In response to M. Jordan’s letter (Ajax Supporters, Let’s Hear About The Mine’s Benefits, The Daily News, Sept. 14). I support the Ajax mine in principle. I have a wife, and two children under three years old. I make between $60,000 and $80,000 a year in a nine-to-five office job, in an industry unrelated to mining. My hobbies include backcountry hiking and photography. I backyard compost, recycle, and buy organic when I have the option.
The reasons I support Ajax mine are primarily job creation and economic stimulation. We have to be responsible both for the environment around us and for the future of our community. I recall a letter being leaked from the government about a year ago estimating the loss of nearly 9,000 forest industry jobs in B.C. when beetle-killed wood is no longer salvageable, approximately three years from now. How are we being responsible by turning away a major employer with these job losses looming, especially before all the environmental assessments have been completed? Ajax guarantees direct employment, but there will be significantly more resulting from fleet maintenance, IT services, etc.
Why not stand up at the TRU public speaking events? Because I support the mine in principle, meaning I reserve the right to change my mind as the facts come in. I hear people who oppose the mine speak at these events and they have completely shut out all incoming information. Their minds are made up. It seems to some that mining is evil, and anyone who supports it must be a stupid, uninformed, redneck. I will not martyr myself by speaking at one of these events, so instead I will do what most frustrated Canadians do, write a letter.
As I hear people talk about the environment surrounding Kamloops, I wonder where the protesters were when the subdivisions were built in these ecologically sensitive grasslands? Those homes, or ones like them, will be there forever with pavement, driveways, lawn fertilizers, pesticides and the occasional car or truck dripping fluids. Ajax mine will have a lifespan, and at the end of it the ground will be reclaimed as detailed prior to the mine opening. While in operation it will run under strict guidelines and policies set in place and it will be inspected regularly.
Residents of Kamloops, I implore you to support the mine until you are given reason to do otherwise. This information should come from a source that you can trust to be unbiased. Don’t be bullied or guilted into a negative opinion by people afraid of what they do not know.
K. BACH
Kamloops
