6 THE DAILY VOICE, TUESDAY, MARCH 31, 2015 EDITOR CHARLOTTE DREWETT lewpoints Have no flight fear Flight 9525 crash last Tuesday, [: the wake of the Germanwings many airlines are taking precau- tionary steps to avoid such trag- edies. It was widely speculated in the media that the co-pilot Andreas Lubitz locked out his fellow pilot and purposely crashed the plane, and that he was suicidal. Transport Minister Lisa Raitt released a statement on March 26 containing an interim order that requires all Canadian airlines to have two people in the cockpit at all times. Does this mean we need to fear using flying transportation from now on? For starters, it shouldn’t. Many OPINION ALEXANDER HOEGLER 66 You don’t see people avoiding the road even though it’s clearly more dangerous to drive than to fly people are afraid of flying, but aircraft acci- dents are very rare. It’s a popular urban legend that you’re more likely to die on your way to the airport than to die in a plane crash. To put things in perspective, according to data from ICBC, there’s an average of 314 fatal victims of vehicle crashes in British Columbia every year, with 269 fatalities in 2013. Statistics from the Transporta- tion Safety Board of Canada’s website showed that in 2013, of the 39 accidents involving commer- cial airplanes that were registered in Canada, only seven were fatal. You don’t see people avoiding the road even though it’s clearly more dangerous to drive than to fly ona plane. Even though Flight 9525 is a worldwide tragic event, we have to understand how unfortunate it was to happen. Ensuring that two pilots remain in the cockpits would help avoiding such tragedies in future. We also need to remember how necessary flights are. They are the easiest and fastest way to travel long distances. If you’re going to play against the odds and avoid flights (which you would need for business trips, vacations, visits with family and friends,) then just remember the risks you take every day. We want to hear from you Got a different point of view? Write to us. Problems with something we've said? Let us know. Think we got a fact wrong? Tell us. Journalism instructor Erica Bulman oversees The Voice. Email her at ebulman@langara.be.ca stores in B.C. will be able to sell wine “off the shelf” as long as it is 100 per cent B.C. wine. However, for reasons that remain inadequate- ly explained, the government didn’t extend that offer to B.C.-made beer. In a December press release detailing the new policy, Justice Minister Suzanne Anton said “supporting B.C.’s economy and local wine producers through the promotion and sales of made-in-B.C. products is a driving force for government, and this model is one of the many ways that we are changing B.C.’s liquor laws to grow local businesses in this province.” But why draw the line at wine? Why not include beer in the plan? Si Wednesday, grocery If this model is focused on “common sense changes” to increase conve- nience and choices for the people of British Columbia, then why inconve- nience those who prefer to enjoy a beer with their dinner? The B.C. Liquor Distribution Branch’s annual report for 2013-14 says that beer sales account for 36.9 per cent of their total gross sales, whereas wine accounts for only 32.7 per cent. Despite its popularity, beer sales OPINION JAMES SMITH will continue to be restricted, as ifa pale ale is a more shameful bever- age choice on a sunny spring evening than a VQA-certified pinot gris. Ridiculous. There has been shockingly little explanation offered as to why the province’s vintners are more deserving of a break than the province’s brewers, or why B.C. grape growers are more worthy of government promotion than B.C. hops farmers. The exclusion of B.C. beer from the government’s on-the-shelf model reeks of snobbish elitism, showing once again that the government is woefully out of touch with the wants and needs of average British Columbians. AMG KLIS “Would you like some cheese with your whine?” ANNA DIMOFF and MICHAEL LYLYK comic Shameful 2015 Earth Hour Earth Hour statistics by community, and Vancouver was ranked towards the bottom of the list, with only a 0.7 per cent reduc- tion in its electricity. It was a global, one-hour event, and Vancouver failed to attend. It’s devastating seeing the megawatts that B.C. didn’t save this year. 0: Sunday, BC Hydro released its OPINION TONY SU The goal of Earth Hour is for citizens to flick off their lights for one hour between 8:30 and 9:30 p.m., but we failed to do that. We should feel ashamed. I feel ashamed, even though I turned off my lights during that hour. Our mayor, Gregor Robertson, vows to make Vancouver the greenest city in the world yet failed to get Vancouverites to turn off the lights. Throughout the week, I don’t recall seeing any advertisements about Earth Hour. Is it so hard for him to spend a little taxpayer money to inform people that a crucial day to save energy is coming up? Robert- son presents himself as a ‘green’ mayor, but I think he’s falling apart. Vancouver isn’t the only disap- pointment. The whole province should be disappointed. This year the province saved an all time low since the inauguration of this environmental event in 2008, saving only 15 megawatts. The last two years of Earth Hour the amount of energy saved has been significantly low. I propose the B.C. government initiate its own Earth Hour to make up for the disappointing year. The Voice is published by Langara College's journalism department. Editorial opinions are those of the staff and are independent of views of the student government and administration. We welcome letters to the editor. All letters must be signed. They may be edited for brevity. Names may be withheld in special cases, but your letter must include your name and phone number. HOW TO REACH US PHONE 604-323-5396 FAX 604-323-5398 E-MAIL thevoice@langara.be.ca DROP-IN Room A226 Langara College There is a mailbox at the entrance to the journalism rooms. SNAIL MAIL The Voice 100 West 49th Ave. Vancouver, B.C. VSY 226 WEBSITE wwwilangaravoice.ca EDITORIAL STAFF THIS ISSUE: MANAGING EDITOR/ PAGE 6 Charlotte Drewett PAGE EDITORS PAGE 1 Mel Edgar PAGE 2 Nich Johansen PAGE 3 Jes Hovanes PAGE 4 Sandy Powlik PAGE 5 Natasha Chang PAGE 7 Lena Alsayegh PAGE 8 Vivian Chui WEB EDITORS Kera Piwowarski-Skocylas Mary Beach CITY EDITOR Shannon Lynch CITY DESKER Alice D'Eon COPY EDITORS Sableen Minhas James Goldie REPORTERS Jocelyn Aspa Mona Butler Tanya Gommisso Anna Dimoff Kelvin Gawley Dustin Godfrey Alex Hoegler Michael Lylyk Bryan Mc Govem Owen Munro Bailey Nicholson Rebecca Phair Sara Rabey Ethan Reyes James Smith Tony Su Julia Wickham Xiao Xu Contact us: Online at langaravoice.ca Twitter at @LangaraVoice