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Opinion Letters
The ABC council’s compliance with builders’ pleas to not solely exempt unsold new condos from the emptiness tax, however to present them again $3.8 million that will in any other case have gone to social housing, is a situation straight out of a Charles Dickens novel.
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Re: Dan Fumano: Vancouver rental builders requested council for tax break, letters present
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The ABC council’s compliance with builders’ pleas to not solely exempt unsold new condos from the emptiness tax, however to present them again $3.8 million that will in any other case have gone to social housing, is a situation straight out of a Charles Dickens novel.
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What enjoyable the champion of the downtrodden would have had in portray the scene: Corpulent builders in pinstriped waistcoats snatching bread out of the mouths of social-housing starvelings and stuffing it into their very own voracious maws.
Together with his high-quality nostril for hypocrisy, Dickens would even have loved stating that whereas ABC turns town the other way up within the pursuits of so-called reasonably priced housing, it’s additionally making certain that builders aren’t penalized for hanging onto their properties till they’ll get the best potential costs.
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I’m fairly certain Dickens would have chuckled over the builders’ non-answers to reporter Dan Fumano’s questions on whether or not they had thought-about lowering costs to promote their condos. And he would have whooped over political strategist Michael Gardiner’s understatement that retroactive paybacks to real-estate builders may not qualify nearly as good politics, presenting optics which are “difficult at finest.”
Too dangerous there isn’t any Dickens in our midst to reap the benefits of the numerous alternatives that ABC is offering.
Carol Volkart, Vancouver
Plan for cooling items
Re: Two years after lethal warmth dome, B.C. nonetheless has no program to offer air conditioners to these in want
Thanks for a wonderful article. I want to assist the sort of journalism and add a bit. I wrote a letter a couple of month after the warmth dome occasion to the then-premier of B.C., mayor of Burnaby, and the B.C. seniors’ advocate about my considerations for seniors, infants and young children. I nonetheless haven’t acquired a response.
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I obtained a quote from an organization that advertises warmth pumps and rebates as much as $20,000 for single-family dwellings, however nothing for condos or flats. We’re up towards, on one hand, quotes that lack particulars on vitality efficiencies. However, homeowners of condos must cope with strata councils that create insurmountable hurdles to the set up of everlasting cooling items.
In abstract, we face indifference from politicians, companies not dedicated to problem-solving, and the ability of strata councils. We’d like authorities requirements that establish the weak (we already know who they’re, no long-term committee assessment wanted), choices for kinds of gear acceptable, and a discount in some powers of strata councils so we are able to truly assist shield ourselves. The shortage of equity within the software of subsidies additionally must be addressed. In any other case, through the subsequent severe heat-stress interval, there will probably be extra deaths and hospital visits, adopted by nice wailing and grinding of tooth, and possibly just a few extra water stations will probably be put in and maybe an ambulance or two will probably be bought.
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The present state of affairs is a shame as warmth stress is as necessary as chilly stress, and safety from each are primary human rights.
Terry Dick, Burnaby
Re: B.C. most cancers sufferers ready for radiation remedy to be despatched to U.S.
Once I learn this headline, I felt I used to be residing in bizarro world. Isn’t this the identical authorities that fought tooth and nail to outlaw non-public clinics in B.C.? All U.S. clinics are non-public clinics.
Will these sufferers have to purchase out-of-country medical health insurance to cowl the price of another well being points they could encounter whereas overseas, or will these bills even be lined by taxpayers? Rationing medical procedures in Canada solely to pay for them to be finished within the U.S. appears counter-productive. The tip results of limiting health-care spending in Canada after which paying for personal U.S. clinics to ease the ensuing backlogs isn’t solely dangerous economics, it’s additionally dangerous for sufferers. Let’s cease enjoying these monetary shell video games and create a Canadian health-care system that works.
S.I. Petersen, Nanaimo
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