Today’s Letters: How the Public Service Could Deal with Bugs and Vermin

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Try These Pest-Riddled Public Servers

Re: Bed bugs, bats and other pests found in federal government buildings, April 22

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It is obvious that the pest population is thriving and has chosen government office buildings as its sanctuary. In the eternal battle against office bugs, the arsenal of solutions is as wide as it is varied.

One much-discussed strategy is to implement mandatory “pest sensitivity training” for employees, where they learn to empathize with the plight of their youngest cohabitants. Another solution is to appoint a dedicated “pest liaison officer” whose sole responsibility is to navigate the treacherous waters of interspecies diplomacy, negotiate ceasefires, and establish truces in the current war for supremacy of office.

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Of course, there is always the option of deploying “pest control commandos” to sweep the building and eradicate the pests with ruthless determination.

Perhaps the ultimate solution to the problem of pests in office buildings lies not in extermination or diplomacy, but in finding ways for humans and pests to coexist in harmony.

Dono Bandoro, Ottawa

For restitution, courts must seize assets

I am very disappointed in the government and the courts for the inaction when criminals defraud people and nothing is done.

Sure, victims see the headlines or get court rulings for restitution, but courts leave recovery up to victims, costing them time and money they usually don’t have. Why don’t the courts confiscate all the assets of these fraudsters?

They could have teams track down all assets and make them available to victims. This would deter bad actors and provide confidence in the justice system that currently does not exist. This could be financed with money found with the remaining amounts disbursed.

Or we can continue to allow these criminals to multiply, damaging our economy and our population.

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Stephen O’Brien, Ottawa

As Ford goes, so does Trudeau?

Prime Minister Trudeau announced a plan to build 3.9 million homes in a nationwide effort to build more homes on public lands.
What are public lands? In Ottawa they include parks, the Greenbelt and the Experimental Farm.

Premier Doug Ford received heavy raps on the knuckles and had to retreat when he attempted to implement building homes on public land, i.e.
Green belt. I wonder if Trudeau will suffer the same humiliation for a similar suggestion.

Ross Dedman, Nepean

Let’s repair and reuse

This week our 12 year old refrigerator stopped working. It had lost its freon, it was beyond repair and we had to replace it.

We arranged to have our old refrigerator picked up by the store where we purchased the new appliance, which was in excellent condition and looked new. We were worried and angry to learn that the old refrigerator would go to the landfill without any effort to reuse any parts.

Why aren’t home appliances designed to be repairable? Why do we have to throw away perfectly good parts when they could be reused? What are we doing to Canada by producing so much unnecessary “garbage”?

Anna Cornel, Perth

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