We’ll all be poorer if NDP-Green alliance kills the pipeline
Re: B.C. joins legal fight against pipeline, Aug. 11
And so the attack begins on megaprojects designed to bring our natural resources, regardless of their provincial origin, to market — while there is still a market. All this is going to do is spend a lot of B.C. taxpayer dollars with a predictable outcome and in the process irritate our fellow Canadians in Alberta.
If they succeed, we will all be the poorer for it. It isn’t just Trans Mountain that will be affected. If you were going to invest billions in some project, would you pick B.C. as the place? There are a lot of British Columbians living and working in places other than Metro Vancouver and southern Vancouver Island.
Bill Richardson, West Vancouver
Visits home to Sri Lanka raise doubts about asylum
Re: No Supreme Court appeal for refugee, Aug. 11
As I understand the concept of requesting asylum, it is predicated on the perception of a threat to the person if they are sent back to their country, in this case Sri Lanka.
Making two “prolonged trips” to a country from which you purportedly fled makes a mockery of an asylum claim. That should meet the threshold of rescinding permanent residency, let alone Canadian citizenship. Allowing citizenship when your initial “asylum” request appears bogus? It seems Mr. Nilam thought he’d fool our citizenship process.
Barbara Ewart, Maple Ridge
Young people need to be shown a better way forward
Re: Surrey on edge after trio of shootings, Aug. 10
As reporter Kim Bolan has articulated so well in her article, the shootings in Surrey and Abbotsford have become a cause of concern not only for the residents of these communities, but for every British Columbian. Like other communities, the South Asian community is worried about the mayhem on our streets. A number of South Asian community organizations, along with the Indo-Canadian media, have been working hard in the area of prevention for several years. Even one life lost to gangs/drugs and violence is one too many. It is disappointing that despite so many efforts these shootings continue. In order to address this issue, stakeholders need to continue to work on a multi-pronged approach of awareness, education, prevention and enforcement. Let us hope and pray these aimless and misguided young people will realize engaging in criminal activities is no way to make their mark in life.
Balwant Sanghera, Richmond
Smoke inhalation becoming real problem in Metro region
Re: Most able to cope with smoky skies, Aug. 9 Are we children who need coddling and told not to worry? Everything is far from fine. Everyone I talk to has throat problems and some are getting phlegm in their throat from all this smoke that we are breathing. We can all feel it in our lungs. I hear so many complaints about it from normally active people who are feeling lethargic. I’m not a doctor, but smoke symptoms of this magnitude are obviously causing problems with our health. I have lived here all my life (67 years) and have never seen conditions like this. We certainly need to take this seriously — it is that bad.
Mike Babington, Pitt Meadows