Editor:
The development of pipelines to export Canadian oil across the Pacific is an opportunity for our country that will not be matched anytime soon.
There are risks in every major development. However, fear mongering, without listening to the advantages, is economic sabotage. For example, the chance of big oil tankers going past Davis Bay, as implied by the protesters this past week, is nil.
One protester suggested that pipeline developers were trying to "ruin" the country. However, federal tax revenue from oil exports to Asia will help to support pensions, health care and aboriginal entitlements for years to come. No one wants to spill oil anywhere.
The "ruin" of a country can be measured by its poverty level. The current Canadian oil bonanza is a building block of future prosperity. Do not let reckless obstruction disappoint our grandchildren.
Do not "Californicate" Canada by making it one of the greenest, brokest places on the planet.
Albert F. Reeve, Gibsons
