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LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Canada should champion ‘value-added’ in all sectors

No raw resources should be allowed to be exported, says letter writer
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Black Press file photo

To the editor,

I am composing this letter with the hope to improve the lives and lifestyles of all Canadians by boosting the entire Canadian economy, rather than just those of foreign-owned mega-corporations.

The majority of opposition to the pipeline is directly fuelled by the very contents that are proposed to be pumped through it, raw bitumen. If the proposed contents of the pipeline was to be changed to sweet crude, which had been refined in Canada, creating many long-term Canadian jobs in the process, a vast majority of the opposition to it would just go away. Those protesters would be too busy scrambling after the newly available jobs.

One simple new law is greatly needed in this country, and that would be that no raw resources be allowed to be exported, only value-added products may be exported from Canada. In the long run this new law will do more for the benefit of all Canadians than any previous, current, or other future laws and regulations have or will ever do. The canola seed problem would not even exist, if the raw seeds were processed into high-quality value added products which were then exported. The stumpage fee problems with the United States would never have existed if raw logs were not allowed out of Canada, but had to be processed into a value-added product before being allowed to be exported.

It is a simple fact that if you export raw resources you are exporting both existing and potential Canadian jobs. Manufacture only high-quality value added products and the world will beat a path to your door, no matter how high the price is.

Scott Allan Nymann, Nanaimo

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The views and opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are those of the writer and do not reflect the views of Black Press or the Nanaimo News Bulletin. If you have a different view, we encourage you to write to us or contribute to the discussion below.