Following are emailed reader responses to stories or letters to the editor for the third week of April 2024. They have been edited slightly for readability. 

Got something you want to add? Send an email to editor Marshall Jones at mjones@infonews.ca.

UBCO not releasing engineering reports for downtown excavation that caused evacuation

"Disgraceful to say the building is not the reason for structure instability, when, right from the get go, it was causing damage. Those highly paid Kelowna councillors should be halting this build. Nothing makes sense in this world, especially when things are so obvious." — Nellie Walraven

"Accountability seems to only exist for those without deep pockets." — Dick Dawson

Victoria backs off hefty council wage hike; Kelowna pushes ahead

Editor, InfoNews

On April 22, three of four Kelowna councillors; Ron Cannan, Gordon Lovegrove, and Mohini Singh, failed to have their opposition to the hefty wage increases corrected in the final vote.

But even if the correction had been successful, I think the chances of any member of Kelowna city council being re-elected in the October 2026 municipal election, including Mayor Tom Dyas, are slim.

Having said that, if any of the four councillors are planning to run again, and want to increase their odds of winning a seat, he or she could:

A) Publicly commit in a letter to the editor to donate their wage increase each month to a different charity or non-profit group like; Amnesty International Canada, BC SPCA, Canadian Cancer Society, Doctors Without Borders, Food Banks Canada, Habitat For Humanity, John Howard Society, Kelowna Stands With Ukraine, Kelowna Women's Shelter, Mamas for Mamas, Moms Stop the Harm, Okanagan 4 Ukraine, Operation Smile, PETA, The East Meets West Children's Foundation, United Way, World Vision, etc.

B) Post proof of the donation each month on their website, Facebook page, Twitter, or Instagram account. 

For example, to show that the monthly donation has been received by the charity or non-profit group, a scan or PDF of the donation receipt should be publicly posted for all the doubting Thomases to read, like me!

Those councillors who do not wish to receive this pay increase must notify the city clerk’s office by May 14.

David Buckna
Kelowna

BC Conservatives hold upper hand against BC United: poll

"My thought is that people, voters, want to hear the opposite of what is actual reality in life. We are in for a major problem if voters do not wake up and realize that the present governments spending is totally dooming us well into the future with huge deficits. Whatever the BC Conservatives will do we haven’t a clue about. Policies, what policies or actions are they talking about at present? They are just riding on the coattails of the federal conservatives. Voters need to wake up.

Where is the business investment in our province? It seems to have disappeared not just over the mountains but over that border below us. Don’t people realize that? Sawmills disappearing, mines gone, badly run crown businesses such as BC Ferries run by an NDP’r who couldn’t manage her own portfolios. Man, we are in trouble. I could go on but it is too depressing." — C. Comben

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Dear Editor,

Polling voters today has very little value as our politicians and the media are more concerned about being woke and politically correct, denying voters an open forum to discuss a number of issues that could make radical changes to our beautiful province, including the controversial issues of truth and reconciliation that currently is considered taboo.

Attempting to subdivide our Crown Land Act behind closed doors is an unforgivable action that would change our province forever.

The root cause of the current housing crisis is Trudeau’s half-a-million-immigrants-a-year without a complementary housing policy, and should not be a green light for our provincial Premier Eby to rewrite or cancel any of the laws of our province.

He has no right to arbitrarily cancel our Official Community Plans (OCP), that are an absolutely essential document for all municipalities, to facilitate orderly growth and development.

To invade our communities and re-zone our homes and properties to increase densities should be considered criminal trespass, as it will seriously undermine our fee simple right to own the land our homes and businesses are built on, and seriously devalues those properties.

To offer homeowners forgivable loans of up to $40,000 to build secondary suites and rent them out below market rates is incomprehensible, and Eby has no legal or moral right to siphon all that money out of BC taxpayers' and homeowners' pockets to finance those loans and losses.

Allowing voters to debate those issues in public forums will change the polls significantly, as the political parties will be obliged to reveal and debate how they would respond to those challenges.

If voters fully understood the consequences of what Eby has been doing, and is planning to do, NDP candidates would have a tough time getting elected.

Should our politicians and the media allow the people their human and democratic rights to engage in a traditional open and public pre-election dialogue the polls would become more meaningful.

