Drivers in Oak Bay and Victoria woke up Sunday to find handbills placed under the windshield wipers criticizing them for owning a vehicle that “burns a lot of fuel.”
The front of the handbill reads, “Yes, this is a crisis. You are the problem.”
A message on the back begins, “This handbill was left on your vehicle because your vehicle burns a lot of fuel.”
It then gets more personal, stating: “When you see your kids, nieces, nephews, grandchildren; the people to who you are passing the world onto. I suggest you tell them to their face that you hate them.”
It concludes, “Do your best. Anything else isn’t good enough.”
Residents are calling the tactic upsetting.
“I think they’re very intolerant and very presumptuous and I think it’s wrong,” Christine Pogue said.
Tom Green of the David Suzuki Foundation said the notes are needlessly divisive.
“The last thing you want to do is create a barrier when this is something we’ve all got to act on together,” he said. “It’s a non-partisan issue, we’ve got to reach across and find ways to come together, find solutions.”
Andrew Weaver, Green Party MLA for Oak Bay-Gordon Head, is also critical of the handbills, saying they encourage people to “circle the wagons and get defensive.”
According to ICBC, there were 17,177 electric vehicles registered in the province in 2018, a 96 per cent increase over the previous year.
“So far this year, up to September there’s been 31,230 (electric vehicles), up another 82 percent, and we’re not even over,” Weaver said.
A person or group has yet to claim responsibility for the notes.