Dear Editor:
Re: Mayor a dictator on pipeline, Burnaby NOW, Aug. 1.
Gordon Foy’s contends in the Burnaby NOW that Mayor Derek Corrigan does not have a mandate to oppose Kinder Morgan’s pipeline proposal that poses a substantial risk to the City of Burnaby and the residents of the city, so why does he think our mayor has no mandate, or could it be that in his opinion our mayor and council should just go along with a project that could cause substantial damage to our environment and our coastal waters.
How about this, we include a referendum in the upcoming municipal election as Kitimat has done, to determine the willingness of the residents of Burnaby to take those kinds of risks, to make an American oil corporation Kinder Morgan, and their shareholders wealthier, with few benefits for Canadian workers.
Kinder Morgan does not even plan to guarantee a steady supply of crude to the Chevron oil refinery right here in Burnaby. The sole purpose of this project is to export the crude to Asian markets. Now tell me again how this benefits Burnaby?
It has been said before about the Northern Gateway, that British Columbia gets very few benefits, while the province of B.C. takes all of the risks. This brings up another question of who we should vote for in November, Derek Corrigan, who has proven to be a man to stick up for Burnaby time and time again, including over the Kinder Morgan proposal, against his declared opponent, Daren Hancott, the former chair of the business lobby group, the British Columbia Chamber of Commerce, who like the Fraser Institute, lobbies for public institutions to be taken over by for-profit corporations.
Be very careful when you vote that you don’t elect a mayor and council that will be willing to roll over for Big Oil and Big Corporations to do as they please.
We made a huge mistake in re-electing our faux-Liberals to another term, because the reality is, they are not Liberals, they are right-wing Conservatives/Reformers, just like Harper and his team of “Yes Men.”
Wayne McQueen, Burnaby
