Following are emailed reader responses to stories or letters to the editor for the third week of October 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.

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THOMPSON: How the MAGA Republican cult hopes to win the election

Well said. — Bonnie Derry, via iNFOnews.ca

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Former Kamloops lawyer 'misappropriated' $9,000, gets suspended

Ten months of suspension is a joke. He should be disbarred. — Colin Pritchard, via iNFOnews.ca

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Kelowna RCMP arrest senior 'pestering' officers at cop shop

Our RCMP have too much work to do than deal with people who do no not understand what they are doing. — Robert Bishop, via iNFOnews.ca

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Homeless people in Kamloops without shelter, basic resources fearful as winter approaches

Set up designated areas with commercial heaters, either donated or paid for by the city. Give them something warm to sleep by. Not the answer but a start. — Gary Donaldson, via iNFOnews.ca

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Middle East latest: UN mission in Lebanon is hit again by explosions

Although I totally understand why Israel believes they need to wipe out the terrorists running Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and others, attacking the United Nations is against everything ethical and Israel should be removed from the organization, in response to their actions. They no longer deserve to have our assistance or protection. — Dianne Jackson, via iNFOnews.ca

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Kelowna orchardist family win injunction against serial harasser

I foresee an application to find him in contempt, together with a sentence of 30 days in jail, in Mr. MacAskill’s early future. —William Mastop, via iNFOnews.ca

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A decade living a childhood dream: Vernon record store owner calls it a day

Great story. You rock Kelvin. — Mark S Windsor, via iNFOnews.ca

Top notch guy! We will all miss you, Kel! — Steph Bar, via iNFOnews.ca

Awesome, pretty sure we’d be friends. — Erwin Jands, via iNFOnews.ca

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Strange looking insect with stranger behaviour spotted in Kamloops

If they lessen the spider population, we need more of these things. I’ve never seen one. — Kate Camire, via iNFOnews.ca

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Man with prior assault convictions charged in Vancouver tourist beating

I am sure that this is a mental health issue. However, I note that we never read of someone like this attacking the largest guy on the bus, or going to the local MMA club to try to pick a fight. That never seems to happen. Mental illness appears to be able to co-exist with a sense of self preservation. — William Mastop, via iNFOnews.ca

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Kamloops 'mountain man' confronts hunters at gunpoint

People could have been killed because of the RCMPs negligence. It was also their responsibility to warn the public. These are the reasons many are questioning the usefulness of the RCMP. — Emille Currie, via iNFOnews.ca

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HOUSING CRISIS: What are mobile homes worth when a developer buys the land?

We live in Central Mobile Home Park and have for seven years. It is a little piece of paradise in this chaotic, busy city. We have over 300 trees that are large, old trees, not to mention raccoons, coyotes, and birds, all who live within the park. We walk our dogs amidst the songs of birds and friendly neighbours, many whom are our friends. It's a real community here. The sad reality is, Kerkhoff doesn’t care about anything except money, densifying every corner of Kelowna they can, thus making them more money. When will the City stand up to these developers and say no? The seniors, every last one of them, have paid their dues and property taxes for years. We need to be left alone without the threat of losing every bit of equity and dignity we have in our final years. I implore The City of Kelowna, and Mayor Dyas, to stop this development.  — Colleen Hanson, via iNFOnews.ca

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'Senseless' BC killing earns no jail time and a conditional release to Kamloops

Why are there no consequences for murder, especially when the murderer confesses? The justice system is so useless. — Sandra Deutch, via iNFOnews.ca

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iN RESPONSE to newsletter editorial, Monday, Oct. 11

Dear Editor,

Our provincial political system has been condensed into two political parties, one of them emerging virtually out of nowhere like an invasion.

Eby’s attempt to resolve those messy and costly Truth and Reconciliation claims has become a complete disaster, as he arbitrarily segregated the Indigenous people from the remaining 94% of the electorate.

He accomplished that by adopting his contrarian interpretation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDDRIP) protocols and insists consult means consent, awarding veto.

He also attempted to change the BC Land Act, the main law the provincial government uses to grant leases, licences, permits and rights-of-way over Crown land.

The Haida Gwaii land transfer should serve as a reminder that Crown land belongs to all British Columbians to occupy and use, and nobody can change that.

Four-hundred-and-eighty million dollars over three years with a principal focus to create a 'culturally sensitive' education system to help about 13,000 Metis be able to communicate effectively in any of their four languages or dialects is a ridiculous amount of money to promote another language, when we already have two official languages, English and French.

Spending spiralling out of control, producing an $8-billion operating deficit this year alone, while projecting massive increases in spending into the future, without corresponding increases in revenues, is a recipe for disaster.

It would be an understatement to suggest BC voters have never been more challenged.

Andy Thomsen, via email 

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Editor,

During BC Conservative leader John Rustad's Oct. 4, 2024 press conference in Kelowna, he was asked about a large sign that multi-billionaire Lululemon founder, Chip Wilson, put up outside his waterfront home in Premier David Eby’s Vancouver-Point Grey constituency. The sign reads 'Eby will tell you the Conservatives are far right’ but neglects saying that the NDP is communist.'

Rustad replied "well, I happened to see that sign. I didn't realize he was actually putting that up there. I don't disagree with him when he calls David Eby a communist.”

