To the Editor,
Re: Protest over B.C. pipeline hits Nanaimo, Oct. 20.
According to the article, the NDP, if it is elected next May, will do everything possible to ensure the Northern Gateway pipeline is not built.
While it is admirable to see any political party make a positive statement of any sort in these days of bafflegab, this particular one is not only immature, it is absolutely ludicrous.
Are there any benefits that would accrue to the construction of this pipeline? Certainly. Export dollars, construction jobs, permanent jobs, the opening of new markets and major income for two provinces and Canada as a whole.
Are there any risks or dangers attached to the scheme? Again, most certainly. Increased tanker traffic off B.C.’s coast, the possibility of an oil spill in environmentally-sensitive areas which the pipeline must cross, the disturbance of wildlife habitat and a few others.
Bearing in mind the huge benefits that could be reaped by the construction of this pipeline, should we not all be trying to figure out how it can be done with minimal risk or impact to the status quo? Instead, we Canadians have divided ourselves into two polarized groups – one of which is screaming “full ahead and damn the torpedoes” and the other saying “over my dead body.”
How downright ridiculous.
There is a lot of brainpower in this country, and if we were prepared to employ some of it in a positive fashion instead of selecting a few facts and forming a rigid and immoveable opinion either way, perhaps we could come up with a way to enjoy the multiple benefits this pipeline offers while at the same time protecting the environment both on land and at sea.
Perhaps this might take a bit of doing and it might be more expensive in the short term, but please don’t tell me that the nation that produced so many wonderful innovations in the past would come up dry this time.
Let’s try to work out a way where we can have the best of both worlds. I do not believe it cannot be done until we have tried and failed.
Garry Bradford
Nanaimo