Editor:
As a taxpayer and senior resident of the Sunshine Coast, I am somewhat perplexed and, in fact, feel insulted by the letter defending the decision of Vancouver Coastal Health to replace Shorncliffe and Totem Lodge with a privately operated facility (“The facts on Silverstone,” Aug. 19).
In the letter, VCH board chair Kip Woodward asserts that “misinformation is being spread” concerning the details of the project. Whether the information in circulation is correct or not is a question, but it is much less likely to be the case had VCH had the courtesy to provide public engagement in the project from the outset.
One wonders, in fact, how much of the information being put out by VCH is misinformed when, for example, Woodward alludes to the benefits of 20 additional beds, which is, in fact, a drop in the bucket in relation to the actual needs of our growing seniors population.
It is so disappointing to endure top-down decision making, which ignores the will of a high proportion of Coast residents.
Michael Siddall, Sechelt
