Editor:
A recent column by Keith Baldrey (“B.C. NDP unafraid to say ‘no’ to teachers,” Feb. 7) made reference to several critical issues facing the NDP government in which Baldrey supports, in my opinion, a “do nothing approach,” such as Premier Horgan’s refusal to deal with forestry issues or to meet with the hereditary chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en First Nations to discuss the gas pipeline (highly subsidized) going through their territory. He claims the NDP is exhibiting a certain “confidence” in its refusal to take on tough issues; however, what is closer to the truth is an agenda of maintaining the status quo left over from the Liberals.
Locally, protests against logging in the Sunshine Coast Regional District’s Mount Elphinstone Park expansion area (OCP Bylaw 641) were met by the RCMP escorting loggers into the Clack Creek Forest. The Minister of Forests, Doug Donaldson, decided to let senior staff (left over from Liberals) force this logging on our region without thinking of the consequences. The current brand of the party has not even allowed itself to set a small increase in targets for new protected areas, leading their green base to flee elsewhere. Baldrey’s apologetic stance for the current NDP “staying the course” really is more about supporting a government lacking in leadership and in fear of the corporate class.
Ross Muirhead, Elphinstone Logging Focus
