Vancouver Sun letters to the editor for Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2019
Credit to Author: Gordon Clark| Date: Tue, 27 Aug 2019 01:00:47 +0000
Daphne Bramham’s Aug. 19 column on Communist China’s blatant attempt to undermine and subvert Canadian democracy is a significant contribution to the topic. The insidious and outrageous efforts of this awful dictatorship has been told in detail in two very important recent books: Michael Pillsbury’s The Hundred Year Marathon and former Postmedia columnist Jonathan Manthorpe’s Claws of the Panda: Beijing’s Campaign of Influence and Intimidation in Canada.
They document the evilness of this new empire, which wants to replace the U.S. as the world hegemon and uses extensive fifth columnists to accomplish its ends and advance its interests. Bramham documents this policy very well in relation to the attempts by the people of Hong Kong to assert democratic rights against the evil empire. This story needs to be told over and over.
Red China is not benign, it is not our friend, and we should not be seeking to do more business with it. Would we have welcomed “industrialists” or a massive influx of indoctrinated students from Russia in the middle of the Cold War? Yet that is what we are deliberately doing today with China.
Barry Kirkham, Vancouver
Any new study on North Shore traffic should begin with the logic behind the continuous approval of huge housing developments in North and West Vancouver. The civil servants who approved the permits for the hundreds of new units now being built at the bottom of Capilano Road should present their traffic planning for the next 10 years at a public hearing.
I for one would like to see further scrutiny on how they modelled traffic increases on the bridge before the developers disappear into the sunset with the profits whilst leaving the residents to suffer the consequences.
Robert Nock, North Vancouver
It is bad enough that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been found to have violated the Conflict of Interest Act by pressuring then-attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould to overrule the federal prosecution service and offer SNC-Lavalin an out-of-court settlement. What I find incredulous is that Trudeau accepts the report and takes full responsibility, but does not agree with the conclusion. He says he won’t apologize for trying to save jobs even though it was unethical and possibly illegal.
SNC-Lavalin is a large company and I wouldn’t want to see any jobs lost either. But they have to play by the rules and stop trying to get around the legal system for the crimes they allegedly have committed by lobbying their Liberal friends. A good way to accomplish this is to have Trudeau resign and have somebody with some integrity take over the Liberal party. Wilson-Raybould comes to mind. Only then will we see “Sunny Ways”.
I voted Liberal in 2015 to kick out Conservative leader Stephen Harper. This year, I am going Green.
Michelle Clayton, Coquitlam
A short time ago, I received a leaflet from the Liberal party, advertising “principled leadership”. Shortly thereafter, the Dion report came out. Poor timing.
Perhaps the party should consider recalling the leaflets, although not before consultation with SNC-Lavalin.
Gerald Lecovin, Vancouver
I am a huge fan of the sharing economy, but as soon as the sharing goes beyond me and my new Craigslist friends, it becomes a business that must compete with the same courses to pass, rules, regulations, permits and insurance that existing businesses and professionals in the industry must live by.
If ride-sharing is to enter the market as a business, those companies should have to jump through the same hoops and pay the same fees and insurance as the rest of the taxi professionals in the marketplace. If not, I am going to start advertising myself as a doctor. I have been dispensing health and medical advice for years. At least a dozen people would line up to say that my diagnosis and counsel resolved their health issues. Who needs a medical license, courses and malpractice insurance?
As soon as the sharing economy becomes a business, they should follow the same rules as the existing industry.
Jillian Skeet, Vancouver
Letters to the editor should be sent to sunletters@vancouversun.com. The editorial pages editor is Gordon Clark, who can be reached at gclark@postmedia.com.
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