To the Editor,
Re: Listen to another side of the coal debate—one in support of the idea, Letters, May 20.
Is Mr. Wayne Oliver Port Alberni’s last surviving dinosaur? Are there more of us?
The later evolved life forms think we can afford HST, property tax, keeping city workers in the standard of living they’ve got accustomed to and welfare on tourist money.
Should we consult Prince Rupert city council and ask if they were healthier, pristine or clean after the pulp mill closure or now with the coal port? If we get an independent study proving coal is a net loss and tourism is our last resort, will we have to lower minimum wage below Hawaii’s $7/hour scale?
We already have a possible Cameron Lake Ogopogo; could an active imagination create a bush ape not unlike the Neanderthals that logged here?
Senility may have set in but did city workers try joining IWA and were turned down? Does hindsight show forest workers would be better off if we had joined them?
“We desire for others what we have ourselves” is labour’s motto. Can private enterprise only dream of paying into an indexed pension, offering 18 days annual sick pay and government’s gold standard of air conditioned, safe, steady work?
Entrepreneurs investing in their own business must guarantee their workers at least minimum wage but if there’s no profit, there’s no pay in the till for themselves.
I voted Socialist all my life and recognize that state-owned ICBC, Medicare, hydro, etc. are cheapest for consumers. But should union collusion determine rate and pay moreso than an export industry that must compete on the world market to bring in foreign currency and determine the value of our dollar?
Did Vander Zalm cut costs privatizing highways?
R. Frankow,
Port Alberni