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Letter: Interprovincial travel concerns

Letters to the editor
By Letters to the editor
May 9th, 2021

To The Editor:

Brittny Anderson, MLA Nelson-Creston

Hello Brittny,

Belated best wishes on your election as our representative in the British Columbia legislature.  Also congratulations on your appointment as the Premier’s Special Advisor on Youth.  I certainly do not envy you in that position of explaining to the youth of the province of the NDP’s failed policy of the Site C Dam, or the zero policy regarding logging of old-growth forest and the offshore shipping of our logs to foreign processors.

However, my more immediate concern is in regard to intra- and interprovincial travel in order to limit the increased spread of Covid-19.  I would appreciate it if you could supply more information in regard to some of the glaring inconsistencies of the current government policy.

I understand the necessity of limiting travel within the province in order to prevent further spreading of the virus.  Especially from regions that have a much greater number of active cases.  Makes sense.

However, the refusal by the government to limit interprovincial travel between Alberta and British Columbia is most puzzling.  It seems like nothing more than the tried-and-true approach in B.C. of the Lower Mainland-centric way of dealing with things.  We are going to be okay down here on the coast.  What’s an Interior anyway?  Surely there can’t be that many people living there?

The rising case load in Alberta is a concern for all of us, so why is the B.C. government so adamant in refusing to limit travel for only essential reasons.  With Alberta having the highest increase of Covid cases in North America, if push came to shove, I would rather have someone travel to our town of Kaslo from Surrey than Fort McMurray.  And not that I want any out-of-towners here at the present time, given the current situation.

I know Premier John Horgan keeps going on about how there are so many roads between Alberta and British Columbia that it would be impossible to implement controls.  Maybe you could pass on to John (and supply him with a road atlas) that there really are only a handful of highways that account for most of the vehicular travel between the two provinces.  It is not an insurmountable problem by any means.

Furthermore, if you could assuage John’s concern that it would be an illegal act to limit highway traffic.  It has been done successfully and legally in other jurisdictions within Canada and in other places around the world.  And even if it was illegal, would it not be more important to ensure people’s health and potentially save lives and figure out the legal niceties at a later date? 

John is a great procrastinator and does well at providing excuses when he does not want to initiate.  Almost sounds like a teacher’s comment on a public school report card.

So Brittny, if you could let me know how the current policy is working for your constituents and all British Columbians, it would be much appreciated. 

Yours truly,

Hayward Kirsh, Kaslo, BC

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