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In response to MLA column

Reader replies to assertion regarding oil industry, pipelines and carbon tax

Dear Editor,

I’d like to respond to Mr. Orr’s article “Alberta not an Island.”

Let me start by saying I’ve made my living from the oil and gas industry. I’m 100 per cent behind pipelines etc.

That doesn’t mean that I don’t want everyone to do everything possible to reduce our environmental footprint. The federal government has given the provinces a choice, carbon tax or cap and trade. There is never a good time to implement a tax.

The previous government was too drunk at the trough to put away money for future investment into renewable resources. Oil/gas and coal are a finite fossil fuel. For the sake of future generations we must pursue alternate resources.

Just because some other countries may choose to ignore climate change or won’t do it because Peter isn’t doing it, is not a valid reason; two wrongs don’t make a right.

Think of our children and their children. What will we tell them when they ask why we didn’t do everything possible to try and reverse the indisputable evidence of carbon emissions in our atmosphere?

Whether man-made or natural occurrence doesn’t matter, carbon emissions are real, (check out the air quality in Edmonton compared to Toronto). We need to do all we can and do it now.

Don’t blame the NDP for making an unpopular decision by doing what’s right. The previous Alberta government thought they were on a Caribbean Island when they were being lead by the nose and in the back pockets of big business but the NDP is trying to put us back on solid ground.

Carl Vallieres