College funding shortages threaten community
Dear Editor:
The past several months have been particularly challenging for the post-secondary sector, as faculty — like their counterparts across the country — face non-renewal of contracts, pre-layoff notifications, and the prospect of even more significant layoffs in the near future.
Community colleges serve as anchor institutions, both as major employers and as vital providers of education. The impacts of these challenges extend beyond faculty to the broader community — those facing job losses are your neighbours, colleagues and community members.
Despite these difficulties, our faculty remain committed to delivering the high-quality education that our community has come to expect. However, we urge you to stand with us in calling for solutions to the chronic underfunding that affects not only faculty and staff but also students and families seeking education.
British Columbia is grappling with many pressing issues, including housing shortages, tariffs and rising costs of living.
A well-educated and highly skilled population is key to our resilience in uncertain times, and our colleges are here to support that future.
Will you support us in advocating for the provincial government to address the ongoing underfunding of post-secondary education?
Sharon Mansiere, president, Okanagan College Faculty Assn.
We need a leader with experience in the real world
Dear Editor:
It’s too late, Mr. Poilievre
Canada is in crisis. Our existence as a country is being challenged and we are randomly being assaulted by our our-once friendly neighbour to the south. We’re so tired of political rhetoric and politicians. We really need a crisis manager. Now.
We need an experienced negotiator. We need allies. We need real world business experience. We need a financial manager who knows how international finance works. We need a team. We need election security. We need a positive reassuring advocate, and we need it all today.
Mr. Poilievre, this is not you. You’ve only ever been a politician. What crisis have you ever managed aside perhaps from within your own party?
Security screening? Why refuse? What don’t you want to know? You’re an isolationist. Do you have allies? Does anyone beyond Canada know who you are? Do you have a team? Who are they? What experience do they have? Is there anything beyond your “Canada is Broken” message?
Mark Carney is a crisis manager. He has a track record and understands what is going on. He makes decisions: he’s already cancelling the carbon tax, started to revitalize Canada’s military, he understands tariffs and the importance of Arctic defence.
He has international financial experience, knows the real world wants to interfere with Canadian elections, and has an experienced team on the job during this campaign to manage the fallout from our erratic neighbour. He knows we will survive and says so.
And locally, Stephen Fuhr knows politics from his first term as MP when he finally put Kelowna on Ottawa’s map.
He is also a crisis manager, an entrepreneur, has real work experience, and knows how teams work. We need him on Carney’s team. We need that now — please vote in this crucial election.
S. Simpson, Kelowna
Clean street lights make everything seem brighter
Dear Editor:
A quick shout out to the fabulous electrical department of Penticton city: Thank you, thank you for cleaning the street lights on Colourful Front Street.
They look shiny and as new as they did 30 years ago.
With the icky-poo and spiders webs gone, our street is well lit again.
Jeanette Beaven, Dragon's Den
Conservative appointment smells fishy
Dear Editor:
I smell a rat.
We have all become accustomed to the lies of Donald Trump. However the public should not accept anything but the truth from those vying for public office in Canada. We are not the United States.
The Conservative Party’s candidate for the Similkameen-South Okanagan-West Kootenay riding is suggesting her appointment was justified because “the Conservative Party ran out of time and wasn’t able to hold a nomination race in quite a few ridings throughout the country.”
However, it is obvious that wasn’t the case in this riding. For example, a Conservative nomination meeting was held for the Vernon riding in mid March.
Locally, four people have been publicly vying for the Conservative nomination and have been actively working for up to 24 months on their campaigns as they awaited the opportunity to demonstrate why they would be the best candidate for our riding.
If elected on April 28, perhaps the appointed candidate should pay the cost of another city byelection, as Dan Ashton did when he left city council after being elected MLA in 2013. Is her commitment to the mayor to finish her council term in writing?
All political parties have the right to choose the candidate of their choice. But the manner and timing of this decision was disrespectful of those four hopefuls who had gone through the vetting process and expended months of time and energy, and on their dime, as they awaited a democratic process to choose the best candidate.
The local riding association was cut out of the process. No competition was held. And what is worse is the public isn’t being told the truth behind this decision nor when it was made. The appointed candidate needs to come clean on the timing of how this whole process unfolded.
What else would this Conservative Party lie to the public about? They won’t be getting my vote.
