By FouldsChristopherDec 27 2006 http://www.kelownacapnews.com/
This ruling Conservative government has celebrated Royal assent of the softwood-lumber agreement while making no move whatsoever to help homeowners in the Interior remove dead pine trees from their lands—now or in the future.Put into perspective, the Tories applauded confirmation of a deal with the United States in which Canada paid $1 billion to get Uncle Sam to stop illegally slapping countervailing duties on southbound softwood, while refusing to entertain any thought of dipping into the obscenely deep federal surplus to extract a few million dollars to help British Columbians affected by a natural disaster. The profile of the mountain pine beetle is at an all-time high. Never before has such a minuscule pest captured the headlines, and this past week the little black bugger was the topic du jour on the most powerful radio station in Western Canada. CKNW’s Bill Good interviewed Kamloops Mayor Terry Lake, among others, to educate his urbane audience about how devastating this beetle has been to forests and backyards throughout the Interior. Also on the dial was Rich Coleman, the minister in charge of forests in B.C., who repeated his daffy defence of why Victoria isn’t ponying up a dime to help residents rid their yards of dangerous dead trees. Residents in Greater Vancouver must pay the bill when a diseased tree has to be removed from their yards, said the Fraser Valley MLA. Yes, but we defy Coleman to show us a city or town in the Lower Mainland that is home to 30,000 towering giants being eaten alive. Meanwhile, a few trees are left teetering in West Vancouver following a windstorm and residents in the richest postal code in Canada are afforded helicopter logging, with the province footing the bill. And one wonders why residents of the Interior might feel they truly are beyond Hope? This saga has been beneficial in that it has illustrated the stark difference between what the electorate might have thought an MPs role was, and the reality of that role. A member of Parliament is, of course, paid extremely well to represent residents in the riding, to take their concerns to Ottawa, to help fight their fight, to act on their behalf. In theory, at least. The de facto role of government MPs in this situation has been, apparently, to work overtime on finding new ways to explain why Ottawa should not be helping Interior residents deal with the plague. Kamloops MP Betty Hinton argued that removing up to 30,000 trees from private property is the responsibility of the municipality, then chastised the previous Kamloops council for failing to plan for the beetle onslaught. (One remains mystified as to how “planning” for the disaster would have magically made millions appear in city coffers today.) Up north in Prince George, MP Dick Harris has been telling our sister paper that the request for funding in early December from the mayors of Kamloops, Kelowna and Prince George came as a surprise to him. Here’s your tax dollars at work. One of the worst infestations in the history of North America has been ongoing for years and the honourable member for Cariboo-Prince George is “surprised” cities are looking for cash to help cart off the dead wood. Worst still is Harris’ next quote: “While we’re aware of the situation, it’s incumbent on the mayor or the municipalities to initiate a request.” If he’s aware of the situation, maybe Harris can do his job as an MP and initiate a request in Ottawa. Perhaps this is yet another example of Stephen Harper MPs being told what to say, how to say it and when to say it. Maybe they are again being muzzled, or at least told to stay on message, which in this case seems to be, “Ignore them and they’ll go away soon enough.” The Tories grandly announced a 10-year, $1-billion mountain pine beetle plan during the election campaign a year ago. Thus far, not one cent has been spent, nor has a plan been detailed. While they work on that, perhaps our local MPs, or Harris up north, could talk to their boss and ask what the heck happened to the $11 million or so in pine-beetle funding the Liberals left when they were ousted. Maybe it’s being held bac—in case the beetle migrates to Parliament Hill.
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