Re: May renews call for tanker ban (News, March 28)
During the course of the last federal election, I asked the same question many Saanich-Gulf Island voters were asking: Was Gary Lunn really our best choice?
Certainly Gary’s 15 years as member of parliament for our riding had its ups and downs; his evolution from Reform, to Canadian Alliance to Conservative; the Chalk River fiasco and the almost maniacal way the Harper government managed communications and the public service.
But after almost a year of MP Elizabeth May’s unique form of politics, I now have my answer: Gary Lunn was our best choice by a long shot and I regret that I never voted for him – not once.
Since May 2011, our honourable member of parliament has chased down Green Party priorities that are entirely ideological and irrelevant to the economic success of her constituents. These priorities include Wi-Fi and the emissions from B.C. Hydro’s smart meter program; suggesting that remaining in the Koyoto Protocol “will not cost Canadians a cent”; her almost imperceptible views on Durban; her support of a continued moratorium on oil tanker transport through the coastal waters of British Columbia and suggesting that little (or in fact nothing) has changed in oil tanker transport since the Exxon Valdez spill.
What bunk. Ms. May and the Green Party’s views have been discredited on so many occasions they lack any credibility and I cringe when she rises (on the rare occasion) in the House to speak. Ms. May and her Green Party’s views have done nothing for my family. If anything, we have lost what little voice we had in parliament.
Contrast Ms. May and her Green Party’s work against the work of Gary Lunn, who held a number of portfolios in the Harper government, up to and including minister of resources. One does not have to look very hard to find evidence of Lunn’s influence in this community; Lochside beautification project and redevelopment, helicopter base development at Victoria International Airport and, of course, our very creative overpass at McTavish Road and the Pat Bay Highway. Gary Lunn was a serious parliamentarian. He brought investment and economic opportunity to this community.
By comparison Ms. May, is this really the best you can do?
Mike Houle
North Saanich