Letters to The Sun, April 26, 2022: Renewing passports on time is a personal responsibility

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Re: Long lineups to renew passports frustrate applicants in Metro Vancouver

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There’s an old adage: Lack of planning on your part does not make for an emergency on mine.

Where have these folks complained about difficulty in renewing their passports been? Passports clearly show an expiration date, as do drivers’ licences. No one I know of would allow their driver’s license to expire, so why would anyone not have their passports kept up to date unless they had no plans to travel at all in the future? It’s called personal responsibility.

It boggles my mind the extent to which some people expect governments to do everything for them, but then grouse at government interference.

M. McRae, Delta

Densification should not displace people

Re: City of Vancouver has obligation to allow densification

Mr. Trayler appears to have dashed off his letter giving little in-depth thought to the consequences of his so-called solution.

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Just where are these families who have affordable rents supposed to go, to make way for all these newcomers? Even people paying median rent of $1,500 a month, would likely have to pay $1,760 (or more) for a new social housing apartment (20 per cent below average rent for new tenants at $2,200) if they could even find one.

Are families in the existing apartments just supposed to go live on a farm? How will they get to work and their children to school?

I met a pensioner recently who is paying $700 rent a month, but their building is being torn down to be replaced by the new buildings that Mr. Trayler suggests. They will likely be sleeping on a couch in their son’s basement as they can’t afford even the current median rent for a new place. What about people without that safety net who will likely end up homeless?

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This is a large country and we should be creating new city centers as we did at the start of the 20th century when the government gave land to people who would put up buildings and farm the land. Everyone doesn’t have to be clustered in the six major cities across the country. High-tech and IT jobs can be anywhere now.

Should a single person sitting in a restaurant at a table by the windows be moved to the kitchen to make way for his group of four?

Our first priority should be to find building sites that do not displace people.

Maureen Charron, Vancouver

Density doesn’t lower housing costs

My sister lives in North Vancouver and I periodically read The Vancouver Sun on my Apple news subscription to get a feel for what is going on there. I find it amazing that people still think that high-rise density will lower housing costs. Can anyone name an instance where it has worked? With all the utility upgrades, and costs associated with going vertical, it just becomes very expensive investment housing.

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The only thing I have seen anywhere in the world that makes housing cheaper is sprawl, which is the new bogeyman of housing. But when we built it out, it worked and families could afford a home. When we built it up, it just became very expensive.

Jesse Cline, Santa Maria, Calif.

Universal dental care is needed sooner rather than later

Once again, the provinces, and our Premier John Horgan, appear to be foot-dragging on an essential component to health. As a retired GP/FP, I have advocated and hoped for universal dental care through the years of practice for children and the vulnerable. The foundation in health by improving the portal to one’s body via proper dental hygiene and dental care is essential, with much good supporting evidence, and intuitively so.

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After the recent confidence agreement between the Liberals and the NDP with a central feature being this dental care program, we are now seeing provinces entering their objections and posturing from the Council of the Federation led by Premier Horgan. Politicizing their jostling with the view to renegotiate federal health-care transfers is outright wrong. The dental health of marginalized society should be a bedrock of concern and care across Canada regardless of “jurisdictions.” Let us take the bull by the horns finally and ensure this promise for a country-wide dental care program gets established, sooner than later.

Dr J. de Couto, Burnaby

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