No lurking, Sierra Club’s out in open
To the Editor,
Re: Avatar sequel bombs in Walbran, BC Views, Jan. 14.
According to Tom Fletcher, “an employee of the B.C. branch plant of Sierra Club lurks, apparently coordinating media and protesters” regarding logging in the Walbran Valley.
He’s referring to me. Far from lurking, I’m proud to be campaigning with Sierra Club BC to save some of the last significant stands of unprotected old-growth on Vancouver Island. (And, to correct but one of the many misleading or false claims in Fletcher’s piece, Sierra Club BC is entirely independent.)
Fletcher’s diatribe reveals him as Teal Jones’ willing stenographer, uncritically regurgitating the logging company’s talking points. Fletcher and Teal Jones may believe it is morally and ecologically acceptable to cut down these magnificent trees and destroy complex, delicate ecosystems. Sierra Club BC doesn’t, nor do the majority of British Columbians, who support concerted action to defend endangered old-growth trees, wildlife, a stable climate, clean water and clean air.
British Columbians know that these things form the life-support system of our planet and support long-term prosperity and a diverse economy, including sustainable second-growth forestry for current and future generations. A growing list of independent reports from B.C.’s auditor general, the Forest Practices Board and even a Liberal MLA highlight the need for urgent action to save our forests.
It’s long past time for the provincial government to reverse the damage done when it gutted the rules governing logging. Fourteen years of trusting corporate interests to manage our forests with little or no oversight has got to stop.
Mark Worthing,
Sierra Club BC
No excuse not to keep up foreign aid
To the Editor,
Under the last 10 years of Conservative rule, Canada’s share of global aid became the lowest of all industrialized nations. In 2014, the only G7 country with a smaller aid budget than Canada was Italy.
The Conservatives and their tight-fisted policies are now gone, and it’s time for new Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to fulfill his predecessor’s oaths.
Nathaniel Poole,
Victoria
We need a rental home ‘MLS’ service, says writer
To the Editor,
Need rental housing for new refugees and cross-country job-seekers let alone the average Joe-citizen who’s not in the market to buy property?
Property sellers and buyers have a convenient Multiple Listing Service (MLS) to seek what they need.
Let’s provide equal services for prospective renters: a national “Rental Listing Service” (RLS) for everyone, from low-income citizens to the more wealthy and upwardly mobile seeking impressive high-end digs.
Such a rental registry is a self-perpetuating job-creator all in itself.
Liz Stonard, Port Albern
