Today’s comments were selected because they offer differing views on three stories capturing reader attention: ‘Cheque week’ overdoses in B.C., Vancouver’s move to expropriate two derelict hotels used to house vulnerable populations, and of course, the ongoing debate around the size of Toronto’s city council.
A resident walks in a hallway at the Regent Hotel SRO in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, B.C., on Wednesday June 21, 2017. The Regent is one of many single room occupancy hotels owned by the Sahota family.DARRYL DYCK/The Globe and Mail
From: Vancouver moves to expropriate two derelict Sahota-owned hotels by Mike Hager
The real scandal here is that it took the City of Vancouver this long to do anything meaningful. They have known for years of the dire need for habitable, low- or no-income housing. - Drew BC
The one phrase that kept popping to mind while reading this article was, "slum landlord". And the Sahota family can't even muster a reply. Shameful, and worthy of much righteous anger. - Patient45
If the city had not been lax in enforcing over a thousand bylaw infractions (fines or other punitive measures), they would not be in this situation. The Sahotas are motivated by not spending money and are obviously crafty at working the system, but there are ways to have forced them into action that were not taken. Now we all get to pay the legal price. - patrobert
Slum landlords who prey on our most unfortunate citizens deserve public scorn. That being said, state theft of personal property is not the appropriate response. It is chilling and reflective of deference to mob mentality. - moon howler
In response to moon howler:
Expropriation is not theft. The city will be required by law to pay the owners the current fair market value of the properties in question. - Drew BC
From: ‘Cheque week’ in B.C. brings a one-day spike in overdose calls by Andrea Woo
No government is ever going to cut out money from people who need it. Nor should they. If we don’t give these individuals money, they will have to steal it. Then we really will have a problem. A smarter idea would be to dole this money out to people based on last names so we don’t see a huge spike all at once. Or, dole it out in staggered amounts. So instead of all of it at once you get smaller amounts throughout the month. - Corey Zimmermann
Doesn’t look good does it. Government gives out money to addicts, drug use and overdoses spike, increasing workload for first responders. Unless something changes this will be and endless “hamster wheel”. Hardly a sound policy to deal with a growing crisis. - JeffSpooner
From: City of Toronto pursues legal challenge to Ford’s council cuts by Jeff Gray and Justin Giovannetti
I believe that if the reduction of council size is beneficial, then the provincial government should establish a criteria that all municipalities must follow. It is not rational to single out some and ignore others in making substantive change. - clenei
The writers refer on several occasions to "left" city councillors. The issues are about democracy, citizen representation and proper consultation processes, which are neither left nor right but rather necessary ingredients to a well-functioning democracy. The more individuals are polarized as left or right, the more difficult it is to reach common ground. We see that with climate change where actions are suspended because people become loyal to their "tribe" of either left or right. That kind of loyalty suspends critical thinking, judgement and solutions. - gupta
It is an overly simplistic argument, to state that government will function more efficiently with half as many representatives for the people. Anyone who works in a busy workplace can understand that beyond a certain point, if you cut back stringently on those actually doing the work, the outcome may be less efficiency, more blunders, larger gaps, lower expertise, and more burnout. That’s certainly the case in my workplace. Sure, you save a few bigger salaries, but the service you provide deteriorates; people become disheartened and may leave or may disengage; in particular, those most highly qualified, that can afford better situations, may preferentially leave; and you quickly have a downward spiral. In the case of public service, an overstretched workforce and negative work environment may lead to a deterioration in the type of candidate willing to run, so that preferentially you end up with those less educated and less skilled. There’s obviously a balance, but where does a Premier, elected weeks ago, get off deciding without consultation, to cut in half the numbers of people serving Ontario’s largest municipality? Seems arbitrary, biased, risky, and self-serving. - CycleWest
The sum of accomplishments by a committee is inversely proportional to the number of its members. - Expectationzs
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