To the Editor,
Re: Black Press owner proposes Kitimat oil refinery, Aug. 21.
Gender politics is really nothing new; doesn’t the provincial NDP have regulations about how many women run as candidates?
According to local media, those attending the ladies-only meeting with B.C. Premier Christy Clark in Parksville were delighted with how things turned out.
Apparently there was booming applause when Clark mentioned protecting our coastline against tankers.
I only hope that the applauding ladies have checked how other countries treat their resources, and their international trade.
For example, the United Arab Emirates just built a 380-kilometre pipeline across the desert and Hajar Mountains to a new oil terminal on the Gulf of Oman; effectively bypassing the Strait Of Hormuz, where tankers must pass to enter and exit the Persian Gulf.
The UAE now safeguards its export of crude oil should the strait become blocked by an escalation in tensions between Israel, the U.S. and Iran.
Closer to home, ports along the U.S. eastern seaboard are spending huge amounts of money dredging deeper channels, and building new facilities to accommodate super-sized container vessels.
The applauding ladies – who demand cash-strapped governments provide better health care services, better daycare and schools for their offspring, better senior care for their parents, etc., – must be aware that B.C. and Canada would greatly benefit by exporting refined bitumen products via pipeline and tankers.
Otherwise, we will all be left eating dust.
Bernie Smith
Parksville