From Max Fawcett’s Oct. 9, 2024 article, No, Chip Wilson: David Eby and Justin Trudeau are not communists (Canada’s National Observer): "This is becoming a theme for the BC Conservative Party leader, who keeps sounding more like a conspiracy-addled grandpa on Facebook than the potential next premier of British Columbia. But it’s also becoming a theme for Conservatives across the country, who either no longer understand what the term communism actually means or insist on pretending otherwise." 

After the election, BC Green Party leader Sonia Furstenau hopes the Greens hold the balance of power, as they did in 2017. Back then, the party struck a power-sharing deal with New Democrats. Three memorable quotes from Furstenau during the televised Oct. 8 BC Leaders' Debate: 

1. “John Rustad's vision for this province is one that's rooted somewhere around 1957.” 
2. “The NDP seem to have approached health care with the idea that there's nothing that one more V.P. and seven more project managers can't solve when, in fact, what we have to do is ensure that health-care spending is being focused on the delivery of health care by the professionals who were trained to do it."                                                                        
3. "In protecting the affordable housing that we have, that’s vacancy control. When Bill 44 and all the housing legislation that the NDP brought out last year, when [BC Green MLA] Adam Olsen spent hours and hours going back and forth with [BC Housing Minister] Ravi Kahlon, Ravi admitted in the end, none of these measures were going to bring affordability. So let’s be clear: These two don’t have a plan for affordable housing. They want to talk about housing supply. They want to talk about housing starts. But they do not want to protect the affordable housing that we have. They do not want to ensure that we’re making affordable housing available to people who need it right now.”   

The BC Greens 2024 platform can be found online here.

David Buckna, via email 

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iN RESPONSE to newsletter editorial, Monday, Oct. 16

Dear Editor,

It’s all about the land.

We are only a few days away from that election and hardly a word about the issue that should have been on top of the list.

Who owns the land?

The electorate has not been duly and fully informed, let alone consulted, about some extremely controversial legislation, policies and practices the NDP government has adopted and implemented, undermining credibility and security of ownership of land in BC.

One of the more controversial issues are those insidious Land Acknowledgement Declarations (LAD)s ‘we acknowledge we are on (un)-ceded lands', or text to that effect, created and adopted by many BC municipalities without consulting the people, home and landowners, let alone telling them fee simple title may have been super-ceded and is now virtually null-and-void.

At the same time, Indigenous Peoples are not allowed to buy, own and or sell tribal community lands. It’s Indian law. They can, however, buy and own non-tribal land fee simple, like all other Canadians and many have been doing just that.

Those insidious land acknowledgement declarations are extremely mis-leading and only serve to obfuscate the issue of ownership, at a time we desperately need clarity. They must be rescinded.

Andy Thomsen, via email

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The headline of your recent email has an obvious agenda. Is there a reason you are choosing to highlight some candidates at the expense of an entire party? I don’t want my news to come with editorial comment front and centre. Balance is the key to objectivity and this is not balanced. — Jason Shortt

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Because voters in Canada, like their counterparts in the U.S., are unfortunately so ignorant as to really have their rights to vote denied until they spend some time studying civics. — Bonnie Derry, via email

And study some history! Well said, Bonnie. — Janis Joanne Thompson, via iNFOnews.ca

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Hello,

Here are a few of my thoughts and questions about the BC provincial election:

1. We do not have a housing problem. We have a greed problem. There are thousands and thousands of empty houses, and houses that are far too large for the number of occupants. However, they are owned mostly by rich or wealthy people who live far beyond their needs and do not want or know how to share. That leaves others without options. Greed is at the root of low vacancy rates, high rent rates and high homelessness
2. The majority of overdose deaths happen in homes, not on the streets. 47% of overdose deaths happen in private residences. There are many professionals in a variety of careers with substance abuse issues who are using unregulated drugs. How does the BC Conservative Party plan to make them go to a residential treatment program? 
3. Gas prices are not regulated by the government. The price of gas is set by the wealthy gas companies. They go up and down according to how much money the companies want to make. That is a universal reality. So, if you want more affordable gas, go after those companies, not a government. Again, the problem is rooted in greed.
4. Why would anyone vote for someone who is making up unrealistic stories as they go, keeps secrets and will not answer questions or be part of regular, constituency level debates?
5. Why would anyone vote for a candidate who knows nothing about how to run a government of any kind, does not know how to do basic math and does not understand basic science? Those candidates put everyone in our province at risk.
6. We do not need larger class sizes. We need more counsellors and education assistants in our public schools. If more money goes to private schools, there will be less for public education and therefore, less support for all students.
7. The earth is polluted with plastic of all kinds. Plastic does not go away. It penetrates everything, including human bodies, directly affecting millions of people’s health, food sources and production and social well-being. According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the equivalent of 2,000 garbage trucks full of plastic are dumped into the world's oceans, rivers and lakes, every day, harming all forms of life, including the food we eat. Why on earth would anyone want to increase the production and use of plastics?
8. Regardless of what the BC Conservative party says, BC’s economy is actually doing better than most of the other provinces. In recent years, BC has had the fastest productivity growth of any province, the fastest growth in capital investment in Canada and the fastest per capita GDP growth in Canada. In addition, the unemployment rate is consistently lower than that of most other provinces. Just check Statistics Canada for information.

Mary-Ann Reid, vie email 

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