Editor, The Times:
“Think before you vote” is indeed a critical action point. One has to be careful for what you wish for.
As a victim of government policy, I can attest to the serious impact an election outcome can have on one’s life.
In 1972 I graduated from BCIT with a diploma in Mining Technology and I had a job waiting for me at graduation.
That also corresponded to the time when the NDP was elected. Within six months the policies of the NDP collapsed the mining industry and most exploration mining jobs in B.C., including mine.
I should not really say I was a “victim” as I voted for the NDP that time.
In the 1990s when the NDP was in power, they brought in massive bureaucratic policies for the forest industry. Some were needed, but the majority was just to cover the behinds of the professionals entrusted to manage our resources at an incredible expense in time and money to the forest industry.
These demands resulted in extensive delays which contributed to the massive increase in Mountain Pine Beetle populations with devastating effects on the over-supplied lumber market and smaller rural towns throughout the province, not to mention government tax coffers.
In listening to the current NDP policies I cannot help but wonder what negative impacts there will be in the oil and gas industry! Think before you vote!
George Delisle, Westbridge