Magic Teeth by Gareth Gaudin

Letters - May 28

Bright idea

Re: “Solar Solutions,” May 21-27

Our universe and the cover of your last issue confirm it: photovoltaic electricity for universal consumption works now, and has been since communications satellites first went to space. With sub-sea power lines aging and electric heat being common on our island, we face an electricity importation bottleneck and have an opportunity to become more self-sufficient through consumer independent power production conjoined with our grid.

Renewable electricity is possible for anyone who receives a hydro bill. Vehicle owners can replace their onboard alternator with photovoltaics and/ or wind power to hybridize any fuel-based vehicle; consumers can breathe air and watch TV with a sigh of relief—and more independence—if they put a $1,000 investment into their vehicle. Net metering can be accomplished for as little as $5,000.

Cam Rawlinson, Victoria

Just say no

Re: “Death of Electoral Reform,” May 21-27

Dennis Pilon’s suggestion that people on the STV “no” side were overwhelming uninformed is both insulting and wrong. Quite the opposite is true: STV received support in 2005 precisely because those who voted “yes” relied on experts like Pilon to inform them.

This time, voters learned that STV ridings would be enormously large, have multiple members and effectively extinguish the bond between local citizens and their elected representatives. They came to understand how complex the voting system was with its electoral quotas and cascading ballots and found it insulting when STV proponents—like Pilon—dismissed their reservations by saying that people didn’t need to know motor mechanics in order to drive a car and hence didn’t need to understand STV voting in order to embrace it.

It’s a good thing that STV is dead, but that doesn’t mean electoral reform is, too. I suspect the public would support a majoritarian electoral system whereby successful candidates need to achieve more than 50 percent of the votes to be elected.

John Amon, Victoria

Professor Pilon’s comment that the BC-STV proposal was defeated because of the “ignorance” of voters outside the urban areas is astonishingly arrogant and ungracious.

Though the good professor will doubtless find this difficult to believe, I—and I’m sure many other “ignorant” British Columbians—carefully studied the proposal and rejected it because we believe such a system would be convoluted, undemocratic and reactionary.

Dr. Pilon must surely be one of the few people in B.C. who can’t understand why most rural residents were so appalled by the proposed STV map, on which one riding alone was 3.5 times larger in area than Ireland and 755 times larger than Malta!

Gordon Pollard, Victoria

Seeing red

Re: “Climate of Confusion,” May 21-27

If anyone had any doubts about Nobel Prize-winning climatologist Andrew Weaver’s political persuasion, here’s an excerpt from his mass phone-out in Victoria-Beacon Hill on the day before the election: “I endorse Premier Gordon Campbell and the BC Liberals for their courage in fighting global warming while creating opportunities for a green economy and I strongly urge you to vote for Dallas Henault, your local BC Liberal candidate . . . Let’s re-elect the BC Liberals and show the world that environmentally responsible policies will be rewarded at the polling booth.”

It is truly embarrassing and bizarre to see an acclaimed Nobel scientist exploit his prize by stumping for the Campbell regime—which was so confident in its election victory that it brazenly featured its grotesque “Energy Corridor” scheme among the major planks in its platform. Campbell is now re-energized and re-empowered to deliver up to 50 percent of the daily production of Alberta’s dirty-oil tar sands across B.C. and into the giant super-mega-tanker traffic jam waiting in the rock-pile that is the B.C. coast.

I suggest that Weaver use his pompous professorial brain to calculate just how much damage the production, transport and consumption of all that dirty oil will do to our already burning planet.

Ingmar Lee, Victoria

Dr. Weaver is right to be principled and denounce a party that is opportunistic at the expense of the environment. But why he would support the Liberals, who are using some of the carbon tax funds to reduce taxation on the production of fossil fuels, is difficult to fathom.

Ian Gartshore, via mondaymag.com

No Samday

Re: Letters, May 21-27

Letter-writer Dave Todd last week accidentally credited Sam Bawlf as a Monday founder. He wasn’t. Bill Barringer and I were the magazine’s founding editor and publisher. Sam has a long list of firsts to his name—not least the wholesale restoration of heritage buildings throughout downtown (Market Square, etc.)—just not this esteemed weekly.

Gene Miller, Victoria

Cycling for change

Re: “Waste Not,” May 21-27

Thanks for the excellent coverage of local green initiatives. I just wanted to point out that on the index page you called Pedal To Petal a “man-powered” initiative, when in fact we have a back-up cyclist working with us who is actually a woman. Shout out to Jen King!

While I’m at it, I also wanted to acknowledge Matthew Shultz, without whom I would have messed this whole business up long ago. Matt has held the collective together with hours and hours of unpaid hard work (more than double the amount of time I put into the collective) and has made it what it is today. Thanks, Matt!

Chris Johnson, Victoria