Petition valid
In the interest of clearing up any doubt regarding the petition in opposition to a new Powell River Public Library at Willingdon, we are happy to report that on July 3 at the committee of the whole meeting, city staff confirmed the petition does comply with the Community Charter and is therefore a valid petition [“Library open house responses favour Willingdon South,” July 9].
We would like City of Powell River council and the Library Board to keep this in mind when making any decision on the Willingdon South property.
We are gateful to everyone who believes a covenant protecting a gift of land should always be honoured.
Elaine Teichgraber
Willingdon Watch Group
Delight of participation
My husband drove the Linden Singers from Portland State Chamber Choir around for International Choral Kathaumixw week and they sent us this email hoping that we could share these thoughts and feelings with the people of Powell River [“Taking home awards,” July 9].
“This evening, we had a rare experience for our choir. Over the last week, we’ve become known for our performance of Moses Hogan’s Elijah Rock. It’s become something of a local legend. Everywhere we go in the community, people ask us if we are the choir that did Elijah Rock. We gave a performance tonight, a concert with nothing on the line. Just the love of music, and the joy of sharing that with a group of people who paid to hear art being made. We sang several songs, and Elijah Rock was the second to last piece in the set. At the end, poor Ethan had to almost apologize that we had another number! They were so appreciative of the music that we brought to them. We closed the concert with [Leonard] Cohen’s Hallelujah, another favourite of ours.
“I think that’s really the theme of the week. This community of 14,000 people is so appreciative of music that they commit to hosting an international choral competition and festival every other year. They bring in thousands of musicians from all over the world, and use over a thousand volunteers. Then, the community pays to come to concerts that this remote area of Canada wouldn’t be able to see otherwise. There are five choruses here from this community alone, as a part of the showcase. Music is a real passion to them, and they’ve made a true investment in the musical education of their children by bringing in internationally renowned musicians to raise the level of experience in this town. We are truly blessed to be able to sing in this festival, and to be able to share in the goodwill that is brought by the community of Powell River, Canada. It doesn’t matter if we win or not. We are better people for having been here and sung our hearts out.”
For us, as new arrivals in Powell River, it was truly a wonderful experience and we are so proud to be part of it.
Linda and Dan McLaughlin
Dorval Avenue
Reaping rewards
In response to “Pipeline project faces hurdles”, June 20, I am from here and like other British Columbians, I care about our environment, our health, and our economy. As I stated before, in order to ensure we maintain and improve our forests, and marine quality, our government already creates higher standards than anyone else in the world on so many items: tankers, marine safety, and now, pipeline safety. Our government made potential environmental offenders more liable, proactive on safety and responsible for ensuring we are protected.
I previously stated that not having the pipeline would be an annual loss of $27 billion. I need to correct the statement as the pipeline would bring an incremental government revenue of $27 billion between 2016 to 2030 for all levels of government (University of Calgary). The total economic benefit (GDP increase) to the country for those years is estimated to be $131 billion. Our government approved Northern Gateway because an independent panel of experts said it is safe for the environment and because it supports the goal of market diversification, in order to increase exports, get full value for our exports, create jobs and economic opportunities, and fund services Canadians rely on.
John Weston
MP for West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country riding
