Vancouver Sun letters to the editor for Thursday, Aug. 29, 2019
Credit to Author: Gordon Clark| Date: Thu, 29 Aug 2019 01:00:09 +0000
The intolerant and authoritarian left have once again shut down free speech in Canada by pressuring Pattison Outdoor Advertising to remove the controversial ad, Say NO to Mass Immigration, from its billboards. The ad echoes the political ideology of Maxime Bernier and the People’s Party of Canada.
In a true democracy, free speech does not mean the right to agree with the intolerant and authoritarian left. On the contrary, free speech means the right to disagree, even if that offends some people. Besides, listening to others engenders learning.
Let Bernier have his say and let voters pass judgment on him. That is how a true democracy works.
Jack Pearce, Vancouver
University of Calgary philosophy professor Nicole Wyatt’s op-ed implies that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau would have treated former attorney-general Jody Wilson-Raybould differently had she been male.
I cannot believe that anybody, regardless of sex, who didn’t share Trudeau’s agenda would not have been subjected to the same pressures and left our prime minister with the same feelings.
Garry Stevenson, Coquitlam
As of Aug. 20, Thailand became the first country to ban smoking cigarettes inside private homes. Light up in Thailand and you could find yourself prosecuted for domestic abuse, due to the harm from second-hand smoke.
During the deliberations over the legalization of “smoked” marijuana in Canada, efforts were made to amend the legislation to ban the smoking of pot in homes where children reside. The Trudeau government outright dismissed the smoking concerns put forward by child advocates.
Thailand’s lead on smoking policy should be followed by other countries, including Canada. Canada must do a much better job of protecting the innocent from smoking in the home.
Pamela McColl, Vancouver
The article on Page H3 in last Saturday’s paper says it all. It is the real-estate developers and wealthy people in foreign lands who are responsible for the now ugly look of the once beautiful Vancouver landscape.
When will this folly end?
Sally Mussallem, Vancouver
It is astonishing that you published an op-ed claiming that Russia (as opposed to Soviet Union) began the Second World War as Hitler’s ally. The pact your contributor referred to, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of 1939, was not an alliance but a neutrality agreement by which each side pledged no attacks against each other nor ally with the other.
How distorted a picture your contributor presented.
Second, had it not been for the 27 million Russians who gave their lives during the Second World War, Europeans would now be speaking German.
Miroslav Baros, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield
To sum up the problems of dead trees and broken sidewalks, they rarely complement each other. Trees that grow large trunks will ruin any sidewalk. Sidewalks that cover all the tree roots will choke trees from lack of moisture.
Slow drip bags are useless when roots spread out three to six metres in all directions. Trees love moisture, sidewalks don’t. If a type of tree needs nutrients from decomposing, sidewalks with no open grass around it will not suffice.
I still see too small a hole built for a tree that will eventually outgrow it. Many municipalities plant trees near roads and in centre medians.
Stuart Walker, Central Saanich
In Saturday’s paper, there was an article suggesting that cyclists get a map of the best breweries around town to which they can cycle.
Each year, millions of dollars are spent encouraging people not to drink and drive. Are intoxicated cyclists no less a danger to themselves and to others than a drunk driver? I think it was irresponsible to promote such tours.
Robert Fairweather, West Vancouver
What a sad day for Air Transat, an independent airline with excellent service and lower fares, that it is being bought by Air Canada. Canadians will now have no alternative when finding cheaper fares to Europe. Air Canada will now be able to charge whatever it likes.
Jill Horn, West 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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