Gary Denton, Penticton
Proud Canadian rejects concept of Canada First
Dear Editor:
Let’s start by getting one thing out of the way, right off the bat. I love Canada. It provided safe haven to my father’s family escaping war-torn Europe in the 1940s and offered the promise of a life beyond that of tenant farmers to my mother’s ancestors in the mid 1800s. Truly, my family is the quintessential picture of Canadiana.
My uncle served in the Second World War, my grandparents survived on the farm in Saskatchewan through the Dirty ‘30s, my dad, his siblings and their mother landed in Halifax as refugees in 1945.
These ancestors of mine all made lives here. They all praised what Canada had, and has, offered them and their progeny.
So why not “Canada First?”
Simple. Because that is not the Canada that we have been, and, in my opinion, the Canada we should continue to be.
When our Armed Forces were called upon, from the first and second world wars, Korea, Afghanistan, to peacekeeping around the world, our response was never “Well, that’s not Canada First.”
When we’ve worked together through church groups, community organizations, and grassroots movements to support and sponsor refugees from war ravaged areas around the globe — Cambodia to Bosnia to Syria to Palestine — it was never done to put “Canada First.”
When we help our neighbours, our friends, and our friends we haven’t met yet, that is when Canada is at its best. Don’t get me wrong, I still want proud Canadians on the podium at World Cup events and the Olympics. I relished in the victory at the Four Nations Cup. Yet I know we can still be Canada, Canada that wins, Canada that achieves, Canada that thrives, but not be “Canada First.”
The type of hyper-fueled nationalism that feeds a “Canada First” ideology is one where we get there first, kick others out of the way, take as much as we can carry, and scoff at the weaklings that came second, third and so on.
Am I wrong? Well, Hitler, Mussolini and a number of other fascists have used versions of “This Country First.” Germany’s anthem until the end of the Second World War was “Germany Above All Others”. Mussolini had a slogan that was “Italy is All.”
Now we have our former closest ally’s leader telling his brethren that they will “Make America Great Again.” But who would pay the price?
Everyone else.
These slogans and these mantras are always a method to make the audience believe that they are getting ripped off or duped by those who are not deserving, or worthy, or the same … as … ya. There is the really disgusting part. These “our country is broken,” we need to “put ourselves first!” authors don’t always tell you up front that what they want is for you to buy into their plan to target someone. Someone who isn’t us. Someone who should come second, or third, or whatever.
My Canada, my parents’ and my grandparents’ Canada, was not one where it was “Canada First.” They escaped those kind of places for this amazing country.
Let’s be the best Canada we can be, but let’s not forget who we have always been.
Kevin Epp, Penticton
Fuhr’s a good listener who gets things done
Dear Editor:
As an autistic advocate, writer, and disability consultant living here in Kelowna, I care deeply about the future of our growing city and who we choose to represent us in Ottawa. That’s why I’m proud to support Stephen Fuhr in his campaign to serve Kelowna once again.
I had the opportunity to meet Stephen personally a few years ago during his previous campaign. We had a meaningful and thoughtful conversation about autism, ALS and the broader challenges faced by disabled Canadians. It was clear to me then that Stephen is someone who listens with sincerity and leads with integrity.
During his time as our Member of Parliament, Stephen didn’t just talk about making a difference — he actually delivered. He helped bring millions of federal dollars into our community, supporting everything from clean water projects to our local colleges and university. One of the things that stood out to me was how he championed small businesses, securing over $13 million in direct support to help local entrepreneurs grow, innovate, and contribute to our economy right here in our city.
These are not just promises; they are outcomes that made a real difference in people’s lives.
As someone who has spent over a decade advocating for autistic and disabled Canadians (speaking at conferences, the Senate of Canada and even the United Nations) I understand how critical it is to have elected leaders who take action, not just talk. Stephen Fuhr has demonstrated that he is committed to building an inclusive, equitable, and forward-looking Kelowna.
He has also consistently shown up for marginalized communities, including people with disabilities, 2SLGBTQIA+ residents, and those who are too often overlooked in politics. As a parent and advocate, I can say that these issues are close to my heart, and I trust Stephen to stand up for the rights and well-being of all of us.
