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Routley should take cue from Furstenau

An ambitious vision? Perhaps.
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Routley should take cue from Furstenau

Congratulations to The Citizen and Robert Barron for your nuanced article “Cowichan Valley’s MLAs see throne speech differently” published in the Wednesday, June 28 edition.

The language used by veteran MLA Mr. Routley in reaction to the now infamous Liberal throne speech is typical of party-politics-as-usual. The Citizen quoted Routley using emotional-laden terms such as “pathetic and disrespectful” plus generalizations such as “people are sick of Liberal shenanigans”. Such language is divisive and confrontational. We in the Cowichan Valley deserve better, especially at this time of a fresh start in B.C. government.

On the other hand, newly-elected MLA Ms. Furstenau understands the unique opportunity provided to British Columbians as the result of the historic developments since our virtual dead-heat election of May 9.

Instead of criticizing the Liberals, Furstenau uses the language of collaboration and inclusion.

First, she makes specific references to the areas of agreement among the three parties in the Legislature. According to your article, Furstenau then suggests that “people want to see more governance and less politics. If all MLAs recognize their responsibilities, we should be able to set aside party politics…”.

An ambitious vision? Perhaps.

But let’s start by encouraging Mr. Routley to recognize a different responsibility to us in the Cowichan Valley.

Rob MacLean

Cowichan Station