Bill Morneau has just resigned as finance minister and MP. By the end of this month, the federal Conservatives will have a new leader. Will it make any difference?
Meantime, Dr. Bonnie Henry continues to ask us to “be kind, be calm, be safe ” in coping with the coronavirus pandemic. Evidence shows that good science combined with kindness can and does control spread of the virus, and according to recent reports, four out of five of us are doing the right thing. The “ones” who aren’t are keeping the pandemic going.
Climate news still tends to get buried and ignored. Recent reports say more than 2,000 species of animals and plants in B.C. are at risk of disappearing. Does anybody care?
The Arctic is experiencing the effects of the warming climate faster than any other part of Canada. Arctic ice is becoming unstable earlier than anticipated and much of Canada’s remaining intact ice shelf has collapsed. Scientists warn that “everything is changing up there.” Change up there means change down here. Again, who cares?
Then there is Site C. Along with horrendous cost overruns and schedule delays, the controversial project now has serious geotechnical problems, serious enough for calls to the government to abandon the project. Somehow all the studies done by previous and current governments missed this.
Maybe construction should be put on hold until independent engineering and social studies are undertaken, even if they only prepare us for a future disaster. Besides, the area’s agricultural land could actually be more valuable in the long run than the power. The dam will affect 12,759 hectares of land, flooding 6,469 hectares , 60 per cent of it prime farmland.
I hate being Nervous Nellie but surely we must think of future generations.
We’ve messed things up for them enough already.
Diana French is a freelance columnist for the Tribune. She is a former Tribune editor, retired teacher, historian and book author.
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