The mine – that horrible mine. We don’t want it. With all the blasting we will have to wear ear protection; we will have more dust than the Sahara Desert. Our rivers will stop flowing. We don’t want the mine and while we’re at it let’s clean the slate. Let’s get rid of the cement plant, and that malodorous pulp mill will have to go. Nobody has mentioned the sewage plant. I suppose it will have to go. By its nature it does not smell like ashes of roses.

Now we have a Garden of Eden. The tourists will arrive en masse with large amounts of money that they will spend downtown. It will make downtown vibrant and all the merchants will get rich. It would be an excellent situation if it could happen; unfortunately we have to face reality. We need copper. It’s used in just about everything we use. Let’s just mention one thing: No copper – no electric lights. Yes, we need copper but let’s get it from someplace else. Something goes for the pulp mill; without it there would be no toilet paper. Yes, we need things made from pulp but let’s get it from someplace else, wherever that place is.

Unfortunately, when something is being manufactured it often has undesirable sides like the smell of the pulp and the sewage plant.

No, I do not like the fact that it’s Polish interests. I would prefer it to be Canadian. I do not understand why our railroads are foreign owned or why our two largest ranches are foreign owned. I don’t profess to understand it. Those things should be Canadian.

There’s one thing that will keep downtown vibrant. It’s a working man with a good paycheck. All is not lost if the mine doesn’t happen. That bare hillside could probably support two cows and a goat.

Let’s face reality. You want an omelet, you have to crack an egg.

JOHN LION

Kamloops