Wednesday, August 8, 2012 - The Morning Star A9
www.vernonmorningstar.com
Letters
EDITOR: GLENN MITCHELL
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PHONE: 550-7920
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E-MAIL: letters@vernonmorningstar.com
Business plan required
A
n open letter to my MLA Eric Foster and Minister responsible Rich Coleman. I have been following the various news articles in the paper, and clips on TV regarding the Liberal government's proposed selling off of the BC Liquor Distribution Branch. I have read articles in The Morning Star where Mr. Foster supports his government's decision to privatize and as late as yesterday another article protesting the sale. If you will bear with me, I would like to compare the government to a business, where, I as a shareholder (a taxpayer) have an investment and thus should have a say prior to the selling of this very profitable holding. I quote the LDB distribution and retail system contributed a net $4.3 billion to our government coffers in the last five years, a pretty sizable contribution in my mind. I have heard no business case from you my representative to educate this taxpayer to why this is a sound business venture. This makes me nervous as I have never NO CHANGES As if the Colorado theatre shooting wasn’t shocking enough, even more shocking is to realize that since the shooting at Columbine High School (plus other locations including Canada) nothing has changed. Despite Michael Moore’s film about the ease with which guns are obtained, politicians still argue that nothing would improve if gun sales were banned. And the Harper government’s elimination of the long gun registry is simply more of the same. Arguments rage over what causes the violence, yet the topic of purchasing guns and bullets is carefully avoided. Well-stocked gun shops appear to sell lethallooking weapons, and no doubt they are in business because the purchases are legal. The number of deaths by shooting has increased, and the sad truth is (and I quote): “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you always got.” Politicians argue that nothing
seen an elected official with a strong financial plan not want to share the value of said strategy with taxpayers and how much the province will financially through increased revenues following the sale. So, I must question, where is the busi-
can be done. But doing nothing, standing by and wringing our hands, has never been a useful option. In legal terms this is “wilful neglect”. If we’re not part of the solution we’re part of the problem. Jim Elderton COLUMN RIGHT ON Congratulations to Richard Rolke for his recent column, “Falkland deserves better,” pointing out Okanagan-Shuswap MP Colin Mayes’ disinterest in the removal of Falkland from the new North Okanagan-Shuswap riding under proposed federal redistribution boundaries. It’s clear from Mayes’ comments that Falkland’s fate doesn’t interest him. He’s happy to ignore the long-standing commercial, employment, financial, professional service and historical ties that bind Falkland and Vernon. If the residents of Falkland share little community of interest with the folks in Princeton and Summerland and would be forced
ness plan and why has this not been shared with us? If you want public support, please show the taxpayers how this plan will increase income to the taxpayers over the existing system? This decision is significant in my mind
to travel to West Kelowna to meet with their new Central OkanaganCoquihalla Member of Parliament, Colin Mayes is okay with that. “We have to carve up ridings somehow,” he says blandly. But we shouldn’t be surprised that Mayes finds Falkland’s concerns boring. He seems to find the whole matter of meeting with constituents and hearing about their issues boring. Just last year, challenged during an election all-candidates meeting in Vernon about his unavailability to residents of the riding, Mayes said, “If you can’t see me, it’s obvious, the job is 132 days in Ottawa.” Clearly, he doesn’t get it. Mr. Mayes, the job is not “132 days in Ottawa,” it’s 365 days a year of sensitivity to the needs of your constituents and action on their behalf. I think we can all understand how dreary must be the life of any backbench supporter of the “Harper Government.” It must, indeed, be boring to
and has long-term impacts on our province's finances and possibly significant social impacts. Please, before you move further in the process, be respectful of taxpayers and put in place some form of public consultation at the earliest possible time. I have heard repeatedly that we as a province must be fiscally responsible and we do not have monies to support financial demands and interests, i.e. example of late from teachers. Well, I as a taxpayer do not wish to risk losing that $4.3 billion in the future as it pays for a lot of our children's education, health care and other critical services us the taxpayers want you as our representatives to manage wisely and in our best interest. I will continue to follow the news and sincerely hope you take some timely actions that will address the above concerns and demonstrate this is a well thought out strategy we will all benefit from and not a simple result of insider political lobbying as suggested in other news articles. E. Klassen
be only a small cog in the Harper propaganda machine, representing not the people of this constituency but, instead, the interests of Steven Harper’s distorted version of conservatism. If Colin Mayes is bored with his role as Member of Parliament, he needs either to quit or wake up and get on with the tasks he was elected to carry out. Retiring on the job is not an option. Roy A. Derrick ENOUGH ALREADY A roar approaches, getting louder. How much more can we take? This letter should take up a small space, which would be a lot quieter than our little city is. While you attempt to control the population, viz. chain saws, how about the ear-splitting and bone-shaking antics of certain motorcycles at all hours? Ours is peace, theirs is noise. Love your neighbours – put a muffler on it. Besides, the motor will last a lot longer that way. P. Drought
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