Calgary Herald

Honorary degree for Suzuki a mistake

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Re: “U of A will honour Suzuki this spring,” April 11.

An honorary degree should not be given to a dangerous extremist such as David Suzuki.

This man is opposed to pipelines and fossil fuels that are essential to Canada’s prosperity and the survival of 7.6 billion people on Earth.

Without the benefit of fossil fuels, we would not be able to house, feed, transport, heat and cool 7.6 billion people. To phase out fossil fuels would result in more deaths than any other government policy before it.

Suzuki’s radical environmen­talism is a danger to our world, and to give him this degree destroys the University of Alberta’s brand.

The U of A must reverse this decision.

Peter Breedveld, Calgary

Suzuki needs to explain his lifestyle

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw, side by side, headlines reading “U of A will honour Suzuki this spring ” and “Calgarians press feds for action during rally in support of pipeline” in Wednesday’s Herald.

It sort of sums up our schizophre­nic province: Edmonton bites the Calgary hand that feeds it.

David Suzuki, with his hypocrisy and massive carbon footprint, epitomizes the eco-terrorist protesters in Burnaby.

The University of Alberta, with huge funding from the oil and gas industry, awards him an honorary degree. And the chancellor rubs salt in the Calgary oilpatch’s wounds by burbling, “I look forward to hearing the perspectiv­es of each of these inspiring individual­s.”

I look forward to Suzuki’s explanatio­n of his lavish, fossil-fuel-hungry lifestyle and how he squares that environmen­tal circle.

Bevelyn MacLise Park, Calgary

An effective way of battling this is by creating a traffic circle or roundabout. This way, vehicles are forced to slow down and T-bone accidents are avoided. Calgary resident Theo van

Besouw

 ?? DARYL DYCK/THE CANADIAN PRESS ?? David Suzuki steps from behind a banner after posing with protesters at an entrance to Kinder Morgan in Burnaby last month. The University of Alberta’s decision to give the environmen­talist an honorary degree has sparked controvers­y.
DARYL DYCK/THE CANADIAN PRESS David Suzuki steps from behind a banner after posing with protesters at an entrance to Kinder Morgan in Burnaby last month. The University of Alberta’s decision to give the environmen­talist an honorary degree has sparked controvers­y.

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