Dear editor,
I was going to bite my tongue and stay silent on the current protests that have been disrupting our country and community for the last several days; the vitriolic attacks from their supporters painting anyone who disagrees as a racist colonialist have made it difficult to word a response without fear of being branded.
So be it.
Canada’s resource-based economy, the economy that gives us the ability to have a social safety net, healthcare system, reliable infrastructure, and jobs are under attack. Whether it is falling market prices, over which we have no control, or delays over approvals that we do, the bedrock of our collective wealth is threatened. In an investment climate that is already gun-shy of Canada’s ability to deliver projects in a timely manner, we now have the added threat of a group representing less than 1,000 Wet’suwet’en shutting down infrastructure across this nation for the other 30 million citizens.
I can live with the inconvenience of getting delayed on my way to work, what I cannot tolerate is the disregard for the collective benefit that resource development in this country represents. Our collective success in Canada is tied to the development of our abundant resources; private or public, directly or indirectly, your job is inextricably linked to the resource industry and the wealth in taxes and jobs it generates.
The protestors have created a plotline portraying big business and government as the antagonist, wielding their narrative as a cudgel. Let’s not let facts get in the way of a good story, business as the good guy just doesn’t have the same attention-grabbing hook.
I will always stand up for the right to protest, but will not stay silent when the rule of law is broken to the detriment of the collective good. It is far past time for our government to step in and end these disruptive and divisive protests.
Brennan Day
Comox Valley