‘Mantra’ makes many glaze over

Re: “Pipeline halt’s ironic spillover effect,” column, Sept. 8.

The minister of fisheries and oceans presumably does not know the meaning of “mantra,” which is a word or words (usually meaningless) repeated over and over to produce an altered state of consciousness. Otherwise he would be aware that the mantra of “economic progress and environmental sustainability must go hand in hand” makes many of us glaze over.

He might regain our attention by admitting that an environmental event such as a bitumen leak or spill would go hand in hand with the devastation of coastal economies. Janet Bavelas Victoria