Should Dairy Queen clean its downtown plate?
I would like to submit a letter to the editor about something everyone in town is thinking about but no one seems to want to say it out loud.
After a winter of blizzards, do we really need any more?
There’s a new ice cream shop coming to Whitehorse this spring. A new Dairy Queen will serve as a beacon to blurry-eyed travelers looking for a convenient and recognizable highway-side snack. Locals will now have a sexy new option for fast food that’s in the middle of the city but essentially not close to anything else. The zoning had to be amended to allow this royal dessert dispensary the opportunity to operate at the new location.
But while locals are licking their lips in anticipation for the return of her majesty — I can’t help but ask — shouldn’t Dairy Queen have to finish cleaning their plate downtown before we serve dessert? As the new fancy Dairy Queen castle is erected on it’s highway-side perch, let’s not forget that the old Dairy Queen location rots on valuable real estate in the downtown core.
As the new one arrives, it signifies the end of the dream that something will become of the abandoned location downtown. In a city where startups are forced to the fringes of the town, why do we tolerate abandoned eye-sores in the middle of our town. Are our taxes and policies not regulating our real estate efficiently? Are us peasants supposed to just not question the Queen? I know growing up I didn’t get ice cream until I finished my dinner, and cleaned up the kitchen — shouldn’t DQ have rules? or are we just going to let the monarchy make a mockery out of our town?
Chaz D
Whitehorse
Convoy to Ottawa
I am writing to add my voice to the events that have transpired in Ottawa over the past three weeks. All voices in this country deserve to be heard.
First I want to say how grateful I am to live in a democratic country with a strong, forward thinking political leader.
I am grateful that scientists and medical professionals have worked together to find vaccines to help us deal with this invisible enemy, COVID-19.
I am grateful that we have been given these vaccines free of charge when many people in the world haven’t and are thus left vulnerable to the disease.
I am grateful that our political leaders, both federal and provincial, have worked with medical professionals to invoke restrictions to help our society limit the transference of this disease and I will gladly follow mandates as long as it takes to handle this situation.
However, I am in the same boat as everyone else. I can get frustrated by all the limitations and wish for the “good old days” when we were able to travel anywhere, do whatever we wanted and see anyone at any time.
But, this is a global pandemic and, for the first time in decades, we are facing an adversary that can and does kill us if we are not careful and do not respect the health and safety of others.
I believe that we should hold rallies in every province, territory and every town to display our gratitude to a system that has provided financial relief through uncertain times when we could not work. We should rally to continue to support our exhausted health care workers and all the front line workers who have been on the job in valiant efforts to keep our lives moving forward.
As a proud Canadian, with a father who fought for our freedom in World War 2, I do not believe in criticizing political or medical leaders who are trying to muscle through an adverse and deadly situation that none of us have encountered before. Instead we need to rally together and give thanks for how far we have come.
We live in a privileged country with abundant money and resources. We have more freedom than most countries in the world and our food supplies, fuel and electrical comforts have never been lost. By working with the system instead of against it, we will get to the end of the pandemic a lot quicker. We still live in a free and plentiful country. BE GRATEFUL.
Thanks for airing my views,
Kathryn Boivin