Andy Thomsen
Kelowna, BC

Kamloops RCMP knew 'suspicious debris' was a body long before informing the public

"They work for us and the people deserve to hear the truth at the time." — Diane Courneyeur

"Hello Marshall, I am no supporter of the RCMP though my brother in law retired from the force, he is not very personable frankly.  I consider the force to be a racist, colonialist construct that defends pipelines and abuses people who are First Nations defending the land from invasion and from a racist, colonialist, court system." — Patrick Longworth

"Yes, it is extremely disturbing that any of our law enforcement agencies should be deliberately misleading the paying public.  We entrust them to protect and provide security and accurately report their findings. This situation may create further distrust between citizens and law enforcement. Thank you for disclosing and requesting feedback." — Jenny M

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"They need to be transparent about all crimes. I find this problem with both major and minor crimes, ie: a business was broken into or windows smashed on street. What’s the big secret about that?"

Karen Gunn

Crown seeks 5 years prison for Kelowna man who distributed video of him raping young girl

"5 years? That's it?" — Bonnie Derry

"55 years in the gulag hard labour with Donald trump where evil belongs." — Mark S Windsor

'INCENDIARY': Crown wants protestor David Lindsay in jail for a year

Hello Marshall,

I appreciate your request to respond to your article about David Lindsay. The following is my response.

In my opinion, there was no action that David performed that could rightfully be qualified as assault. If anything, it would be the security guards that expanded their chests to move into him.

As far as the police being in close proximity: if the police were not in close proximity, the protesters would have done what we always do and follow David’s advice of remaining peaceful at all times.

As far as sentencing goes, Mr. Grabavac seems to think that the Judge should use her imagination and consider what would have happened...if the sentence is going to be based on Judge Hendrick’s imagination, then this becomes a verdict based on imagination rather than fact and I think the Judge is more intelligent than to consider that suggestion.

Pretty much everything Mr. Grabavac suggests is based on what could have happened and what might potentially happen in the future - all of which is just a mind game and not at all factual.

Although the two security guards claimed to experience long-term repercussions from having given their testimonies, one would be wise to consider the possibility that what was said was overly exaggerated and not at all in alignment with what was witnessed by the protesters. I think Mr. Grabavac is grasping at straws because there was no assault. I believe this, for the most part, is just a political move to attempt to stop the rallies altogether, which is apparently what the government would like to see happen.

David did not use physical force at all, so the statement made by Mr. Grabavac ‘he would clearly use force to further his agenda’ is an outright lie.

My experience of David is that he is very trustworthy.

Sincerely,

Arlene Rannelli
Kelowna, B.C.

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In domestic abuse, strangulation is a 'hidden' predictor of femicide, experts say

Among other abuses, my ex-partner of many years strangled me twice. Both times, I wanted to report but neglected to do so due to the faintness of any markings on my neck after the first attack and the lack of markings after the second. However, I did have a sore throat for a few days after each occurrence. Had I known 100% this was a result of the strangulation and had I believed the RCMP would have known this, (creating the potential for a charge), I would have reported. 

The second reason I hesitated to report is that my ex is a highly-respected member of the community who also happens to be a very skilled and crafty covert narcissist (discovered after the fact), whom I knew would attack me & my reputation if I did so. Despite my fears, I sensed another attack would result in my death so, gratefully, was able to summon the courage to leave despite the predicted repercussions. Sadly, leaving is not an option available to all women depending on their education level, life circumstances, support system, financial situation, and numerous other factors.

I'm not surprised to learn that strangulation is a leading factor in predicting spousal homicide and agree more education for all those involved in these kinds of crimes against women, including women themselves, is direly needed. I'm also continually disappointed in the lack of effective and meaningful consequences dolled out in all crimes against women (and children), including everything from sexual/physical assaults to homicides. The current old-school "men's club" attitude towards women must be stopped. Women deserve to know we're valued, supported, and protected in a society that still treats us unfairly. These savage crimes against women ruin the lives of a huge chunk of our population which cripples society as a whole. This is a complex issue that deserves far more attention than it currently receives.

Thank you,

Karen
(Editor's note: anonymity granted by request)

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