Dear Editor:
The New Democratic Party never seems to know what it is doing and unfortunately it usually has the courage to do it. Remember the BC Ferries FastCats and Skeena Cellulose? It took courage for the NDP to risk hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on those debacles. Clearly private enterprise should be left to private enterprise. The NDP always thinks it know better.
The partys leader, Adrian Dix, the local NDP MLA, Norm MacDonald, and the rest of the NDP offer no vision of what will sustain B.C.s tax revenues. All around the province, signs of economic turmoil are abundant, yet the NDP opposes project after project.
Locals know the reason the party opposes the Jumbo Glacier Resort proposal is its reliance on the political machine of the radical environmentalists; it has nothing to do with environmental or First Nations concerns.
In every provincial election since Jumbo was first proposed, the NDP lost in the local areas. The local NDP candidate would solely campaign on their opposition to Jumbo losing every time. Jumbo enjoys strong support despite the campaign of intimidation and misinformation.
Jumbo Valley is the most heavily exploited valley in the Kootenays. If a resort cannot be built in Jumbo Valley then it would mean nothing should ever be built on Crown land again.
The NDP is ignoring the views of the local Shuswap First Nation who support the proposal; ignoring the whippings the locals inflict on them every election; it ignores the RDEK, who voted in favour of the proposal; it ignores the 90 per cent of local businesses in support; it ignores science.
The biggest loser is the environmental movement, said Margaret Wente in the 2010 Globe and Mail article, Can environmentalism be saved from itself?
For years, its activists….behaved as if theyd cornered the market on wisdom, truth and certainty, and they demonized anyone who dared to disagree. They got a fabulous free ride from politicians and the media, who parroted their claims like Sunday-school children reciting Scripture.
No interest group in modern times has been so free from skepticism, scrutiny or simple accountability as the environmental establishment.
Justice is long overdue for a project that succeeded through 20 years of reviews. The NDP would kill it for dishonest reasons. Leadership is desperately needed. If it is the right thing to do – then do the right thing.
Its time, finally, to let Jumbo fly.
Ian McKenzie
Regina, SK (formerly of Panorama)
