Squandered inheritance from Flanders Fields
Have we forgotten the crosses between the poppies row on row?
And the men who loved and were loved that lie in Flanders Fields?
The torch from their failing hands have we held high?
I pray we don’t break faith with those who died.
Our nation earned its identity and its place in history because of honest, brave men who were willing to pay the ultimate price for our freedom.
Today we are told that we have no national identity as Canadians.
If we don’t remember our past we won’t know who we are in the future.
Our nation is under an onslaught of deception and lies that has permeated every level of society. We are lied to about things that cannot be seen to create fear in order to deceive, manipulate and control us.
These things are not what those in Flanders Fields died for, they died for our freedom.
Let us take up our quarrel with the foe that is dividing us and destroying our legacy as Canadians. We have the ability to govern ourselves without outside influences, to be a free sovereign nation.
Now is the time to hold the torch high, to resist those who wish to steal and destroy all that we have.
If we do not, those who lie in Flanders, Normandy, Holland and many other places shall not sleep, and we will have squandered our inheritance to our great shame.
May God have mercy on us.
Dan Fitzgerald
Victoria
Less patience means transportation woes
As a long-time resident of Victoria, a cyclist, pedestrian and vehicle driver, I have been noticing over the past years a steady increase in population and therefore in all modes of transportation (including vehicles … gas, electric or hybrids).
This creates more congestion and more likelihood of conflicts or, more seriously, injuries or even death.
There are increasingly passionate letters to editors from vehicle drivers, pedestrians and cyclists. The increased usage, alongside a post-COVID lockdown decrease in patience and tolerance, is building to a crescendo of unhappy travellers.
In all modes of transportation, there will always be those who make unlawful and at times dangerous decisions.
As a senior, I hope to have many more years of getting around using all forms of transportation, so will be even more diligent with being aware of my environment and others.
I also respectfully ask that all levels of governments have a good look at how to deal with this increasing usage, lack of monitoring and decreasing tolerance.
Jennie Sutton
Oak Bay
Khalistan is not a Canadian issue
I am told by friends who live in the Punjab that there is little interest among Sikhs who live in India for an independent state of Khalistan.
If expat Canadians were to hold referendums abroad about the separation of one of our provinces or territories there would be outrage here. So why do expat Sikhs feel it’s OK to vote on the separation of Indian territory?
No wonder the Indian government and Indians in India are also outraged.
Are all those who vote going to pack up and go back to live in India if there was a Khalistan? Some would, but a lot would not.
Indians in India should and will be the only ones determining their own fate.
Ann Campbell
Victoria
Don’t be afraid to decline development
When we first came to Victoria in 1971, we were amazed at its parks, greenspace and recreational facilities. Since then, all that has changed is the population.
No increase in recreational facilities, but demands to increase population density.
What is wrong with NIMBYism when all you want is preservation of lifestyle? What is wrong in saying no to development?
G.R. Greig
Victoria
Short-term rental strategy needs tweaking
Premier David Eby and Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon should be commended for cracking down on burgeoning short-term rentals as they work to address the housing crisis.
Their intent to control this market is welcome news; however, the proposed regulatory changes for short-term rentals seem abrupt and ill-conceived, not because of the political will, but likely due to lack of bureaucratic astuteness.
Unfortunately, the extensive layers of hierarchical controls in our bureaucracy do not allow creative ideas to readily get integrated into public policy.
During COVID, I have had the opportunity to avail short-term rental in the Janion and Yates on Yates for about two years for remote work.
Due to an uncertain time frame for the remote work, I could not commit to a 12-month lease for an apartment, and neither could I afford more than $300 per night for most hotels in summer.
Between the expensive hotel accommodation and the one-year lease required for most condo rentals, short-term rentals serve a specific housing need that should be recognized in any proposed regulatory changes.
Rather than an outright ban on short-term rentals across most municipalities as is being proposed, individuals with a principal residence should be allowed to own no more than one short-term rental so that this intermediate housing market continues to exist to support tourism and ad-hoc short-term housing needs.
Also, the government should introduce competition in the rental market by reducing the lease requirements for all forms of housing from 12 months to three months.
This will likely slow down the growth in rental cost for short-term rentals and will put downward pressure on rental rates for long-term rentals as owners seek to negotiate potential long-term tenancies with their tenants.
Paramjit S. Rana
Victoria
Singapore development offers great benefits
I was a permanent resident of sa国际传媒 for almost 11 years before I moved back to Singapore again in 2022. Canadians have been the most accepting and wonderful people I have experienced in my life.
In my view, the housing situation emergency has been hugely created by Canadians themselves: From the people who have always owned their property to those who have aggravated this with a modern-day sin of investing into another property or multiple properties, the elitist developers and lastly mayors and council members.
The Roundhouse at Bayview is the perfect example of this. Fifteen years of waiting? For what? Sightlines?
Any other reasoning is a NIMBY excuse. In Singapore, when development takes place there will always be a loss of sightline, but the benefit outweighs every other reasoning.
And this is the same for this development. It is rare to have a developer envision all levels of humanity on this large scale. Why this has been stalled is beyond comprehension.
sa国际传媒, and Victoria will always be blessed to have beautiful nature and beautiful sightlines. Let humanity prevail. People have forgotten to give and take.
Singapore would not have been where it is today if the citizens complained about their sightlines.
