To the editor:
I happened to hear (Cariboo-Chilcotin) MLA Donna Barnett on CBC Radio mid-day public affairs program recently and was almost touched by her plaintiff tone.
Ottawa was pulling desperately needed jobs from working families and taking food from the mouths of children in Cariboo-Chilcotin.
Days before, shares of Taseko Mines Ltd. tumbled. The federal government had again rejected a proposed $1.5-billion, open-pit, gold-copper mine near Williams Lake over environmental concerns.
Barnett is the democratic voice Cariboo-Chilcotin. She speaks out in the grandest tradition of “boosterism” that accompanies that frontier appetite for economic growth that would suffer no pesky restraints, whether they are water, soil, air or (Aboriginals).
She ran her May 14, 2013 election campaign with money from interests like Taseko Mines. She got their message out to folks with a hankering for wages bound to trump wages any in of the service, ranching, recreation or retail industries.
The failed Taseko Mines proposals were heavily supported by the B.C. Liberal government. Energy and Mines Minister Bill Bennett made two trips to Ottawa to lobby for the project. Bennett is (upset) over this latest rejection.
Fear not – Taseko will keep its powder dry and stay in the game. They’ll hang onto their plan and bide their time. Lobbying will continue. The backrooms will be busy.
By and by, the right people will arrive at the table. Maybe First Nations representatives will be at that table.
If the timing and the terms are right, it will be “damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead” and there will be another open-pit, gold-copper mine and a cheerful buzzing of cash registers and the usual degradation of water, soil and air that comes with it.
Done deal!
Dave Cursons
Cawston
Editor’s note: Cariboo-Chilcotin MLA Donna Barnett received a $5,000 donation during the 2013 provincial election campaign.
