To the editor;
Former Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney recently called for a National Resource Development Office, one with powers to streamline regulatory reviews and settle intergovernmental squabbles. I think this is a great idea and I fully agree with him. It is long overdue.
Canada has immense energy, mineral, and other resources that could make our country one of the wealthiest on earth. But as Mulroney pointed out when he called for the creation of this new office, these resources are currently locked in the ground “dead as a doornail.”
Examples abound across the country, notably Alberta’s oil and British Columbia’s abundant minerals such as gold and copper (e.g., the Prosperity mine).
If you ask me, a national office that can get things moving on natural resource projects can’t come soon enough.
The wealth locked beneath our feet is wealth that needs to be unlocked for the benefit of everyone.
Donald Leung
Burnaby, B.C.