Although the “we are the 99 per cent” movement has folded its tents, frustration at the inequities in our society, abetted by governments and the press, remains. Two examples come to mind:
At the local level, we have council’s recent decision to lift the covenant that limited the number of nights in which Harbour House could disrupt the neighbourhood with its raucous party events — and kudos to our mayor and Ms. Tait for suggesting a trial run of restraint instead.
Are the other council members so naive as to believe $150 fines will have any effect on limiting the noise of events that bring in thousands of dollars? Your editorial in the February 29 Sooke News Mirror that says, “businesses do not need impediments forced on them.” No matter what their excesses might be?
At the provincial level, BC Hydro, the ferries and ICBC have all been permitted to raise their rates whereas the goverment has decreed its public servants are to be held to “net-zero” increments. This may not be a tent-erecting in inequity, but on the part of the teachers it has obviously hit a nerve especially with the government’s enforcement with Bill 22. (Premier Clark’s $165 million “Pro-D Improvement Fund” echoes her predecessor’s failed tax dodge to save the HST).
In case you missed them, letters by Patrick Henry and, especially, Danita Stewart in the letters section of the March 7, Sooke News Mirror spell out why the teachers object so strongly to this piece of legislation; yet that same issue of your paper’s editorial page carried a piece by Black Press’s ultra-conservative columnist Tom Fletcher, claiming that the Teachers’ Federation is a “left-wing group-think (that) pervades the education system.” Nope, they are just part of that 99 per cent.
Dick Momsen
Sooke