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Home Letters

PostHeaderIcon Budget Day blues

Letter to the Editor

letter_editorDear Editor:

By the time you read this the government will have already released its budget.  The rhetoric and spin will be out in the media and the political commentators will be having a hay day.  This government has become infamous for being less than candid with the taxpayers of BC when it comes to being open and transparent with the numbers.  The most striking recent example was during the last provincial election when the Liberals touted ad nauseum that the deficit would be no higher that 500 million dollars when in fact it was 2.5 billion and climbing.  It’s the climbing part we will learn about after budget day.  Keep in mind while trying to sift through the fact and fiction that BC already holds long-term debt of approximately 38 billion.  Even more frightening is the provinces “contractual” debt of 50 billion.  Contractual debt is our obligations under the various P-3 projects the government has entered into over the past few years.  Scarier still is the fact that many of these “contracts” have escalator clauses that will push the taxpayer debt even higher. 

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PostHeaderIcon The Harmonized Sales Tax, a done-deal?

Letter to the Editor

letter_editorIn March of this year , the provincial legislature will be voting on the implementation of the Harmonized Sales Tax.

According to Mr. Walt Cobb, this tax is a done deal. But, it is not a done deal  if seven Liberal M.L.A’s  represent their constituents feelings, and vote against the HST legislation. The HST would be defeated.

I am asking Donna Barnett to vote against this legislation. Afterall, during the campaign, her Liberal Party stated that there would not be an HST if they were elected.  

Eric Freeston
Williams Lake

 

PostHeaderIcon HST will mean a decrease in pay

Letters - General

Letter to the Editor of Welcome to Williams Lake fot ca:  Donna Barnett should be ashamed of being a part of this shell game. Editor,

This letter will be short and to the point. For most people working in the service sector the HST will mean a decrease in pay. Let me explain my argument.

If you are a waitress in a restaurant and rely on tips, expect your tips to go down. The reason being, if the bill increases from $10 to $10.50 you've just lost 50 cents of what would have otherwise been included as a tip. Multiply that by your average number of customers per day and then multiply by the number of days you work in a year. The amount adds up. This applies to almost everyone working in the service sector; cab drivers, hair dressers etc etc. I find it hard to believe that a goverment supposedly working in our interest would first cut corporate taxes by billions and then ask those with a small income already, to take a pay cut in order to make up for a shortfall that they (the Liberal government) created in the first place.

Donna Barnett should be ashamed of being a part of this shell game.

Dave Ligertwood
Williams Lake, BC

 

PostHeaderIcon The Real Olympic Legacy

Letters - General

letter_editorI spent last week on the road; travelling through the Okanagan and Kamloops on Opposition Critic business. That same week the Olympic Torch made its way through the same region of the province and up through the Cariboo. I always seemed to be one day behind the festivities!

By all accounts, every community greeted the torch with great fanfare and even greater emotion. Despite all the questions and criticism surrounding Vancouver’s hosting of the Olympics and their impact on rural BC, events like the Torch Relay touch a deep nerve of national pride that allows us to put aside our differences and our gripes and simply celebrate who we are and where we live.

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PostHeaderIcon A Cariboo Regional District Board of Directors destroys Canadian dream

Letter to the Editor

012910_flettsignDear Editor; 

After working, saving and planning for 30 years, our dream of retiring in Canada finally materialized. We chose to live in Flett Subdivision in Williams Lake. We enjoy our acreage, horses and recreation on our own 6 acres, and also have access to Crown land. 

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PostHeaderIcon A flawless community event

From the Publisher

When my husband and I arrived at the Stampede Grounds, shortly before 6:00pm last night, the parking lot was 70% full.  The first thing I noticed was what a great job the parking volunteers were doing at the entrance.  Vehicles were not stopped on Mackenzie for very long at all, and pedestrians were very obviously a top priority.  The parking volunteers patiently answered questions from passersby, without letting their guard down for a moment. The flow of traffic was carefully guided up the road and into the parking area---again, protecting pedestrians.  Everyone and everything was clearly marked, and it was a stress-free experience.  Heartfelt kudos to the parking volunteers!  The only one I was able to pick out of the sea of parking volunteers was Bob Sumner of Laketown Furnishings.  

The police presence at the entrance to the grandstands and the hallways was, as always, reassuring.  Their presence always seems to inspire a certain easy feeling of confidence at big events. 

The Sea Cadets were handing out paper Canadian Flags at a furious pace, and Coca Cola volunteers seemed to make sure that everyone was offered bottle-shaped cans of Coke Zero. 

012810TorchRelayWL  014

(Photo:  Shelly Burich, Manager of Communications for the Cariboo Regional District.)

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PostHeaderIcon No building permits required in the CRD

Letter to the Editor

Write a letter to the editor of Welcome to Williams Lake onlineIn a precedent-setting unanimous decision vote in a meeting in June 2009, the Cariboo Regional District Board of Directors voted in favour of a variance for an illegally constructed building in Flett subdivision.

 

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PostHeaderIcon What kind of representation is this in Flett subdivision?

Letters - General

Write a letter to the editor of Welcome to Williams Lake online

A resident of Flett subdivision built an open seven-bay structure and attached it to the back of an existing two-car garage. This new structure is an illegal building, has two different ‘roofings’ and is oversized for the lot.

This building was completed with no permits, no inspections and with neighbors within 60 metres of his property saying ‘no’ in writing to the CRD.

This neighbor told the CRD in writing that he did not get a permit because he knew that the CRD would not approve of the building. He did not get a building permit, did not comply with a ‘stop order’ from the CRD, but continued to complete the structure.

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PostHeaderIcon Why don’t we address child poverty?

Letter to the Editor

Write a letter to the editor of Welcome to Williams Lake onlineThe 2009 Child Poverty Report Card was issued this week and, once again, BC has the highest rate of child poverty in Canada; a situation that has persisted since 1999.

In 1989, the House of Commons established a goal to eliminate child poverty by the year 2000 but according to this week’s report the national child poverty rate still stands at 15% or one child in seven. Even more troubling is the sad fact that almost half of all off-reserve aboriginal children live in poverty in Canada.

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