Several years ago I was invited to sit on a committee of half a dozen or so other people to design a coat of arms for the City of Penticton.
At the time I wondered what the point of this was because it seemed a very English pursuit as the designs had to be sent to England to be approved by the Royal College of Arms which did not seem a very Canadian thing to do to me; and I’m English.
However, the design was eventually approved; but I never saw the coat of arms used on anything after that.
However; for a few years now I thought that maybe a town which had a coat of arms (I hesitate to call Penticton a city because it has no cathedral, which is the English definition of a city), should at least have a grocery store in its downtown area.
I live downtown with no car. Ever since the SuperValu disappeared (although this store was not in the top class of supermarkets it was there) I have missed a grocery store downtown. It is very inconvenient.
I read in a national newspaper that Loblaws supermarket chain was going to build 900 new stores. I emailed the mayor to ask if he had heard the news and could he act quickly to petition Loblaws for one to be built here in Penticton. I received no acknowledgement of my request.
I miss not having a post office downtown also. We have a beautiful heritage post office building downtown, these days I believe it’s full of lawyers and MPs. It would be good if a room could be found in the heritage post office building for a real post office.
It’s a nuisance to have to go by taxi to shop for groceries and use a post office. Occasionally in summer I might risk a bus trip, but it’s not worth using the bus in the winter because they run so infrequently if I missed one I might freeze to death waiting the half hour to an hour for another bus.
I’m sure there are other people in this town who would welcome a grocery store downtown; and a proper post office.
Who knows, the mayor and councillors might even search out that design we in the Coat of Arms committee came up with to decorate them. After all, it does seem a pity to have done all that work and not use it.
Pamela Campion
Penticton
