Dear Editor:
I strongly disagree with a recent letter condemning the Harper government for cancelling the Expo bid in Edmonton.
We are in a global recession, we just hosted the world at the Olympics in Vancouver, and most important, Alberta is the target of vehement anti-oil sands groups that could include eco-idiots, eco-terrorists, anarchists and real terrorist activities. The security bill would have been enormous with no guarantee of keeping these types of people off the stack at refinery row in Edmonton, or out of the oil sands in the Fort McMurray area. Even the well-meaning (but dumb) environmentalists who partake in climbing stacks to make their point risk catastrophic outcomes if the plant has to do an emergency shutdown — what of those people with more evil intent?
Many environmental movements have become violent in their expression: (http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/tag/1010/) a drastic change from their style of several years ago when Ottawa first encouraged the Edmonton bid. Likewise, three years ago we were all sailing high in a rolling economy.
Kudos to the Harper government for having the smarts and guts to say no.
Michelle Stirling