Calgary Sun Letters, Aug. 24: ‘Bike lanes waste of space & resources’

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More woke madness

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Bike lanes. Another blatant manifestation of the woke madness that has gripped governance at every level of Canadian politics. Climate change, identity politics, 15-minute cities, immigration/multiculturalism, the pandemic mindset, erosion of democracy, truth & reconciliation. Ad nauseum. How many kilometres of needless, massively-underused bike lanes exist in every Calgary community? Major roadways, like Silver Springs Blvd., sporting concrete barriers on either side of the road, to shelter the bike lanes on both sides of the road. Traffic down to one lane both ways. I drive it fairly often, and can’t remember the last time I actually saw a cyclist using the designated lane. Bowness Road, another major artery in the northwest, underwent a massive redo a few years back. An immense amount of concrete went into creating additional barriers to efficient vehicle movement, in addition to the one-lane each way to accommodate bike lanes and green spaces. Spend an hour or two monitoring the guys sporting helmets and spandex? You can count them on one hand … half a hand during the winter. The bike-lane insanity has to be reversed. Now. Calgary city council needs to get on with providing bike-lane data to the province. Now.

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BARBARA JESSIMAN

(Cutting into traffic flow, especially in congested areas, was always going to be a tough sell)

Buy Canadian

When I, as a low-income earner, watch the news and am told by the media that talks between our country and the U.S. have failed, the first question which comes to mind is, how does this affect my life? The cost of American goods on our shelves costs more money. So what? Why not buy Canadian goods? Forget about those goods from the U.S.

LORNE WESLEY VANDERWOUDE

(Canadians are rediscovering this country’s products)

Carney’s spin

PM Mark Carney walked away from a bad deal with the U.S. However, not for anything to do with tariffs to the auto sector, softwood lumber, and to steel and aluminum. Carney walked away from the deal over Supply Management, his chuminess with Communist China, and bills C-11 and C-18. Every excuse he utters is just spin to obfuscate and bamboozle the Canadian people.

JEFFREY ANDERSON

(Gotta think Carney was motivated to make a deal)

About data centres…

There is significant misinformation circulating regarding data centres. I’ve managed large processing plants. Many stories are misleading. The province is correct in insisting large data centres have their own power generation. These powerplants are designed for peak+ loads where excess power is put onto the grid, which keeps power prices constrained. Regarding cooling water. No large plant would ever have an expensive water-in, water-out process. Municipality would likely require centres to treat and store the water before discharge. Modern centres will have cooling water recirculation systems. The only external water needed would be for process evaporation. They would certainly not drain the rivers, as some opposition MLAs have suggested. One truth is that they do take larger amounts of land. Right now, your data is stored in a centre in some other country. Which would you have, a Canadian centre or foreign controlled centre? Citizens should seek objective information. The professional engineers association (APEGA) and the Alberta Electrical Systems (AESO) have some informative literature.

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TOM BURNS

(Thanks for the explanation)

Referendum divisive

Latest polls show half of the people who will vote to initiate the separation of Alberta from Canada are not serious about their position. They just want to send a message to Mark Carney. They do not actually support our province becoming a separate country. The referendum is actually meaningless. The great majority of Albertans will not take the vote seriously, and therefore not vote. And most of the small minority of people who will vote are not serious about their position. Albertans have good reason to be upset with the Liberal government, but let us take this divisive and economically destabilizing referendum out back and bury it.

IAIN FOULDS

(The best way to bury it is to vote decisively)

Wacky unlimited

Donald Trump allegedly wants to put a tariff on ‘certain metal musical instruments,’ such as tubas and saxophones, which are largely imported, because he feels it would reduce the demand for metals produced in the U.S. The White House added that importing these metallic instruments would reduce the demand for U.S.-made metals, and lead to a shortage in critical products resulting in a ‘National Security Emergency.’ And I thought I had heard just about everything wacky in this world. Silly me:)

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MARK PATTERSON

(There are no limits to his silliness)

Ballot bluff

People should not expect a trade deal until it suits the Liberals to do so. Despite high prices for everything, the Liberals will choose to save Canada on the eve of the next election. How glorious the Liberals will look when they finally have a deal that will probably buy them the election. Mark Carney and his band of misfits are geared to stay in power at all costs. Too bad I am not a proud Liberal!

RICK DWORNIKIEWICZ, Delhi, Ont.

(Carney prefers vacationing over trade negotiations)

Don’t lower the bar

(Re: ‘Foreign credentials recognized for less than one third of immigrants, study finds,’ calgarysun.com) Academic standards in Canada are set high and should never be compromised to accommodate lesser educational standards from other parts of the globe. Those arriving into Canada should be prepared to upgrade their education and skill sets. The Canadian bar should be held at a high standard and never lowered for any reason. Striving for the best of the best should be this nation’s only goal.

DONALD K. MUNROE, Three Hills

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(So long as we’re not letting genuinely-qualified talent go to waste)

Ongoing drama

Tariffs, Donald Trump, high-speed rail, yada, yada. Me? All I see daily are new spending announcements of hundreds of millions, billions of borrowed dollars, never to be repaid. Deficit, debt? Meh, we don’t even mention those anymore as our ‘banker boy’ blinds the gullible with his magnificence. Sure is reminiscent of ‘drama boy,’ the 10, count ’em, 10 years of economic, social hell.

BILL VERNON

(Liberals used to care about balancing the budget and spending wisely — this is a different Liberal party now)

Horse you rode in on

When I was working at a large engineering firm, the owner would call to his office people who came late to work and would ask them if they were working bankers’ hours. When Mark Carney ran for the Liberal leadership, it was to the Liberal Party a knight on a white horse has came to save them. Guess what, Liberals? Donald Trump just stole the horse.

DONALD AULD

(They were successful selling fear of Trump to Canadians in the last election — how is that working out for us?)

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