Letters to The Vancouver Sun, Feb. 11, 2020: Liberal party doesn't have the moral high ground on ICBC
Credit to Author: Carolyn Soltau| Date: Tue, 11 Feb 2020 02:00:57 +0000
I can understand why personal-injury lawyers are unhappy at the thought of no-fault car insurance as it will cause them to have to cut back on TV ads and most likely give more thought to their own personal spending as the litigation cash cow gets put out to pasture where it belongs. These lawyers are a big part of the ICBC financial problem and it’s time this issue got corrected.
Andrew Wilkinson calling for the government ” … to open up the auto-insurance sector to private competition …” is a demonstration of how little he thinks of the electorate. For sixteen years his Liberal party was in government and they made no move toward private insurance, rather they milked ICBC at every chance without any concern for the impact this would have on the economic health of the corporation or what this action would do to rates the public would have to pay as a consequence.
Neither he nor the members of his party have any moral ground upon which to stand on the issue of ICBC but they don’t think the voters will remember. This voter will and I hope many others will as well.
Dan Peebles, Langley
Re:B.C. report criticized for not consulting industry group
The main criticism of the recent report from the Office of the Seniors Advocate by Daniel Fontaine of the B.C. Care Providers Association appears to be that his association wasn’t consulted. However, a read of the report shows that the advocate was reviewing documents and financial reports that are on public record, many of them supplied by the association’s members.
The report is quick to point out that there are inconsistencies and inadequacies in reporting requirements between various health authorities. This means the public can’t get a clear view of how $1.4 billion of taxpayer money is spent every year. I think the provincial government should establish provincewide consistent standards of reporting. The article says, “the report said care aides in for-profit homes earn up to $16.85 an hour.” In fact, the report says that was the “lowest confirmed wage rate” (Page 28). It’s significantly less that the standard hourly rate of $23.48 negotiated by the Health Employers Association but Fontaine would rather it be compared with a rate of $21 per hour. But he fails to explain why the lowest confirmed rate is 20 per cent lower than that. No wonder there are shortages of staff.
There is no mention in the article of how care-home properties are subsidized by taxpayers for construction, mortgages, repairs and the like as documented in the advocate’s report. If we are paying for real estate and buildings, doesn’t it make sense that those amounts get repaid if the property is sold or is no longer a care home? Maybe, taxpayers should insist that we are the owners to the extent of the investments we make? On the other hand, maybe we should remove profit-making and property values from the care service anyway.
Stuart Alcock, Vancouver
Re:Coverage of female sports remains inadequate
I heartily agree with letter-writer Wendie Nelson of Burnaby. The Vancouver Sun’s coverage of women’s athletic accomplishments is a joke. I don’t know what a female athlete has to do to make the front page of the sports section if Christine Sinclair and Bianca Andreescu don’t cut it.
Thank you for today’s front-page photo of Burnaby’s Emily Bausback, but let’s see women sharing the spotlight in the actual sports section as well please.
Errin Morrison, Port Moody
I couldn’t agree more with Wendie Nelson’s letter. After many fruitless searches of the sports section for news of female accomplishments I’m almost tempted to cancel my subscription.
It’s no wonder that pro women’s teams have a difficult time attracting fans and funding with such minimal coverage.
Sandra Schemmer, West Vancouver
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