To the Editor,
I am dearly hoping that the new mayor of our city and his councillors are smart enough to realize coal mining and the export of it, is not going to be of any benefit for any town looking to the future.
If they are wanting the same depressed town, frowned on by many, laughed at by some but with high hopes for most of its residents that this town is going to turn a corner….one day, then please don’t allow Port Alberni to become the “new” old coal port of Vancouver Island.
If you think people are leaving Port Alberni now, just wait until the town becomes a coal town.
Let’s look to the future and bring back the Arrowsmith ski hill, develop our harbours, bring the museum down to Harbour Quay, and attract families and tourists.
Also, look at the age and employment demographic that is pushing the coal idea and the demographic that is against it. The new generation of residents must be the ones who decide how the town is now developed, as they are the ones who will be working for many decades within it, and who must be burdened by an old-school thinking of resource extraction in their city.
I have heard from many people that if coal does come to Port, they will definitely be leaving. Please oppose any idea of coal coming into our city.
Chris Ashby,
owner,
Somass Station Inn,
Port Alberni
