A case study in hypocrisy
This email is in response to your (Mayor Jack Crompton) letter to Tim McKay of Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. (CNRL) dated Nov. 15, 2018. (See related story on Page 14.) Your letter is making the rounds here in Calgary, and not in a complimentary fashion. It is a case study in hypocrisy.
I understand how beautiful your valley is, as I have visited it numerous times. And I agree climate change will have an impact. Not just in Whistler, but everywhere.
However, instead of blaming others, you should look at yourself before asking for compensation from others. You state you get 3 million visitors a year. How do they get there? I'm sure they have not floated in on air balloons. How many airplanes, cars, trains, etc. are involved to transport those visitors to support your economy?
Have you asked any of these 3 million visitors for compensation? How much energy is required to operate your ski resort? Have you asked Whistler Blackcomb for compensation?
You also have cc'd your provincial Minister of Environment and Climate Change (George Heyman), a minister in the B.C. government that allows U.S. coal to be shipped out of Vancouver in alarming amounts.
Coal (is) a much dirtier source of energy than CNRL's product, yet you have no problem with that. Have you requested compensation from this same minister? Have you challenged him as to why his government is allowing your ports to transport foreign dirtier sources of energy (as) opposed to Canadian sources of energy?
Perhaps you have forgotten that you yourself are Canadian and have chosen to turn a blind eye to this massive hypocrisy being conducted by your own province.
As a fellow Canadian, shame on you and your province.
Perhaps you need to look at home before attacking others.
Danny Labelle
Calgary
Get to work, Jack
When will (Whistler Mayor) Jack Crompton and the rest of the elite figure out that the general population is fed up with being preached to by a bunch of limousine liberals.
Our environment minister (Catherine McKenna) just returned from the global climate summit in Poland where she and her entourage of 126 federal employees wined and dined on the Canadian taxpayers' dime.Our Prime Minister (Justin Trudeau) flies on a private plane to private islands to be entertained by a billionaire. He flies his buddies to Tofino for a surfing weekend and the list goes on.
The hypocrisy of our mayor who owned a gas-guzzling transportation company and who sat on council to approve more gas pumps in town is staggering.As the snow falls, Jack, stick to what's important to us. Get off your soapbox and get to work.
David McLatchie
Whistler
Congratulations on new gondola
With the opening of the new Blackcomb Gondola on Dec. 15, many doubters and naysayers (myself among them) were finally silenced.
All of the swirling rumours surrounding delays and possible never-openings were finally put to rest. For instance, the failed concrete tests proved false (and) all the towers performed perfectly. And although Dec. 15 wasn't the (initally) re-scheduled (opening day of) Dec. 14, who can fault management for delaying the opening one day due to the huge storms and heavy snow loads over the past week?
So congratulations to all the Whistler Blackcomb employees that worked a lot of overtime to provide us with this great lift.
Thank you also for the heated seats, windshield washers on the front and rear windows, and streaming stereo music.
But most of all, thank you for delivering on the rumour of a self-serve espresso machine on every gondola.
Beats the heck out of the Whistler gondolas.
Dave Milligan
Whistler
I'll be back when mayor is gone
I work in the oil and gas industry and I will not ski at Whistler until the mayor who wants compensation for climate change is out of office.
I would much rather ski at Mt. Baker when I am in that part of the world.
Nor will I stop in Whistler if my motorcycle trip takes me through there next summer.
A town that (acclaimed) ... Jack Crompton does not deserve my money and will not get it.
Walter Loeppky
Calgary
Wasteful CO2 emissions
Whistler could easily eliminate a lot of CO2 emissions simply by forcing shops along Village Stroll to close their doors.
We can't continue to waste resources as a society simply to increase foot traffic.
I am willing to bet that close to 100 per cent of the heat generated in the shops comes from natural gas. How can such an environmentally focused municipality be so wasteful?
We must, must start taking the issue of climate change seriously.
This is a very simple and easy step to help reduce our impact.
Colin Green
Squamish
Sandy Boyd and snowmaking
It was very interesting to watch Whistler Blackcomb (WB), Cypress and Grouse (mountains) get open on schedule this season, primarily depending on snowmaking, and to then read the news of the passing of Sandy Boyd.
Sandy brought snowmaking to Whistler at a time when there had been a couple of low-snow seasons in the late '70s and early '80s, but the prevailing wisdom of the day was that snowmaking (near) the coast could never work as it was too warm and too wet.
Sandy had been the western sales rep for Snow Machines Inc. (SMI) and was sure that this could work at Whistler. A very preliminary study of weather records confirmed that were enough hours below -2 C, and that this should be feasible.
Sandy convinced Jim VanderKelen of SMI to lend us two snow machines (with) the promise that (should they be) shown to be worthwhile we would buy them in the spring.
Whistler was scheduled to host the World Cup downhill in the spring of 1984 and it was decided to try the guns in the finish area, right above Dusty's.
A supporter of ski racing was in charge of the utilities for the RMOW and agreed that a fire hydrant should be installed on the existing water line that fed the Creekside for "increased fire protection," and that became the water source.
The photos taken at race time show bare dirt outside the finish corral and white snow inside—we bought those two guns, the first of many SMI machines on WB, Cypress and Grouse.
The system expanded significantly over time, with the biggest boost being the installation done for the 2010 Olympics that provided basic infrastructure allowing WB and Cypress to continue to expand snowmaking.
The knowledge and enthusiasm that Sandy passed down through myself, and then on to many of the snowmakers, that made things work so well this fall is something that we should all acknowledge as we recognize the passing of a legend of snowmaking.
Rod MacLeod
Squamish
Climate-action letter a mistake
As a citizen gravely concerned about carbon pollution and its impacts on climate, I'm disappointed in our council's decision to send its misplaced (climate-action) letter.
Oil and gas companies have met the demand of consumers—which includes the citizens and businesses of Whistler! I'm concerned our council is sending the wrong message with this letter and abrogating our collective responsibility. We should be focused on solutions to the root causes of CO2 emissions instead of eroding our credibility with petty politics; leave that to West Coast Environmental Law.
Council, please spend your energy on incentivizing alternatives to carbon pollution and lobbying for consumers to pay the real price of carbon pollution.
P.S. I don't think you're going to get any money from Shell.
Mac Lowry
Whistler
