YOU SAID IT: Shocking read about Jasper fire

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SHOCKING READ ABOUT JASPER FIRE

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Re: GUNTER: Jasper blaze exposes possible flaws in Parks Canada wildfire strategy, online, July 25

I was both shocked and angry after reading Lorne Gunter’s chronological, well-documented exposé of the real cause of the fire that devastated one of Canada’s most famous and revered tourist destinations in Jasper, Alta.

Apparently, multiple warnings had been issued to Parks Canada, over the years, that “proper forest management “ was required. They all called for immediate, significant, active intervention. In 2018, two professional foresters predicted a “mega fire” unless this intervention occurred. But the eco extremists in charge at Parks Canada wouldn’t listen.

Thank you, Mr. Gunter and the Ottawa Sun, for shining the bright light of day on this major, tragic bureaucratic screwup.

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Heads should roll. Canadian citizens must begin to hold these nameless, faceless bureaucrats accountable when they make and enforce inexplicably foolish, irresponsible and detrimental decisions and policies. Until we do, nothing will change.

BETTY-ANNE TREMBLAY

OTTAWA

IF TREES WERE IN QUEBEC …

It doesn’t surprise me that the feds — Trudeau and Parks Canada — left hundreds of thousands of dead trees, killed by beetles, to stand instead of removing them to help prevent a fire in Alberta. If those dead trees were in Quebec, they would have taken every measure possible to prevent fires like the one in Jasper. The next election can’t come soon enough.

RENE KLABOUCH

KEMPTVILLE

REVOLVING-DOOR JUSTICE

Re: LILLEY: Ford right to want accountability from Ontario’s judges, online, July 30

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With serious crime a rising problem in Ontario cities, especially Toronto, kudos to Premier Ford for wanting to make judges held accountable for failing to consider public safety when handing out weak sentences. We have too many judges who view their jobs as “social justice warriors” rather than doing what we expect of them.

Ontario currently has a catch-and-release farcical system of justice. Far too often those charged with serious crimes are quickly back on the street committing even more crime.

Judges seem to be ignoring the need to hand out stiff sentences for serious crimes as a deterrent to others. There seems far too much emphasis on the perpetrators of crime and too little on crime victims and the need to protect the public.

LARRY COMEAU

OTTAWA

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