Dear Editor:
Last August I travelled out to Edmonton for a family reunion. As I left Clearwater the smoke hovered above. It was thick and heavy right on up to Jasper; then it dissipated, thinning out to nothing as we approached Edmonton. For almost a week the skies were clear, then the smoke caught up with a vengeance.
From where my daughter lives, the “Greenback” region, one can generally see the tall buildings of downtown Edmonton. However, with the smoke blanketing the area you could not see a thing. The people of Edmonton were friendly as usual but the air was so thick with smoke you could taste it.
After a wonderful time with my family, I left Edmonton early in the morning. The smoke settled right to the ground, dark and ominous. It felt positively evil. This continued right to Jasper, then it thinned out and cleared up when I reached Clearwater.
I cannot judge just how effective the carbon tax — you know, that hated tax — is in combating climate change.
Canadians may make the mistake of voting against themselves and bring in a Pierre Poilievre alt-right government. Poilievre has vowed to be the hero of the day and cancel the carbon tax. In this province, Kevin Falcon has vowed to cancel all manner of taxes. How’s he going to pay for things? Sell off the province as Gordon Campbell did?
Someone is going to pay one way or the other. The vast expenditures on firefighting equipment, new water bombers, will in the future absorb whatever money is available. Big tax cuts which mainly benefit the “needy” wealthy are certainly not the way to go in the future, especially if things get worse, and there’s every indication that they will.
One of my daughters was heading to Yellowknife to do a locum. She’s a physiotherapist, and she finally made it there around the smoking ruins. The towns along the way had survived but, as Wellington said about the battle of Waterloo, it was a “nearest run thing”. If the fire had been any worse there would have been a disaster.
Keep that in mind when you hear the siren song of lower taxes and tax cuts.
Someone’s gotta pay.
Dennis Peacock
Clearwater, B.C.