Thank goodness Greens weren’t around in settler days
Oh, what a pristine place Canada could have been if only NDP Premier John Horgan and Green party Leader Andrew Weaver and their environmental minions had been there in the late 15th century when French and British expeditions explored and later settled along the Atlantic coast, followed in the late 1700s by Spanish explorers and British navigator James Cook on the Pacific Northwest coast.
Surely, early environmental activism would have prevented Canada’s national “disaster” of a transcontinental railroad, poisoning and defiling its natural landscape. There would not have been a “Last Spike” in 1885 since there would not have been a “first spike” in 1881.
But beyond this, the early environmental opportunities for saving Canada would have been endless: The ugly scar of the Trans-Canada Highway would not have desecrated Canada’s map; pipelines would not have been built; hydroelectric dams would not flood large parcels of land; oil and gas deposits would have stayed in the ground where they belong; mining would not have polluted Aboriginal settlements; transportation would have remained where rivers flow; the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway system would have been rejected as environmentally unsound; Atlantic and Pacific seaports would have merely been sleepy fishing harbours; and there would have been just trees where cities now sprawl. Edward Bopp, Tsawwassen
Parks should be open to all
The reason for a public park is so the public can use it free and not be forced to pay to have an outing with their families.
Lots of people are on a limited income and a great outing for their family with the kids is being made more difficult to enjoy. For people who can afford all these fees, we lose sight of the ones who are having difficulty trying to enjoy a simple day out with the family.
It’s not all about money! Brian Barnes, Steveston
Rights complaint off base
The news that Chilliwack school trustee Barry Neufeld is facing a human-rights complaint from the B.C. Teachers’ Federation is a sad comment on their tolerance for opinions other than their own.
Encouraging gender dysphoria in children is viewed as bad medical practice by a large number of health-care professionals. The American College of Pediatricians in a 2017 paper titled Gender Dysphoria in Children conclude that the treatment of gender dysphoria in childhood with hormones effectively amounts to mass experimentation on and sterilization of youth who are cognitively incapable of providing informed consent.
That sure sounds like child abuse to me. David Nielsen, Walnut Grove
Gas price hike problematic
I’ve read that 35 per cent of all B.C. cars coming to Whatcom County are coming for gas.
If Alberta cuts the supply of gasoline and the price climbs above $2 a litre, there will be four-hour lineups, 14 hours a day at the border. This will result in thousands of cars idling for hours, spewing tons of noxious gases into the air. Is this better than a possible oil spill? Brian Wilson, Delta