Well this is now no longer a joke one can pass off as a misguided council led by an ostrich.
I read articles by Barry Kimble and John McGregor in your Wednesday paper and these letters express the reality of the nonsense going on at council. These two articles express the reality of life in the Cowichan Valley. Many people rely on wood as a heat source, for Hydro represents almost a second mortgage each month to heat a home. These people consist of a lot of seniors and low income families who, without the woodstove and related industries, would not be able to afford to heat their homes.
The woodstoves manufactured today are confirmed by the Ministry of Environment as low emission stoves and have inspection regulations and insurance regulations that are very rigid. The woodstove industry employs many people in this Valley and is essential to employment and affordability of home heating here.
This issue is an old and well-ignored issue by the council and its leader Mr. Lefebure. This is an issue of the council failing to make a bad corporate citizen tow the line they expect the rest of us to follow. The council should read the information issued by the Ministry of Environment in Victoria about our Valley having the worst air quality in the region. The council has to be able to say the dreaded words they are so frightened of: the Mill in Crofton, it is the biggest air polluter in the area and when compared, it contributes more than all other sources combined.
The council for years has attacked those least able to defend themselves, and not been able to say the "M" word. The council better wake up for if the mill proposes its usual road song of "we will close and put people out of work". Well council members, elected representatives of the people, not everyone in this Valley just fell off the cabbage truck, we do not all make the big salaries that the CVRD people do so we cannot afford Hydro or converting to gas, and guess what, there are many more people in the wood and woodstove related industries in this Valley than those numbers of jobs threatened at the mill every time they are approached.
I think it is time for this council to come out of the closet and call a spade a spade and stop attacking the people who elected them. Just let council address the real problem they have been aware of for years and do the right thing. Please no more misdirection or stupidity.
Larry Woodruff
Duncan