One Man's Opinion

By Ben Meisner

        
Forest Minister Rich Coleman says he has talked with his Federal counterpart and they both agree that providing funding for local homeowners who must remove beetle infested wood trees from their yards is just not in the cards.

The Mayors of Kamloops, Kelowna and Prince George held a news conference last week to try and pressure the Federal government into coming up with about $60 million from the promised Federal Beetle fund to do the job.

It is another example of our Mayor, who was the senior Mayor on the panel, getting his mouth in gear before his mind. Think about it Mr. Mayor, the fund is to be used to diversify the economy away from the reliance on the forests.

The big picture is this; let’s assume that the city began to foot the bill for the cutting of Pine trees infected by the beetle from private properties.

Now you take these trees down and meantime your neighbor next door who doesn’t have shelter from your pines anymore finds that his alder, spruce or what have, you blows down in the wind. Do you then pay him as well out of the fund or is that home owner left waving in the breeze?

 
This kind of program does nothing to get on with the job of diversifying the economy in this region and if you talk to the experts they are saying we don’t have an endless clock ticking.

Mayor Kinsley sits on a committee that received $800,000 to begin the work of changing the region's economy. Instead of looking for the avenues to accomplish, this he idles away his time trying to get funds for what?

I’m Meisner and that’s one man’s opinion.

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