To the editor:
Ironically, last week while we were reading about the BC Liberals plan for rural economics, entrepreneurial outfits from opposite ends of this spectacular region have told me tales of desperation as they are put out of business by forest resource mismanagement.
The stories I have heard from guiding and tourism businesses that have been operating with international clientele for many years; who work to the highest standards of visitor experience, safety and stewardship; who have compromised their land-use tenures over, and over again until there is nothing left to concede to the loggers; train and hire skilled staff who are paid good salaries; have consistently contributed to the local economies, often for generations; are now having their livelihood eliminated in the rush to cut down the last remaining stands, many of which had been agreed on as 'no harvest'
That the solution to 'get to yes on major projects' like LNG or Site C as a path to rural prosperity is laughable and insulting.
Prosperity, rural or otherwise, is not served by decimating a forest, flooding a valley of farmland, turning lakes and rivers into tailings ponds, amassing huge holding ponds of toxic fracking waste, or any of the other activities that the BC Liberals are currently signing off on.
Rural prosperity means an end to the bleeding-off of our resources to foreign shareholders who never have, never will, set foot in rural BC, but who have unlimited access to fund the BC Liberals.
Rita Giesbrecht
108 Mile