Letters



Coal bed Methane, Premier Secrecy, Police Visits
 
When the Premier of BC plans and carries out a secret visit to Hudson's Hope, something is wrong. 

How often does the Premier come to a small town like Hudson's Hope?  It should have been a well-publicized event like it was in other small communities in BC. 

But worse than a secret visit is what happened when people found out about the visit.  Those people were visited by RCMP or Security, wanting to know how the information got out and if there was going to be some kind of demonstration.

Quite unlikely in Hudson's Hope, but what if there was a demonstration?  Is it not my right in Canada to demonstrate and protest?  I think this had nothing to do with security of the Premier.  I think it had everything to do with silencing opposition to Coal bed Methane development.

What's next?  Are the thought police just around the corner?  When do the phone and Email taps begin?  How much longer will it still be legal to have an independent thought?  Am I going to get in trouble for writing this? 

Maybe.  My employer has already been called in an attempt to muzzle my thoughts and words about CBM development.  Others have also been pressured to be quiet. This recent incident is just another ploy in the same game of controlling the opposition.  I hope this incident shocks everyone who is reading this letter.

We are all tied together by a chain of freedoms and rights that make democratic societies work.  When the first link in that chain is broken, as it is when any individual is harassed, threatened, or even just subtly
pressured to remain quiet, then we are all damaged. 

Steven W. Metzger,
Hudson's Hope

Ginger Goodwin Clarification

Just one point on the Ginger Goodwin (Columbia Journal December edition)
posting on your web site: Goodwin never switched his support to the Industrial Workers of the World.

He was very active in the Socialist Party of Canada and, union-wise, active
in both the United Mine Workers of America (Cumberland local) and the
International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers (Trail local),
but not the IWW.

Incidentally, I have a new biography of him coming out next month -
Fighting for Dignity: The Ginger Goodwin Story. Published by the
Canadian Committee on Labour History, St. John's, Nfld.

Roger Stonebanks
Victoria


SSM Issue Over-rated

Well, I for one, am glad to see the whole hoopla around same sex marriages dying down.

It was bound to with all these provincial and federal Liberal scandals. As someone who worked and has gone to school with gay and lesbian activists, I never saw any desire on their part to have families.

In fact, I remember many of them saying families were horrible celebrations of heterosexuality and the subjugation of women into relationships with men. (The assumption here was that women would prefer to be with other women if given the choice).

In particular, some of the gays were especially upset that families worked against what they thought was their right to have sex with minors (boys, obviously).

I think it is hypocritical for these people to now demand that their relationships be considered the same as everyone else’s when there is so much anti-family sentiment among their communities.

Jay Keller
Langley