Dear Editor:
Re: Candidate cries foul, Burnaby NOW, Oct. 17.
I should like to inform Sid Cleave, the city clerk, that formally opposing the expansion of an existing pipeline is indeed to "get into the political side of things."
Your equivocation is laughably ironic seeing that the mayor's team does not mind admitting so when it is door-knocking with Burnaby-Douglas MP Kennedy Stewart or complaining to Elections B.C., as reported by Jennifer Moreau.
Mr. Corrigan has, since May, therefore been in violation of the relevant bylaw, and to suggest otherwise belittles the intelligence of this citizenry. It is clear that the mayor is in the wrong, and, though you may feel comforted by semantics and your authority, propagandistic euphemisms such as "formal city initiative" or "formal position" merely cast doubt upon the sincerity of your "staff."
Mr. Corrigan needs, at least, to remove his anti-pipeline pamphlets from city property and to apologize for being a hypocrite. The exemption of the ruling class from its own laws is the foreshadowing of tyranny. Incidentally, I was recently phoned by another local candidate, who, of course, I will not name, and informed that the mayor has authorized political material elsewhere on city property, insisting that it is in fact private property.
Regarding the supposed impartiality of Mr. Corrigan's stance, about which, I understand, some people are still undecided, I should like to give an analogy illustrating the sheer folly behind the green mask. If a power line in Burnaby were to catch fire beneath the street, a manhole cover were blown off by resulting steam and nearby residents needed to evacuate from the smoke, would we accordingly all become of the opinion that electricity is dirty and cringe at further expansion of our already existing electrical power grid? Of course not, not even if a utility pole tipped over, a house caught fire and people died. We would, instead, take safety precautions. Trendy yuppies and most people my age, however, are nonetheless so fallacious in their stern opposition to pipelines.
Might I ask what is bound to happen to our economy and nation? Alternate energy patents are being suppressed, their inventors threatened, and yet the population is inclined to dismantle the oil industry? Why, should we all ride bicycles and trains? Mr. Corrigan, who drives everyday, does, after all, recommend "alternate transportation."
Yeah, perhaps we might just as well all take out our light bulbs. Oh, but he does not mind compact fluorescent light bulbs with mercury in them, does he? I suppose that is good for our environment and health, so he subsidizes those.
Furthermore, Mars' icecaps are melting, Jupiter is developing a second giant red spot, and the frozen nitrogen surface of Neptune's moon is melting as well.
On the other hand, the icecaps of Earth have gotten bigger and denser, the planet has been cooling for nearly two decades, and all the while carbon emissions have been increasing. This is according to mainstream news, not conspiracy theories. Look it up and put that in your pipe and smoke it.
Elias Ishak, Burnaby
