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Letter: Small, vocal groups swaying public policy

Editor: Our governments are increasingly being swayed by very small but vocal segments of society. The result is we are seeing legislation, regulations and policies that cater to these small segments of society but ignore the wishes of the silent majority. In Canada and British Columbia particularly we have at least four of these issues at present.
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Editor: Our governments are increasingly being swayed by very small but vocal segments of society. The result is we are seeing legislation, regulations and policies that cater to these small segments of society but ignore the wishes of the silent majority. In Canada and British Columbia particularly we have at least four of these issues at present.

The first and maybe most important is the pipeline issue. Most Canadians and a majority of British Columbians understand that our economy depends on the development of our natural resources.

If we are going to maintain our high standard of living we must develop and sell our natural resources including Alberta’s oil. A small group led by the Green Party is trying to stop this development.

The second issue is MAiD. The federal government was forced to alter the Criminal Code to remove the criminal element from providing assistance to someone who wanted to kill themselves. Now another small segment of society is lobbying to go further and make society as a whole support those who want to do this. The law was amended to make MAiD legal; the Supreme Court did not say we had to actually assist anyone in committing suicide. It is clear that the majority in the medical profession want no part of MAiD and neither do our hospice volunteers.

A third area is the legalization of marijuana. A minority of society has convinced the government to legalize marijuana. Now the majority is trying to figure out how to keep it off our roads and out of our public parks, school grounds and strata complexes.

The fourth issue of note is SOGI. This is another case of a small minority, in this case the LGBTQ community convincing government that their agenda needs to be made the rule of law.

In all of these issues, the minority may have valid concerns but their concerns should not be pushed on society by our elected governments.

We expect our government to protect our minorities but that should not mean that the majority is ignored.

David Nielsen,

Walnut Grove