Dear Editor:
One recent day in the SFU cafeteria, somebody had a seizure. Within seconds, some students and security guards were providing him assistance. Within minutes, the fire department had arrived, and shortly after that, the paramedics. Taking care of people who need assistance, no matter who, no matter where. This is a Canadian value.
TRIUMF is a world-class sub-atomic particle research facility. It's right here in Vancouver doing cutting-edge research: this is a Canadian value.
William Shatner, Lorne Greene, Shania Twain, Roberta Bondar, David Suzuki, Norman Bethune, Terry Fox, Tommy Douglas, Romeo Dallaire, and so on and so forth. There is no shortage of great Canadians. People who gave everything they had. People who made a difference. People who added to the legacy that we all matter. This is a Canadian value.
So why is it that, when we start to talk about the really important issues, such as climate change, Canada falls so far behind the rest of the world? Maybe it has something to do with the fact that the federal Conservatives believe that the only way to run our economy is to ship natural resources overseas as fast as they can be dug out of the ground. I say, apply Canadian values to the issue of climate change. Invest in sustainable systems and renewable energy.
There are huge economic opportunities here, and we should become world leaders in this field.
Right here, right now, we have a big opportunity. In the urban areas, we need to stop relying on individual vehicles; we need to invest heavily in public transit. The funding model in the plebiscite may be flawed, but the project is not. Ultimately, we all provide the funding, one way or another, whether directly, or filtered through the government. We will pay to deal with global warming, either a certain amount now, or a much larger amount later. Let's send a strong message to the future: THIS generation will invest today for THEIR benefit.
Victor Finberg, Burnaby
