

Just read the Tuesday Raeside cartoon, and noted that I’m a waiter, too. Thousands and thousands of us waiters in Victoria. Speaking of which, I was driving out to Sidney on Monday to drop my grandson at school at about 8:45 a.m. and I noted the sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ Ferries highway sign: “Now ticketing 5 p.m., possible wait.”

That’s 5 p.m. at 9 in the morning! Unless it’s cancelled of course.

A.A. (Tony) Pollard

Saanich

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