Editor:
Re: Whose province is it anyway? April 11 editorial.
I am dismayed by the reaction of the Alberta premier, who is trying to decide on a weapon with which to punish us wilful British Columbians for having the nerve to want to preserve our beautiful environment.
If you look at Kinder-Morgan’s history you will see there have been numerous oil spills from their infrastructure. I believe it is inevitable that there will be more. When a spill of tar-sands product does occur, it will not be easily cleaned up, if at all. This oil is heavy and dense, so it will sink to the bottom of a river or harbour or shoreline, where it will be a pollution source possibly forever.
Faced with this prospect, our government has launched a legal challenge. The reaction of the Alberta and federal governments has been unhelpful and confrontational. Instead of offering to work out a solution with us, they have been trying to force their will on us by economic warfare or by threat of as-yet-unnamed actions. This is Canada, not some tinpot dictatorship.
I believe we all want Canada to be able to sell its commodities on the world market, but not at the cost of irreparable environmental damage. We have a duty of stewardship for our world, to make it a better place, to leave for our children and their children.
Until recently, I believed that was what our prime minister stood for. Please, Mr. Trudeau, be the leader we voted for. Come down off your high horse and show that Canada is a country that listens to its people.
Michael Parton, Surrey
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So glad to see someone in the press finally advocating that we ‘process’ the crude oil in Canada before we sell to world markets.
Create even more permanent jobs here, and if there is an accident, it would be much less harmful to the environment and easier to clean up.
Didn’t we have this same issue with shipping raw logs versus finished lumber – or picnic tables or hockey sticks? Certainly we Canadians have advanced to more than just “drawers of water and hewers of wood.” We may even have lower gas prices as a bonus. Thanks for raising the idea in your editorial.
J. Bloye, Surrey
