Majority lives in Lower Mainland

Dear editor: Andy Richards has an interesting view of the economy. In his letter to the editor published Friday, he complains that the province is paying too much attention to the “bloated and elitist Lower Mainland” where all the” self-indulgent coasties” working as “computer geeks and baristas.”

Apparently the real wealth in this province comes from the real genuine British Columbians out here in the boonies, where everyone knows the value of hard work and everyone is just in love with Kinder Morgan and fossil fuels. Poor oppressed us! Well guess what? More than half of the population of .B.C lives in the Lower Mainland (2.8 million people, 60 per cent of the province). So actually yeah, their opinion does matter.

I wonder how it is that Andy thinks people live in cities if all the real jobs are out in country. I wonder who Andy thinks is buying the agricultural produce and the extracted resources. I wonder how Andy would explain all the young people moving to the cities to find work. You don’t suppose they’re all baristas? Rural areas are supported by cities. That’s how it has worked for centuries. Most people live in cities because, actually, that’s where most of the jobs are. That’s where most of the economic activity takes place. That’s where most of the tax revenue comes from. So yeah their opinions matter.

And in this case, it’s not just their opinion. You don’t have to be a “coastal elite” to see the writing on the wall. Our fascination with fossil fuels is radically undermining the ecosystems upon which we and everyone else relies. British Columbians have every right to oppose another tar sands pipeline. They have every right to oppose a dramatic increase in tanker traffic on the coast.

And we have an obligation to acknowledge and actually do something about the looming civilizational crisis that is climate change. Devon Scott-Leslie Summerland