Communities under threat: MP
The MP is John Cummings and the threat is the Gateway program.
Increased rail traffic resulting from the controversial Asia Pacific Gateway Corridor project will deteriorate local quality of life and cause real estate prices to plummet, he predicts.
“I think we’re at crunch time here for our community,” Cummins said. “If people don’t stand up and start to scream and holler, they’re going to be awful sorry.
Now Cummings appears to be the first politician who has noticed that freight from the port goes mainly by rail. It has nothing much to do with trucking – which of course knocks out most of the justification that the province (and the BCTA) has made for the South Fraser Perimeter Road and the twinning of the Port Mann Bridge and widening of Highway #1.
“I’m not opposed to the port growing,” Cummins added, “but I’m saying let’s do it right. Let’s not destroy our communities so the Port of Vancouver can be the biggest port in wherever.”
In which case I think he is increasingly out of step with his constituents who are beginning to wonder why it is so important that Vancouver grab a larger share of the North American transpacific trade. Especially since most of it is destined for the US. Given that our ports have a tax advantage – US ports have to pay a lot of money to their local communities – exactly why do we want to subsidize US shippers and consumers? The people who live around the major Pacific Ports like Long Beach are increasingly restive about the amount of air pollution they get from trains, trucks and ships. Why do we have to take that from them?
I can understand that strategically we need ports on Canada’s west coast to handle our trade. I just wonder why we need them to handle other peoples. And I suspect that the Americans will have similar thoughts. And just as they did not stand still while we cornered the cruise ship traffic to Alaska, they will not lie down as we expand here and Prince Rupert. I think we are going to end up with a lot of spare port capacity, some redundant rail trackage, and a lot of very heavily congested roads full of commuters – not trucks.
Delta-Richmond East Conservative MP John Cummins is not “the first politician who has noticed that freight from the port goes mainly by rail.”
In May 2006, my letter to the editor of the Delta Optimist was published on the use of Green Goat hybrid Canadian train technology to be used to assist with the reduction of noise, pollution and traffic congestion, to minimize health and safety risks her in Delta-Richmond East. I also offered the suggested of biodiesel in heavy-duty diesel trucks to offset the impact of their pollution.
John Cummins has merely advanced my idea as his own without giving credit where credit is due, in the true likeness of a long time Conservative. They say imitation is the best form of flattery, well not in this case. The Conservatives understanding of our environment and environmental solutions are as deep as mud puddles.
After my Liberal candidacy in April 2007, Cummins moved quickly into pre-election mode struggling to find understanding of our environment. Why? I was the former Green Party of Canada candidate that ran against John Cummins in 2004. Cummins’ leader, Stephen Harper and the rest of the Conservatives, not only don’t have a belief in climate change or the need to protect our environment but have no solutions of their own to offer Canadians, instead they copy cat solutions and claim them as their own.
I’m glad my Liberal candidacy in Delta-Richmond East has John Cummins running scared toward learning about our environment. It’s great he has learned from me. It’s too bad his education is 14 years late, the length of time he has been an MP, and the solutions aren’t his own. So has he really learned enough about our environment to exact any change? No. Cummins has not learned enough to offer solutions of his own and has proved a total inability to form much needed partnerships over the past 14 years.
Sincerely,
Dana L. Miller
Liberal candidate for Delta-Richmond East
Dana L. Miller
July 22, 2007 at 7:00 am
Thank you for that informative response. It would indeed be welcome to see Green Goat switchers working freight yards and short haul freight in this region. Many of the switchers used here are over fifty years old – though they have been rebuilt. Indeed the Green Goats are rebuilds too. The significant advantage is that when not in use the diesel engine is shut down. It is normal for railway diesel locomotives to be left running in idle for hours at a time, a dreadful waste of oil and huge source of local pollution.
My reference to politicians was, of course, to the support that is widely given to the widening of Highway 1 and the twinning of the Port Mann, in a craven attempt to appeal to voters south of the Fraser. Very few elected or candidate politicians from that area have clearly stated that this idea is wrong headed, and based on misleading information.
As for ownership of ideas, I am pleased to say that many ideas of mine have been used by other people and I claim no credit for any of them. I am just pleased to see them get adopted. I support open source software and creative commons licensing too. Not everything has to be copyrighted and patented to be useful – indeed rather the reverse, I think.
I am also pleased that you read and contribute to the discussion on my blog and I hope to hear more from you. If your ideas are any good, expect me to adopt them too.
Stephen Rees
July 22, 2007 at 9:25 am
Thank you Stephen Rees for your reponse to my blog post.
Perhaps my point was misunderstood? Conservative MP John Cummins in Delta-Richmond East, could very well have called upon Conservative Environment Minister Baird and Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper to enter Delta to hear from our community on vital matters concerning the destruction of our “liveability.” Cummins failed.
Instead of reaching out to his own political party leader and cabinet minister, Cummins reached out to Mayors, of municipalities, governed by the BC Provincial Premier. Clearly, Cummins, has no relationships built of any substance, sway or influence federally, to exact any healthy environmental changes to our community.
We need to change the course of Gateway to protect human life from health and safety hazards such as an increase in pollution. To do so we require people capable of offering solutions of substance and capable of implementing those solutions.
The Federal government ought to place environmental protection attachments to funding for Gateway to ensure our environment wil be protected, to ensure our health will be protected. Cummins hasn’t stolen this idea of mine, yet. Let’s hope he does.
Since becoming an unelected candidate for parliament in April 2007, in four short months I have helped Cummins toward an environmental epiphany. I hope to continue to serve my community in this manner and more toward a healthy and safe future.
I continue to read your blog with interest.
Sincerely,
Dana L. Miller
Dana L. Miller
August 7, 2007 at 6:04 pm