iN RESPONSE: Readers have their say

Following are a collection of reader responses to stories or letters to the editor for the second week of February 2024. They have been edited slightly for readability. 

Got something you want to add? Send an email to editor Marshall Jones at mjones@infonews.ca.

—

Scammers steal $20,000 from grandparents in Central Okanagan

Hi Marshall,

I left Facebook seven years ago so cannot comment through that platform. A week ago I got a midday call from a ‘private number’. I answered it as I have a relative whose calls come in like that. “Hello, Joan speaking”. There was a pause, and it might be a telemarketer. Then came a man’s voice saying, “Hi grandma, how are you?” I started to laugh. I have no grandchildren and fur babies can’t use phones. The caller hung up.

Sorry to hear that old folks have had their money stolen by strangers with no questions asked. This scam has gone around many times over the last 10 years. Castanet, Daily Courier and Capital News have articles about this. I imagine local TV stations cover this as well. I nixed TV 17 years ago. It is beyond me that people have not filed that in their data base (their brain) for future reference. There are many predators out there looking for easy prey. This isn’t the Canada of the 50s and 60s anymore, I’m sad to say.

— Joan Johnston, via email

RCMP mistake sees Vernon man with $200,000 of meth, cocaine walk free

And this is how we get drugs and drug dealers off the streets? By the way, I’m presuming that the drugs were confiscated. How much would it cost to have a couple of expert constitutional lawyers on staff to advise police on matters like this? — Geoffrey King, via iNFOnews.ca 

BC gym teacher who inappropriately touched students allowed to teach again

Yikes. This sounds very sexual, and suggestive of a risky person. This kind of behaviour suggests to me a court order to review his hard drives and internet history would be in order. The repeated behaviour should be a huge warning bell. — Noah Liguori, via iNFOnews.ca

iN PHOTOS: Shuswap photographer gets bucket list encounter with bobcat

Wow, beautiful pictures. — Bonnie Derry, via iNFOnews.ca

iN PHOTOS: Entertaining wildlife captures in Kamloops, Okanagan

Awesome photos. — Dorothy Taylor, via iNFOnews.ca

—

Love these photos. They left me smiling! — Deborah Podurgiel, via iNFOnews.ca

Singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie stripped of Order of Canada

She has been a great voice and is a source of pride and inspiration for First Nations people on both sides of the border. This was not necessary. — Robert Bishop, via iNFOnews.ca 

Kamloops mayor files RCMP complaint against another councillor, this time for ‘hacking’

I am not sure why he is still the mayor and we haven’t had another election. It seems like all that is happening with the mayor and council are lawsuits and bickering. — Derrick LeBlanc, via iNFOnews.ca 

‘It’s hurtful’: Okanagan vet frustrated by pet owners’ misconceptions about rising costs

This is an issue because people in Canada think all healthcare is “free” and therefore everyone is entitled to it, as it’s written in the healthcare act. This applies to human medicine but extrapolates to a cultural norm where people just expect healthcare to happen to them (or their pets) and when faced with the cost they lose their marbles. The reality is that healthcare is far from free as this article illustrates. Workers are often underpaid and the sheer cost of diagnosis and treatment is astronomical. As a society we need to stop acting in such an entitled manner and accept the fact that healthcare costs money. Regardless of if it is for pets or people. — Jaeger Odyegov, via iNFOnews.ca

— 

There is a corporate greed factor involved. Mars Inc. owns VCA Canada. Mars is one of the top 10 richest companies in the world, they also own pet food maker Royal Canin. This is why I will only ever use a private clinic. I steer clear of any VCA clinic. Mars can afford to charge less, but they choose not to. — Dj Meliquoi, via iNFOnews.ca

—

We have an astronomical bill looming for our dog. What’s really sad is if you can’t afford the cost, your dog suffers and is put to sleep. — Phil Costabile, via iNFOnews.ca 

—

A doctor for humans makes $30 a patient. Veterinarians charge what ever they want. The cost of medications has no cap. There is no regulations regarding cost. People are pissed, and I don’t blame them. — Marilyn Leszczynski, via iNFOnews.ca

—

Thank you for writing this story. I’m a veterinarian myself and the recent CBC story was hurtful and one sided. I also work at a corporate clinic and have no control over costs. I do, however, care very much about my patients. As stated, this job is hard enough as it is, even without the media thrashing we seem to get so often. One of the things nobody talked about in the CBC article is that while working for a corporation, I actually get benefits such as extended health benefits and RRSP matching. I don’t feel like benefits like this are too much to ask for as an employee. This isn’t a part time job, it is my career. Many pet owners likely receive benefits at their own jobs, but this money also has to come from somewhere, including costs we charge the client. — Uschi Craigdallie, via email 

—

Communicating the rising costs would help, but in this day and age when a corporation, especially one publicly traded on the markets are involved, all the general public see is the rich getting richer and sadly that is usually the case. We keep hearing it is the cost of doing business in the post pandemic world yet profits are up up up. The public knows it and have had enough. — Dick Dawson, via iNFOnews.ca 

—

This is very sad to hear and this kind of behaviour should not and cannot be tolerated. With the shortage of vets in the region it is not helpful at all. Perhaps such abusive customers should be put on a watch list with all the vets so that getting future service will be more challenging for them. — Leo Steen, via iNFOnews.ca 

—

I’m not sure why people don’t buy pet insurance. There are numerous companies that have reasonable rates. You can’t blame the vets for price increases. Staff wages have gone up, the cost of supplies have gone up. We can’t expect 2010 prices in 2025. Nothing stays the same price. — Patricia Evans, via iNFOnews.ca 

— 

This is not a new phenomenon. Vets have always been very expensive. — Mark Raabe, cia iNFOnews.ca 

—

I really appreciate this article. I have worked at both private and corporate veterinary hospitals, and while the services are different, the costs are different, the pay is different, the level of care stayed the same. That being said, I appreciate being able to be paid a better fraction of what I am worth as a veterinary technician, doing everything a nurse does and more, as it makes it affordable for me to actually stay in the field. One of the reasons technicians leave is because they can’t afford to work anymore for low pay, and end up taking on a different job that they don’t feel as called to do but at least they can afford to save for retirement and not worry about getting bit or ruining their back from the constant physical aspect of the job. — Heather Fledderus, via iNFOnews.ca

THOMPSON: Is AI good or evil, or somewhere in between?

Hahaha, you are so correct on this one! — Bonnie Derry, via iNFOnews.ca 

Here’s the latest as Canada faces steel and aluminum tariffs from the United States

I wonder how Trump’s going to retrofit his refineries so they can process U.S. oil, or build his cars, or mine for his precious metals if he has no steel to work with? U.S. timber must be amazing. — Dianne Jackson, via iNFOnews.ca