Open letter to Yukon Premier Darrell Pasloski:I am writing at this time concerning a matter of personal embarrassment which your government has caused me.
Not long ago I was asked to participate in efforts to forestall oil and gas exploration in the Whitehorse Trough. As a 40-year veteran of such issues I confidently (but gently) informed the person that she was wasting her time.
Governments such as this do not listen to public opinion, they merely treat such outcries as part of doing business. Her reply was, “Still, we must try!”
Your recent announcement about suspending oil and gas activities in the Whitehorse Trough has, therefore, not only proven me entirely wrong but now it seems I must also thank you for it. In my experience the common reaction to hearing the news is stunned silence. A government listened?
Most people have nowhere in their bureaucracy-bludgeoned brains to file this unprecedented outcome. The shock is followed by slump-shouldered relief which is touching to see. They look out of the window with new eyes. It will all still be there.
Since it is clear now that fire and brimstone will not rain down on conservative heads for acts of courage in the public interest, I wonder if you would now reconsider the Peel plan. It was, after all, developed according to the appropriate legal protocols with due diligence on everyone’s part - including your own.
It would be the flip side to the oil and gas decision in which your government would respond correctly to widespread public support instead of responding correctly to widespread public outrage.
Doug Urquhart
Whitehorse