Keep the letters coming

Dec 27 2006 EDITORIAL Keep the letters coming http://www.saobserver.net/
While Colin Mayes was mayor of Salmon Arm, he wrote a letter to Prime Minister Paul Martin every time a person died in a collision on the Trans-Canada Highway along the 350-km stretch between Chase and the Alberta border. Following a major collision in the Revelstoke snow sheds in November 2001, nearly every newspaper and television station in the country carried the story and endlessly quoted politicians about the need to upgrade the highway to four lanes. The then-mayor, now turned Conservative MP for our region, was passionate about the need for federal funds to upgrade this stretch of what he recognized as a national highway. He called this office following the deaths of three members of the Davidson family in 2005 to discuss the need for improvements and suggested it may be time to have a public protest on the highway. Mayes never did end up out on the Trans-Canada Highway with placard in hand, however, the practice of writing letters to the Prime Minister continued. In that time, there have been some upgrades to the highway, but in our mind not enough has been done. What we wonder now is, has our MP kept up the practice of writing letters to the Prime Minister now that the leader is the head of Mayes’ own party? Is Stephen Harper being made aware of the deaths that are still taking place along this stretch of highway? We think this would be a good idea. While some people accurately point out it is drivers, not roads, that kill — road safety is a primary factor in helping to prevent or in reducing the severity of collisions. We have been assured that our MP is continuing to work on getting highway improvements between our community and the Alberta border. What we are hoping now is that Mayes remains as passionate about the issue as he did when he was a local mayor.