Whale woes
Re: “Hey Vancouver Aquarium, free the whales already!”, Vancouver Shakedown, March 19, 2015.
I don’t know enough to say that the ones that have been held captive should be released, I prefer the idea of rescuing and rehabbing, and letting an external review board decide if a whale can be released (the current model). I like that our aquarium is a non-profit and I’m not anti-”show” if they keep using the profits for research and rescue efforts. I do totally agree that breeding and lending are pretty horrible, and the tank sizes are really depressing.
–Nicole Thompson
This will be a discussion until they are no longer in tanks, until the shows stop for entertainment. And it will stop. It did in 2001 when they could no longer hold orcas. Shame on the aquarium for not being leaders and being the embarrassment of Vancouver. There is way too much technology at our fingertips to allow education in other forms rather than hiding under the guise of research and keeping sentient beings prisoners. We will never stop fighting for the voiceless.
–Mother Hen
Even more touchy feely drivel from someone who has no idea what he’s talking about. These animals are in care to avoid suffering and awful death from lack of ability to survive.
–Pia Guerra
Ask and you shall recieve
This is in regards to a Rant from a reader (“Better info about proposed SkyTrain route needed”, Angie O’Grady, March 12, 2015) frustrated at not being able to find Broadway SkyTrain expansion information online. Please find details on the expansion on TransLink’s website here: TransLink.ca/en/Plans-and-Projects. More information can be found at MayorsCouncil.ca on the Mayors’ Plan.
–Michael Buda, interim executive director, Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation
If there’s a hole in the bucket, don’t add more water
Am I confident that TransLink will be more responsible with the 0.5 per cent tax than they have been to date, if the referendum passes? And do I have faith that the 0.5 tax won’t increase to one, two percent or even more if they discover that 0.5 per cent isn’t enough? Definitely not!
The amount of waste that TransLink is responsible for is atrocious! For example, having six boards of directors, paying two CEO’s exorbitant salaries, a million here, half a million there and on and on. TransLink is a bottomless pit that is already raking in our tax dollars from gasoline, parking, property taxes and Hydro levies.
If you have a hole in a bucket, the common sense approach is to repair it before you add any more water. Before we are asked to give any more money to a badly broken system such as Translink, there needs to be a major reduction of waste and some definite accountability in place. 0.5 per cent might be a drop in the bucket for the mayors, many of whom earn six-figure salaries, but a different matter for low income families and seniors. If the yes vote wins, my concern is that they will say that 0.5 per cent isn’t enough because of unforeseen expenses/increased prices since previous estimates were done, and this tax will keep escalating on a regular basis for the rest of our lives.
I will be voting NO until they stop wasting our money and give us more information about possible future increases in this tax. Better yet, let the BC government use some of its $879 million surplus to fund it.
–L. Mackintosh
