Dear Editor:
Re: Burnaby resident calls KM gift ‘a joke,’ Burnaby NOW, Nov. 29. I was taken aback about a sentence in the article which said “pointing to the fierce opposition by the city” to KM. But who is the city. I am and so many others who don’t think “fierce opposition.”
Who supports it? None that I know in the communities I live in. But the article makes it seem that the vast majority of Burnaby residents are passionately opposed to the pipeline. That’s so opposed to the truth. Where are the visible minorities, where are those who work minimum wage jobs, those who dream of someday making a life for their families with economic opportunities in the city that the pipeline protesters obviously don’t need. Where are the voices of workers who, for example, work in the Burnaby malls? Where are those voices who don’t agree to the opposition to KM as they don’t have the time, funds or organization to protest?
So who opposes the pipeline? Those whose voices are so often repeated in your newspaper in every recent issue as if in Burnaby this is the most critical issue the city faces, more so than affordability, or poverty, or homelessness?
They are either residents owning single-family homes near the inlet or privileged members of society who don’t have to work paycheque to paycheque, or SFU students and their well-paid professors, who have the time and the economic privilege to spend their time “protesting.” And I wanted to hold this back, but it is obvious, that, most of them are privileged Caucasians. Do you see anyone from the Metrotown area? Or Chinese-Canadians or Indo-Canadians? Or Filipino-Canadians? What about their issues in Burnaby? You may have a few members from these communities protesting, but it is dominated by the privileged amongst the Caucasian population, North Burnaby residents or SFU students who don’t have to worry about living expenses.
Andrew Weaver, the Green party leader and professor, said recently that the Liberals are digging their grave by approving and pushing Kinder Morgan because they are doing so in a major urban area that is so united in opposition to the Kinder Morgan. I cannot wait for the next federal election. That’s another example of elitist thought processes, so far from the truth and reality. The silent majority, I hope, has had enough of that. Weaver’s statement is so reflective of a vocal and privileged minority, not understanding where the majority of folks from Metro Vancouver come from. I am sure he will be proved wrong in the next election as most working Burnaby residents don’t think the way this privileged class thinks and votes. He will always have a high-paying job, even if he loses the next election.
Please give a fair, balanced view of the issue, instead of the wall-to-wall covering of the privileged, elitist and minority view of their opposition to the KM pipeline. In case you are wondering if I have an axe to grind, I am retired, and I am just incensed at the continuous biased coverage of this issue.
Ajit Krishnaswamy, Burnaby
