In response to P. Chambers letter regarding homelessness in Vernon.
Chambers may be out to help but you really need to take a deeper look at you comments. You may not have realized what you said regarding homeless people in Vernon.
I can’t even believe there’s people that still think like this and I can’t believe it got published. Your suggestion to ‘send them’ (homeless people) back to their places of origin has a few serious faults.
Firstly, these are human beings, regardless of their sinister reputation, one can not simply send people away. This is not Nazi Germany and these people are not commodities. You can not force another human being to leave a city simply because they lack shelter or the know how to acquire and maintain it.
If they choose to reside in Vernon that’s their free choice. If they want to live on the street and be criminals, that’s also their choice. They are Canadian citizens and therefore have the freedom to make those choices.
The only solution to homelessness and addiction problems in Vernon and any other city, for that matter, is offering as much support, options, shelter, food, encouragement and education as a community that we possibly can. Reach out, educate ourselves, show them options, help them get resources.
Remember, these people could be your children, or your friends children, or a family member. These people still deserve love.
C.M. Hobbs
Vernon
According to Statistics Canada 90 per cent of Canadians make less than $90,000/year. Yet for the last three to four months politicians in Ottawa have been fighting to prevent Canadians who earn over $90K from paying more taxes. Meanwhile Canada has unaffordable housing, crumbling roads and bridges, low wages, poor work benefits, a growing homeless crisis, an out-of-date health care system that is contributing to 1000’s of deaths, and increasingly expensive weather events like this year’s flooding and forest fires. But despite all the squabbling about taxes between the two major political parties, neither is recommending the tax system be changed to make it more fair for all Canadians. However, B.C.’s Murray Rankin (NDP) has put forward a private members bill to prevent very wealthy corporations from avoiding taxes if they aren’t providing Canadian jobs or economic benefits. I’ll be very interested to see how our Conservative MP Mel Arnold votes on this bill. Is he going to support tax fairness or let the Canadian public continue to be ripped off by unfair tax rules brought to us by 150 years of Conservative and Liberal governments?
B. Cousins
We are obviously in competition to see who gets the closest spot in front of a store.
Please stop and think that the accessible parking stalls are there for a reason. Not all disabilities are visible. Use your common sense and park further in the back if you are abled. The walk will be good for you. Please let the people who need it have the front stalls.
To the person who wrote the nasty note to the lady with a genuine disability, that placard was real. They are not handed out like candy. Stop and think next time.
Sharon Bennett
Transit fees are being hiked slightly in Vernon. The transit fee should be free and the cost put on our property tax bill. It wouldn’t increase taxes by much because each town that has the service would pitch in. It may be only a couple dollars per trip now but deters ridership by the people on low income. With the price of fuel so high people might decide to leave their cars at home and take the bus for free. This could be done on a trial basis for a year and if it works it could become permanent.
Ron Schwartz