Earthquake provides wake- up call for B. C.
Re: Call to speed school retrofits, Oct. 29, and Despite decades of warnings, we’re still not ready for the big one, Column, Oct. 29,
At 8 p. m. last Saturday there were no children in schools on Haida Gwaii when the 7.7 earthquake struck. Children occupy school buildings for a small fraction of a year only.
Indeed, more children are at a greater risk of injury and death on the trip to and from school from motor vehicle and pedestrian collisions.
Stephen Hume pointed out the risk of injury from shattering glass windows during a major earthquake.
This suggests that the many glass facade condo towers that puncture our urban skylines may have many units made uninhabitable. The towers will not collapse but many windows will shatter or simply pop out.
Will the emergency measures organization in the Lower Mainland be able to cope with thousands of people seeking long- term shelter?
Perhaps the priority needs to be given to seismically upgrading school gymnasiums, near glass condo towers, to be used as emergency shelters? DEREK WILSON Port Moody
The 7.7 earthquake Saturday near the Queen Charlotte fault zone is a timely reality check.
Forty seconds of major shaking followed by at least 40 aftershocks would really shake out any proposed Northern Gateway pipeline.
What is the largest magnitude earthquake an oil or liquefied gas pipeline has survived without leaking or spilling product?
What is the largest split- second lateral or vertical shift such pipelines can survive without leaking?
Alberta states they have a 400- year supply of oil underground.
If the proposed Gateway Pipeline was torn apart by a 500- year, worstcase earthquake would it be the largest pipeline spill on land to date in the world?
What would this spill do to nearby B. C residents groundwater and drinking water, as well fish habitat? Is it worth the risk after last Saturday’s 7.7- magnitude warning? SUSAN ROWNTREE Victoria
BC Green party raises red flags over China- Canada treaty
On Oct. 23 I sent a letter to Premier Christy Clark urging her to ask Prime Minister Stephen Harper not to sign the Canada- China Investment Treaty without provinces, MPs and the people of Canada having an opportunity to understand and challenge the risks this agreement poses to our sovereignty, security and democracy.
The Green party of BC is not alone in raising concerns about the implications of a document that will give Chinese state- run corporations “most favoured nation” and “national” status for the next 15 years, then grandfathered privileges for 15 years after that, even if the treaty is not renewed.
An expert on international investment law, Gus van Hearken, at York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School has voiced grave concerns of the lack of analysis and consultation.
Many British Columbians and Canadians would like to know more about this agreement before it is finalized.
Questions have been raised because China is not a democracy, and companies like the Chinese National Offshore Oil Corporation are not ‘ free’ enterprises.
The Communist government of China exerts a direct and coordinating influence on corporations like CNOOC, and can organize investments based on national, strategic interests.
We believe B. C. stands to lose significant control over its economic and environmental decision- making if this agreement is ratified.
Rather than address issues that have been voiced by many citizens, and ask for an open and transparent review of the possible implications of this sweeping agreement, Premier Clark has once again abdicated responsibility.
“The provincial government has been involved in the process that led to this agreement and we are confident the new agreement will provide a framework through which greater economic prosperity will come for British Columbians and for British Columbia’s business sector,” she says.
Lasting, sustainable prosperity can only be achieved through treaties that recognize the importance of the environment and respect the views of British Columbians.
This deal, which was not made public until Sept. 26, does not even come close to satisfying those imperatives. It is being bulldozed through without any chance for Canadians to understand its full implications. JANE STERK Leader of the Green party of BC
Re: Deal with China triggers public concern, lawyer’s warning, Oct. 26
The proposed Foreign Investment Protection Agreement ( FIPA) with China is generating public and political concern. And, as usual, the agreement’s supporters pooh- pooh public concerns.
Two Carlton University professors state that FIPAs “... don’t do much ...” as they are “... innocuous agreements.”
These professors do not answer the questions the public is raising. What are FIPA’s impacts on public policy and future government actions? Why are FIPAs negotiated in secret? Why is there no public input into the agreements? Why is there no or limited parliamentary debate?
If the FIPA with China is really an “innocuous agreement,” its supporters should be willing to participate in a full, open and transparent debate on it, rather than depending on the Harper government to sneak it by Parliament and Canadians. FREDERICK JELFS Vancouver
Harper has taken steps to improve democratic defi cit
Re: Canadian complacency allows abuses of democracy, Column, Oct. 25, Political parties can’t fix our democracy, Column, Oct. 26
Barbara Yaffe says that our very democracy is in trouble. So does Michael Den Tandt.
Both lay part of the blame for this sad state of affairs on the prorogation of Parliament in 2008 and 2009 by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Den Tandt refers to “abusive prorogations” and Yaffe quotes a University of Toronto political science professor who claims that “No prime minister has so abused the power to prorogue.”
Goodness. Where were they 10 years ago? They could have really nailed Prime Minister Jean Chretien, who prorogued Parliament four times from 1996 to 2003.
Among the reported reasons for the shuttering of Parliament back then were the Adscam scandal, and Chretien not wanting to sit in the House alongside his soon- to- be- successor, Paul Martin. On each prorogation, Liberals killed their own bills, sometimes over and over again.
A more balanced and less biased viewpoint might have also recognized the important positive steps that Harper has implemented to improve our democratic deficit.
For example, representation by population is the most vital and fundamental underpinning of any democracy: My vote should count the same as your vote. No more and no less.
By adding seats for B. C., Alberta and Ontario, Harper has gone a long way to restoring a more equitable seat distribution, even over the objections of former Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff. MARILYN BAKER Richmond
Unilingualists are at a disadvantage in job market
Re: Dominance of English isn’t threatened by newcomers, Letters, Oct. 27
I was born and raised in Vancouver almost 50 years ago, and spent my teenage years in Richmond during the late ’ 70s; before the influx of Chinese immigration in the early 1980s.
In the last two years, I have been looking for full- time, permanent employment in Metro Vancouver, and I have noticed that many employers now request a second language as “an asset” ( really a requirement, given the intense competition for work).
This is especially true in Richmond, where Cantonese/ Mandarin is “an asset” and Delta, Surrey, and Abbotsford, where Punjabi is “an asset.” French is also “an asset” in almost all call centre environments which do business across Canada ( Air Canada, MEC).
( Also, it has become increasingly difficult to even get a part- time, survival job in service industries due to the temporary foreign worker program which companies like Starbucks, MacDonald’s and Tim Horton’s use frequently; because unemployed Canadians apparently do not want to work in fast food.)
This so- called language requirement did not exist 25- 30 years ago when I was a youth, but it certainly does now; particularly as a result of increased immigration, and the fact that everyone is doing business in a global economy. ( Please note that I also grew up in a multicultural neighbourhood in East Vancouver.)
This trend toward preferential hiring for multilingual applicants, has been predicted for at least 10 years in academic papers and the media, and is obviously a part of the Metro Vancouver business landscape now. Its existence cannot be denied for those of use who are looking for work. ADELE CAMERON Vancouver