Letters to The Sun, July 23, 2022: Reader has nothing but lawn darts for the McMartin column

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Subject: illogical regulations deem long grass “unsightly”

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Columnist Pete McMartin makes a good point about the benefits of Mother Nature’s diversity growing outside his house – he undoubtedly has a variety of flowering plants to encourage insects and birds. His “modern lawn” claims, however, might not hold sway in 2022 because there are other considerations: First, lawns are unlikely to seriously poison our city’s groundwater since many pesticides are banned for some time — as a result, my lawn is far from an “organic wasteland”, with half a dozen recognizable weed species, horsetails and bee clovers.

Second, mowing my lawn and edging helps most people’s appeal (perhaps the author secretly thinks that a neglected lawn is a direct way to lower housing prices in Vancouver), but more importantly, it’s one of the few times you can interact with neighbors – at least those who can be seen outside walking a dog or doing front yard maintenance.

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Third, for those who do not want to do gardening work themselves – those who have “lost their appetite” for such work – one can choose from a small army of gardeners who can be hired to do this routine maintenance. , thus providing the necessary employment. Unmowed lawns could therefore “take the crust of bread from the mouth”.

Fourth, while it is time that the countless small mowers, leaf blowers, edgers, etc. powered by ICE are banned due to their carbon emissions, electrical equipment, with its low ozone pollution, has been available for decades. Will Mr. McMartin investigate why City Council, which presides over our so-called ‘greenest city’, has refused to act?

Finally, some people play golf, others jet all over the world, but a small group prefer to take care of the gardening of their property in the city and enjoy this maintenance for a lifetime. In rural areas, grass up to the knees would be more appropriate, probably necessary, to feed the ungulates. In an urban environment, one might reasonably expect the frontage of a lot to not resemble a farmhouse or some other unfettered version of Mother Nature. Moreover, Mr McMartin should think back to his apparent joy in punishing his neighborhood – in his own words, if his appearance was “unsightly before”, what would people think of it now, “like a bad haircut “? There are less annoying ways to show non-compliance.

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The author is right about the cowardly person who presumably reported him for breaking the rules. The person should have had gut strength and confronted him directly first. Anonymity has become a greater danger in society than manicured lawns.

Paul Baumann, Vancouver

Taiwan can be a partner in Canada’s fight against disinformation warfare

Subject: CSIS Officials Briefed Vancouver Mayor on Foreign Election Interference

As CSIS raises alarm bells against the specter of foreign interference in the upcoming BC municipal elections, Taiwanese are well aware of the dangers of disinformation campaigns and heavy-handed tactics from abroad.

Like Canada, Taiwan has also been the target of external actors seeking to erode the integrity of its democratic institutions. By using compromised social media accounts as a basis for spreading false information, the outside actor attempted to sow distrust among the Taiwanese people in their government. Shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Taiwan was the subject of a barrage of unsubstantiated “news articles” suggesting that the United States and like-minded democracies would abandon Taiwan once the People’s Republic of China reportedly decided to annex the island nation by force. Seeking to influence the voting preferences of innocent Taiwanese workers, the same external actors arbitrarily shut down their markets to a wide range of Taiwanese agricultural products (including world famous pineapples, groupers and mangoes) in blatant violation of the rules of the World Trade Organization.

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The same outside actor has also applied unwarranted economic sanctions against other countries, simply because they are friends of Taiwan. Over the past two months, Lithuanian imports of timber, beef, dairy products and beer have been halted by the authoritarian regime in a ruthless plot to force Lithuania to reverse its sovereign decision to allow Taiwan to operate an office. representation in his own name.

These types of disinformation campaigns and heavy-handed tactics need to be rebuffed, as they could have deadly consequences. Just weeks ago, Taiwanese worshipers were gunned down in Southern California by a fanatic supporter of political extremism – a heinous hate crime.

To counter cyber offensive, economic blackmail and cognitive warfare from the outside actor, Taiwan has developed a wide range of capabilities. With these capabilities, Taiwan can be a partner in Canada’s fight against disinformation warfare. The people of democratic Taiwan stand with the people of democratic Canada in our common struggle against the dark forces of authoritarian coercion. The fight to preserve our democratic freedoms will prevail.

Lihsin Angel Liu, Director General, Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Vancouver

Letters to the editor should be sent to sunletters@vancouversun.com.

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