Opinion

Langford’s finally made the decision to make audio of regular council meeting available to the public. But not livestreaming. Budget restraints? I don’t think so. There has been so much zoning and building done in this city, it stands to reason they have a huge budget, so why wait? Because they don’t want us to know and see what is going on behind closed doors. They ignore everything the public puts forward at the meetings, anyway. The zoning and development get passed. Just give a listen.

In regards to the story published Jan. 7 “Advocate makes case for backyard chickens,” I would be curious to hear what our council members and bylaw officers have to say about Maclure’s comments, such as the following:

In December 2020 Coun. Sharmarke Dubow chose to deliberately ignore the directives concerning non-essential travel set out by Dr. Bonnie Henry, Dr. Theresa Tam and Premier John Horgan and travelled to Africa, risking contracting the coronavirus and potentially infecting others.

Couns. Ned Taylor and Karen Harper have submitted a notice of motion to the Saanich council to address the overdose crisis. This motion outlines steps that the council should take to address the lethal opioid overdose epidemic that is affecting communities across Canada and the world.

Why is Langford council so secretive? There is an old adage in the justice system that says: “Justice must not only be done, it must be seen to be done.”

Reader says freedom and security do not come without a price

I wish to disagree with the advocate in your article “Advocate makes case for backyard chickens in Sidney” on two matters. First, I can affirm that chickens do attract rats and make noise. My neighbours have chickens and are fastidious about keeping their coop clean.

There are many questions for the three Greater Victoria councillors who traveled internationally in December despite government directives advising against non-essential travel.

When I first read the recent letter to the editor from Raym Forbes, I thought it was satire. “Our charter rights do not replace God’s instructions, which state obey the government.” Besides how overstated and flawed Raym’s information was on the affects of COVID-19 provincially, he is forgetting how many of these government figures were off jet-setting to far away lands, hypocritically ignoring their own guidelines.

I am writing to express my disappointment with Coun. Sharmarke Dubow’s recent decision to travel overseas.