Kelowna is a city that’s growing and changing rapidly. We need leadership that not only understands the challenges but also knows how to deliver meaningful results. Stephen Fuhr has proven he can do that, and that’s why I will be supporting him in this election
Rebekah Kintzinger, Kelowna
More research into convoy goonery is not needed
Dear Editor:
In the March 22 letters to the editor, an individual expressed concern that there probably wasn’t enough research done into reasons behind the rowdy “freedom convoy” that converged on Ottawa and created gratuitous mayhem on its citizenry.
Now what kind of research does someone need to do to understand the senseless behaviours of these goons. The whole exercise was an act of terrorism and rightfully should have been quashed at the beginning, whatever the unfounded reasoning behind their actions.
Then-prime minister Justin Trudeau was right in ignoring the protesters. I would have too, and I once was a trucker, but not a knuckle-dragging type.
Paul Crossley, Penticton
City needs to work harder to buy Kelowna Springs
Dear Editor:
The City of Kelowna has to make more of an effort to purchase/expropriate Kelowna Springs Golf Course for numerous reasons, including flood management, the protection of adjacent farmland, and the opportunity to have a municipal golf course for the public, an enduring city asset.
So what is the hurry? The developer stated he is proceeding with his plan to pave it over — if council approves it. Right now, he is allowing half of the golf course to go to weeds which will make it more expensive to get it back and running. Why wait for this to happen if the city is going to buy it anyway?
• It’s the same mayor and council that voted 8-1 to save it in 2023.
• It’s the same developer.
• It’s the same plan.
• It’s the same land.
• It’s the same range of concerns.
• It’s the same range of issues.
• It’s the same public.
• It’s the same person, Mayor Tom Dyas, who said in 2022, he would fight to save Kelowna Springs if he became mayor. (I believed him. I voted for him.)
Nothing has changed so what is the holdup on the city’s part? Are there funds? Yes. Do we leave the potential for airport and downstream flooding to a developer? Is our agricultural land worth protecting? Does the public deserve such an amenity for their social and physical health?
Dyas said he sent city staff out to buy it and despite their “best” efforts, they came away empty handed.
How much was the offer? According to the mayor’s comments, it is not what the developer paid. That doesn’t sound very serious to me.
The people of Kelowna need to rise up and demand the city protect this green space and at the same time provide the community a huge amenity as a walkable, affordable municipal golf course with all its amenities for the public, summer and winter.
Vancouver has six municipal golf courses, Burnaby has five, Calgary has seven, Kelowna has none. Last chance. Last call. There is an old saying ‘you snooze, you lose.”
“I turned around and it was gone.”
Susan Ames, Kelowna
Poilievre promises don’t answer U.S. tariff threats
Dear Editor:
On March 27, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre introduced another incentive to garner votes for his party. It is to raise the tax-free savings contribution to $12,000.
Before U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs, and threat to Canada’s sovereignty, a $12,000 contribution would have been welcomed by those who can afford it. I know many people who have never been able to open a tax-free savings account simply because their income is spent on living expenses, and even a $5,000 contribution was beyond their means.
Today, workers worry they may lose their jobs. They worry about meeting expenses for daily needs, so Poilievre’s offer to stash away $12,000 from taxes is shamefully insensitive. As well, Poilievre’s 15% tax deduction is meaningless to the workers who fear losing their livelihood as a result of President Trump’s tariff war.
Welcome to the Kafkaesque age of Trump.
Helen Schiele, Kelowna
We should allow Chinese EVs into the country
Dear Editor:
Canada is now in a two-front trade war with the United States and China.
The U.S. trade war is unprovoked and unjustifiable. Canada started the trade war with China by imposing a tariff on Chinese-made electric vehicles. In retaliation, China has imposed tariffs on some Canadian agricultural and seafood products.
Canada should offer to allow China to export electric vehicles to us, equivalent to the number of Teslas imported in 2024. Chinese EVs over that quota would be subject to an import tariff. We would add a punishing tariff on Tesla to halt its Canadian sales.
This solution would relieve our agriculture and seafood sectors. It would not impact our auto industry as Chinese EVs would be replacing Teslas not manufactured in Canada. It would allow more Canadian car buyers to purchase a less expensive Chinese EV.
Canada should give convicted felon Trump the opportunity to stop the trade war before we start negotiations with China.
John Dorn, Summerland
