Open letter to Shuswap MLA Greg Kyllo:
In every column and interview, you talk about “the government” and what it’s doing wrong. The latest is about the slow pace of four-laning the Trans Canada through the Shuswap.
Regardless of whether or not we agree on this issue, I’m afraid you have misapprehended your job as an MLA. You were elected, which makes you now part of the government. You may be in the opposition, but that remains part of the actual government, sitting in Victoria’s legislature, as it says in your title.
It is incumbent upon you, as our elected MLA, to actually make changes when you see them as necessary and when your constituents bring them to your attention, not simply to talk about how it’s someone else’s responsibility. When you were elected, it became your responsibility to at least try. It’s also your responsibility to look ahead in the long term, and try to figure out what will be the best thing for everyone in your patch and in the province, not short-term fixes or simply opposing everything because you sit on the other side of the Legislature.
The governing system under which we operate requires that our elected representatives take on a long view and a wide lens, taking into consideration the needs of people at all levels, the environment which supports us, the economy and national or international relations. This requires working together as well as pointing out where policies and actions may be going wrong, and making constructive suggestions to improve legislation and implementation.
Finally, on the issue of the Trans Canada four-laning projects, one might consider that four-laning has not reduced accidents, but has created massive environmental destruction. Paving wetlands and tearing down mountainsides will increase our risk for forest fire and reduce the ability of the environment to absorb increased flooding, both of which are manifestly issues we have to face.
Rebecca Kneen
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@willson_becca
rebecca.willson@saobserver.net
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