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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR - December 20, 2005
To The Editor;
RE: Liberal Announcement to ban handguns.
Enough is enough!
Iım sure you've all read in the paper in the last while, where a criminal was found guilty of a violent crime involving guns and he received a suspended sentence, and was prohibited from owning firearms for five years.
In other words he got away scott free. A suspended sentence is no sentence at all and he can't own firearms legally for five years. What a joke! He never owned firearms legally to start with.
Criminals don't register their guns and they don't get licenses and permits to conform with the law.
Only honest law abiding people are conforming to the law.
Our federal Liberals are proposing to ban handguns.
The only guns they can confiscate belong to honest law abiding people that have registered them. This doesn't affect the criminals at all.
Can't our government realize that they have to get tougher with the criminals instead of getting tougher with honest Canadians?
Tougher penalties for violent crimes is the answer.
Regulations only affect the law abiding. Respectfully,
Colin Waugh, Keremeos
To The Editor;
Last week, Canada hosted the largest climate conference since the Kyoto Protocol in 1997. More than 10,000 delegates from nearly 200 countries met in Montreal for the UN Climate Change Conference. Discussions involved the details of the Kyoto agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and what will come after Kyoto ends in 2012. Unfortunately, due to decades of inaction,
Canada's record on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and environmental degradation is disgraceful.
Canada ranks 28th out of the 30 member countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) based on 29 key environmental indicators including air and water pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, pesticide use and more. Our performance is only slightly better than the two countries at the bottom, the United States and Belgium. Canada is also falling well behind on its Kyoto commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 6% below 1990 levels. In fact, emissions have soared to more than 24% above 1990 levels. Reversing this trend will take real political leadership at all levels of government, something that has been in very short supply to date. However, there have been some very impressive success stories.
On February 16, 2000, the day the Kyoto Protocol took effect, the Mayor of Seattle, Greg Nickels, challenged mayors across the U.S. to join Seattle in taking local action to reduce global warming pollution. Today, 194 mayors representing over 40 million Americans have accepted his challenge, which includes meeting or beating the Kyoto Protocol targets in their own communities, through actions ranging from anti-sprawl land-use policies to urban forest restoration projects to public information campaigns. In addition, they are urging their state governments, and the federal government, to enact policies to meet or beat the greenhouse gas emission reduction target suggested for the U.S. in the Kyoto Protocol (7% reduction from 1990 levels by 2012).
Another success story started back in 1990 when the City Council of Portland, Oregon embarked on a long-term plan to increase the use of renewable energies, reduce solid waste, conserve energy and natural resources, prevent pollution and improve personal and community health.
Years later, the results have been remarkable. From 1990 to 2003, Portland's per capita CO2 emissions decreased by 13 percent, and the city is now generating or buying 10 percent of electricity from renewable sources, including wind power. Portland is also recycling 54 percent of its solid waste and intends to get to 60 percent by the end of the year. In turn, the energy efficiency projects benefit more than 10,000 residents by reducing their winter heating bills by $150-$200 a year. Over the span of the energy efficiency measures, customers will cumulatively save $20 million.
Now that our local municipal elections are over, the time has come for our representatives to lay the foundation for our own success story. This means taking bold steps towards reducing air pollution, conserving energy, investing in extensive recycling programs, and attracting clean, green businesses. A good first step would be to take decisive action to stop the development of the 49-MW coal-fired power plant, and the drilling and extraction of coalbed methane. It has been well documented that coal-fired power generation is the largest industrial contributor of air pollution and greenhouse gases, and coalbed methane has been linked to decreasing property values and contaminated aquifers. Neither of these developments are acceptable, nor will the economic benefits outweigh the risks to the health of our citizens, our property values, our tourism industry, or our future.
Now, more than ever, our community needs leadership. Town Council and the Regional District of the Okanagan-Similkameen (RDOS) must say no to dirty, unsustainable, and harmful projects, and say yes to progressive action to make the Similkameen Valley known for its clean air, clean water, and immaculate natural beauty. Our municipal governments have the potential to be leaders in terms of renewable energies, conservation, and sustainability. Now is the time for our elected officials to step up to the plate and meet challenge. And it needs to start at the municipal level.
On the federal and provincial level, the Green Party of BC and the Green Party of Canada have been advocating a shift away from fossil fuels to renewable energies for decades. Adriane Carr, Leader of the Green Party of BC, has stated that our future wealth and energy security is in developing the immense wind, in-stream hydro, solar and tidal energy opportunities in BC. Ms. Carr has also pointed out that "the European Union proves that more new jobs are created than are lost in the shift from fossil fuels to alternative renewable energy. Europe embraced a shift away from fossil fuels years ago and significantly increased employment in the renewable energy sector, far exceeding traditional energy-related employment.
Meanwhile, Jim Harris, Leader of the Green Party of Canada, has stated that we know how to reduce our energy consumption by up to 90 per cent, the technology already exists. What is lacking is any political will to get serious about energy conservation or development of renewable energy. What Canada needs are real, sustainable jobs that benefit, not harm, the environment. The Green Party is the only federal party to have a will and a way to do this. The Green Party would provide a shift away from fossil fuel dependency that will lead to the development of innovative new technologies, higher productivity for our economy, and a better quality of life for our communities.
Sincerely,
Mike McLean, 2005 Green Party of BC Candidate for Yale-Lillooet
