Not fair to attack judge-candidate who can’t offer a reply
Re: Tory attack ads against former provincial court chief judge Carol Baird Ellan.
It is well-known that judges cannot comment on their judgments nor explain the context or defend their rationale. As such, it is necessary for persons with knowledge of Baird Ellan’s reputation to provide the necessary context to her rulings.
Baird Ellan was and is a consummate professional, courteous, intelligent and fair. Her reputation among the Crown and the defence bar was and remains sterling. Of all things, her reputation certainly was not one for being “soft” on crime. As a judge, she was compassionate when the case called for it and unyielding when she needed to be. In other words, she was exactly what you wanted to her to be — fair, balanced and intellectually honest.
Eric Gottardi, past chairman, Canadian Bar Association, criminal section, Vancouver
Watts wrecked Surrey
I am 64 and have always voted Conservative but not this time. I cannot vote for former Surrey mayor and South Surrey-White Rock Tory candidate Dianne Watts as she ruined Surrey by developing every last bit of land for the almighty tax dollar.
How many more people can be crammed into an area and maintain any sort of a decent lifestyle? There is no concern that the waits in the emergency department, thanks to the population growth, are now nine hours long. Will 12- or 14-hours waits come soon?
Nancy Cullen, Surrey
Bring in the army
Since the Surrey RCMP’s hands are tied with all the alarming number of shootings, may I offer a suggestion? Let’s bring in the army so that they can give these wannabe gangsters tough love, then round them all up and send them off to military school.
Mike Brian, Surrey
Federal cash not the answer
These wasteful municipal politicians want the federal government to kick in more money for infrastructure. Where is the money coming from? It’s coming from you and me. Municipal officials shouldn’t blame the feds for their mismanagement.
Dave Colledge, Brackendale
Prof misrepresents Hinduism
I don’t know which skewed version of the Hindu faith Memorial University history professor Ranee Panjabi has cited while refusing to wear a transmitter to accommodate a student with impaired hearing.
It baffles me as a Hindu and appals me as an academic. As a practicing Hindu I can safely vouch that there is nothing in Hinduism that would prevent one from wearing any device. Panjabi might have some personal reasons that prohibit her from wearing a device but she should refrain from saying that it goes against Hinduism.
A real Hindu teacher would go the extra mile to help her students rather than create barriers in the name of religion.
Rajnish Dhawan, assistant English professor, University of the Fraser Valley, Abbotsford
Don’t accept bad designs
The badly designed products that Gordon Clark profiled in his column Monday represent the tip of the iceberg.
Everything we buy and use has gone through a design process and we are either beneficiaries or victims of how educated or uneducated those processes are. Design things well and our lives are made safer, simpler, more efficient and more enjoyable. The opposite is also true.
We can only be victimized by bad design if we accept it.
Ray Arnold, Richmond
The editorial pages editor is Gordon Clark, who can be reached at gclark@theprovince.com. Letters to the editor can be sent to provletters@theprovince.com.
