To the Editor,
Re: Wildlife needs consideration, Opinion, April 24.
Piping oil to the coast may be a threat, but until recently the general public did not even realize that this was already being done.
The public is sometimes misled or ignorant in regards to what is really going on.
We only see part of the picture and digest the information that is served to us.
Look at the bigger picture: Everything purchased in Canada is made or derived from raw materials or fuels that have in some manner been supplied by Canadian sources.
We Canadians are shipping out potash, coal and oil to countries that in turn supply us with products for dirt cheap. We are also shipping out raw materials that return as finished products.
Are we exporting jobs? As a business owner and manufacturer I can respond to the question.
We are having all of our products made and packaged in China. The products are derived from oil, paper, nickel and stainless steel. If North Americans want to continue to import cheap products we will need to provide the raw materials to countries that employ a work force.
The Salish Sea is in recovery? Nonsense.
Key information that trump the oil freighter issue includes: Canadians pumping sewage into the sea; an enormous amount of contaminated Japanese tidal wave debris floating toward us; commercial fishermen are seeing less openings and more restrictions than ever before; employing companies to remove sewage from ocean-going vessels, then in turn pumping it back to the sea.
Mammals seen in the Salish Sea is not a verification or proof that we are in recovery.
Matt James
Nanaimo