Letters, Oct. 12, 2024: ‘Lift a glass to province’s decision on alcohol’

Article content

Tough to swallow

Article content

Don’t get me wrong, I love Rick Bell’s stuff, but his column regarding the decision not to sell alcohol in convenience stores doesn’t sit well with me. (‘Hold our beer’, Calgary Sun, Oct. 4). For starters, for a society that frowns on drinking and driving, easier access to alcohol on a whim just seems counter-intuitive. At least an alcohol store requires a conscious decision to get some. And I can’t imagine there wouldn’t be some sort of insurance required to cover liabilities, especially for mom-and-pop stores whose adherence to “under 18” is questionable at best, and that just adds to the already sky-high costs of groceries in general. I do appreciate a cold bevy on a hot day, but not so much the costs associated with policing such convenience.

Article content

Article content

LLOYD FARLEY

(Just seems like an odd decision for an otherwise free-market-friendly bunch.)

Wage-old question

Regarding the nurses’ demands for 30% wage increases. I was a manager in a hospital for seven years. Over 85% of health costs were wages and benefits. The government could put another $10 billion into health care and the only effect will be that people’s wages go up, that’s it. Especially nurses with seniority, those make over $150,000/year. There will be zero progress in outcomes or effectiveness. Meantime, the public, who pay for these so-called services will not see improvements in wait times, access or client-based outcomes. What about morale? Well, it might improve for a few months but then it’s back to the same old complaints. And you ask why your taxes and inflation keeps going up? Advocates of national health keep telling us it will get better; it only needs more and more and more taxpayers’ money.

Article content

TOM BURNS

(Thirty per cent does seem like a pretty big ask.)

Lack of leaders

Re: “West needs a wake-up call from its history vacation” (Ben Shapiro, Oct. 10): Where are Maggie Thatcher and Ronnie Reagan when you need them? The West needs strong leaders that can articulate and apply sound fiscal visions. Both countries thrived, long term, under their regimes. The West needs strong leaders that can articulate and impose global norms in world affairs. Their economic success underwrote military muscle. Peace prevailed for decades. At present, we have neither such government in the U.S., Canada, and other democratic states. Our ability to influence anemic economies and failed foreign relations is with our voices and our ballots. We need to elect candidates that most closely emulate those two consequential leaders in the interest of prosperity and global peace.

LARRY SYLVESTER

(Weak leaders in both Canada and the U.S. have left us vulnerable. And it’s not much better in the U.K. We can only hope after a few elections around the world, leaders are elected who are have moral clarity on the important issues)

Article content