Speak up with criticism

Re. Casorso corridor concerns (Castanet, Spet. 10)

With astonishment, I read this article and watched its video about the Casorso corridor concerns.

Having listened to the arguments of these residents, I must admit their concerns are valid. The presentation unfortunately was done in the usual soft-voiced tone.

What I mean is, we Canadians raise important issues like these and at the same time we look for apologies so as to not discredit, in this case, the city planners and contractors involved.

We start with, “they did a great job,” “it is a fantastic new asset to our city,” “it could perhaps have been designed a little bit better,” “we only want it to be as good as possible,” and we end with, “here and there it could see some small improvements, but overall it was a job well done.”

At the same time, we all think silently it was a lousy project.

This typical modus operandi has brought us, our economy and our society to where we are today. Some call it a broken country, others call it a country that promised immigrants a bright future but brought many only disappointment to the point they had to leave, broke.

It is time we learn to speak our minds, unafraid of public shaming, when we see that a politician, (including) a city councillor, mayor, as well as a contractor, scientist, professor, mechanic or technician performing a lousy job.

Say it. If it’s good, it’s good, if it’s bad, it’s bad. As long as we don’t learn to speak our minds, (political) under-performers will continue to climb the ladder to the position of minister and create chaos.

Ronald Ratgers, Kelowna