Jasveer Bal
Nil, Singapore
Equal rights, equal laws for all in a single state
There appears to be confusion about the word “antisemitic.” If one condemns anything or everything pertaining to Jewish people or the Jewish religion, one is being antisemitic.
However, if one criticizes the current Israeli massacre of Gazans, one is condemning an action that is already declared illegal under the Geneva Convention.
The tragic loss of Israeli and Palestinian lives resulting from the brutal attack by Hamas is reprehensible, but it is important to remember that most Gazans do not belong to the military wing of Hamas. They should not be made to suffer retribution for what they do not condone.
Surely, the best solution to this ongoing catastrophe is to form one democratic state in historic Palestine with equal rights and equal laws for all citizens without consideration of ethnicity or religion.
To the best of my knowledge, that would reflect the fundamental values of Judaism.
Barrie Webster
Victoria
Offensive slogan seen in Victoria shops
At least two Victoria shops flaunt this sign: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” It appears to express support for the Palestinian people.
But it really calls for the violent destruction of Israel. A Palestine extending from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea would include the legitimate state of Israel, eliminating the Jews.
Even the “moderate” Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas has promised that not one Jew would live in the new state of Palestine. That’s why the phrase is deployed by terrorist groups like Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
For the Anti-Defamation League, “Usage of this phrase has the effect of making members of the Jewish and pro-Israel community feel unsafe and ostracized. It is important to note that demanding justice for Palestinians, or calling for a Palestinian state, should not mean, as this hateful phrase posits, denying the right of the State of Israel to exist.”
The Austrian government is considering a law that would make the slogan a criminal offence, inciting murder. Austria remembers how the Holocaust began, even if many among us apparently don’t.
The slogan is especially offensive in the demonstrations after the Hamas atrocities. It is especially worrisome to find the slogan promoted by university students and even faculty.
Free speech is no excuse for the rhetoric that is already leading to physical assaults on Jews and a climate poisoned against them.
Remember that Israel accepted the two-state solution in 1948. The Palestinians rejected it because they were intent upon destroying the Jews.
As they still are, they rejected without negotiation the six offers Israel has since made for defining peaceful borders.
Against this sign, we should aim for civilization not genocide.
Maurice Yacowar
Victoria
When we can’t criticize mass killing
This is how messed up the world is.
If I criticize Israel’s slaughter of 8,000 Palestinians, I’m automatically considered antisemitic.
Something wrong there.
Don Duvall
Gordon Head, Saanich
This attitude is a canary in the coal mine
Last week, I attended a rally hosted by several pro-Palestinian groups at UVic. The organizers began their angry rhetoric with assurances that they were anti-Zionist, not antisemitic and that they did not want to foment antisemitism.
This was difficult to believe, surrounded as I was by angry people holding signs that read Intifada Until Victory and listening as the speakers led chants of “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
Make no mistake, both the signs and the chants can mean only one thing, the death of all Jews in Israel.
I am angered, saddened and fearful when I see groups of university students calling for the death of all the Jews in Israel. Are Canadian Jews next?
This must stop. Our universities cannot become havens for hatred masquerading as free speech as was the case in Iran as it fell to the ayatollahs.
While it is obvious that such hatred strikes fear into the heart of Jews who are assaulted with it, all Canadians should be fearful.
When it comes to the health of a society, Jew hatred is a canary in the coal mine, it is a harbinger of impending decline of the society that tolerates it. Recent examples include Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.
Will this happen here? Let’s all hope not, but there is a reason that miners took canaries into the depths as they toiled. Put an end to Jew hatred now, if only for the love of our country sa国际传媒.
Jeff Kushner
Past president, Jewish Federation of Victoria and Vancouver Island
Questioning coroner on cause of crash
Re: “Memorial at Kennedy Lake for paramedic who drowned,” Oct. 18.
The part of the highway where the ambulance went over the edge and into Kennedy Lake was one of the most dangerous sections of the road to Tofino/Ucluelet.
As I have driven the road many times, I have had a few “close calls” where I had to slam on the brakes going around that corner to avoid being hit by a semi as it was ascending the treacherous hill.
Not that I blame a semi for pushing the ambulance over the cliff, but I disagree with the coroner saying it was “likely” that Jo-Ann Fuller fell asleep and missed the corner.
Before the recent major upgrade to that section, the amount of sharp hairpin turns leading to that spot made one pay attention. I believe it is unfair to assume this professional paramedic fell asleep at the wheel.
Ask any resident of the West Coast, and they would agree that this particular section of the road was the most dangerous when a semi was trying to make this sharp turn and still maintain momentum.
Large trucks had often gone over the line, and thus why I had to slam on the brakes. Blaming Fuller for falling asleep exonerates the trucks, and possibly the truck that caused the ambulance to leave the road.
Thankfully, now that this section of highway is improved, we can hope that this accident will never happen again, and we can celebrate the lives of the two brave and competent paramedics taken from us too soon.
Mur Meadows
Victoria
Conservatives offer the best alternative
sa国际传媒 United Leader Kevin Falcon and his so-called opposition to the NDP is hardly noticeable. He should rebrand his organisation as NDP Lite.
The Conservatives are connecting with right-of-centre voters with their policies on getting tough on crime, housing and protection of women’s rights.
Malcolm Berry
Nanaimo
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