Letters to The Sun, September 25, 2021: Readers’ Reactions to the Federal Elections

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Another election is over, but for many, the next question remains: Why can’t our politicians, both federal and provincial, rise above partisan interests and work for the common good? No one knows what concentrating on public health care and education could accomplish for at least a generation, because it has never been tried. Just maybe, the resulting healthy and well-educated generation would begin to solve problems that affect us all.

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Graeme Gardiner, Sidney

I keep pondering how $ 600 million could have been better used than in an election that, in my opinion, was called solely for selfish purposes. What comes to mind immediately are 700 subsidized households, or 8,500 nurse salaries for a year, maybe 7,500 teacher salaries, or 7,600 psychiatric nurse salaries for a year, 45,000 paid child care places, senior citizen allowances. . … I could go on.

These are just estimates of how our taxpayers’ money could be better used. Were these elections really justified in the midst of a pandemic, when many families are struggling across the country? Ironically, we will probably repeat this senseless activity in 2023. It may cost $ 700 million by then.

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Jane Harris, Surrey

So the first in office produces another minority government despite negative talks and strategic voting. So why not try a proportional system and discover the true aspirations of the public? So with permanent minorities, MPs would have to cooperate to get things done.

Tony Burt, Vancouver

Multiple outlets reported long lines and understaffing at voting centers in electoral districts across the country in Monday’s elections. Little wonder. I applied to work in the elections. I went to the training session. But then I found out that I would be working 15 or 16 hours with three short breaks. Bring your own food and water etc. I am 78 years old and I retired the next day.

When I went to vote at our polling station at 3:30 pm, I asked the twenty-something who was saying hello how she was doing. She said that her feet hurt and that she was tired, as she had started the day at 6 in the morning and had about six hours to go. I asked the woman in her 20s at the voting station how she was doing. Her back was killing her, she said. His chair was a standard unsupported metal folding chair.

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Perhaps if voting jobs came in eight-hour shifts, with reasonable breaks, and with real chairs, Elections Canada could get old folks like me to help. But with these conditions? Forget it.

Bryant Avery, Surrey

An answer to cruise ships not docking in Canada

So here’s a modest proposal for Prime Minister John Horgan and his federal colleagues. Given that there is significant investment in cruise infrastructure and cruise tourism at stake, and given that Americans generally negotiate only when it is in their best interest to do so, I propose that, in response to legislation, stops in British Columbia are no longer a requirement for Alaska. cruise ships, we should enact a law that prohibits the use of the Inside Passage for any passenger ship with a capacity of more than 1,000 people (the same threshold used by US law) and prohibits the transit of Canadian waters up to the 200-mile limit.

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This can be to enforce environmental laws, passenger safety, stop shoreline erosion, or any justifiable reason (s).

Make cruise ships go out of their way to avoid BC altogether, so they exit through the Strait of Juan de Fuca for 200 miles before they can turn north. Canadian Navy and Coast Guard patrol vessels can ensure compliance.

Guests will still be able to see the Alaska Peninsula, but there will be big questions about why the first days of the trip are in the open, storm-ravaged Gulf of Alaska. Then we will see how long it takes before the cruise companies defy the law and return to Canadian ports.

Keith Hamilton, Bella Coola

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