Letters to the Editor Jan. 18

Posted on January 18, 2023 by Taber Times

Concerns around assisted suicide in Alberta

Dear Editor,

Reflecting on the suicidal death of my 25-year-old sister on Jan. 4, 1989, I am very distressed by the government’s desire to open up assisted suicide to Canadians with mental illness in March 2023. My sister was an intelligent, caring woman, a nurse, who struggled with depression much more than I realized. Oh, the sadness that her death brought upon her family! Oh, that we would have known how better to support her! Oh, that she could have had the mental health support she needed! Oh, the grief and sorrow that continues in our hearts!

I believe that supporting those with mental illness means offering SUICIDE PREVENTION and SUPPORTIVE CARE for everyone. The wish to die is always a symptom of an unmet need. Our response should be to discover and to meet unmet needs of each individual, not to give in to the desire to die. Is this not what Loving our neighbour as ourselves (Matthew 22: 39) means? I believe that expanding assisted suicide encourages a culture of neglect for suffering, elderly, disabled, and other vulnerable people who may be struggling with mental illness, and devalues their lives. Please join me in supporting assistance to live rather than assistance to die. See CARENOTKILL.CA online. Call/email your MP.

Valerie Beukema,

Taber

Alberta behind in oil and gas revenues

Dear Editor,

While Dannielle Smith tries to bribe Albertans with $600, records prove that every man, woman, and child in Alaska has received $4,201 each in total from their oil wealth over the past three years, and $46,000 in total oil dividend cheques since 1982. This proves it “The Alaska Permanent Fund”. Those of us who had ties to the oil industry aren’t going to ignore the fact that Alberta produces twice as much oil and gas as the other two combined yet Norway has $1,19 trillion in their savings account, Alaska $75 billion in theirs and Alberta a pathetic $16.3 billion in ours, along with a $137 billion debt to pay, and a $260 billion Orphan Well mess to clean-up. All complements of these phony conservatives Reformers, supported by gullible Albertans believing every lie they feed them. This would never have happened under Peter Lougheed. To add to Smith’s stupidity, she claims it’s all Ottawa’s fault, they are stealing all our money, yet once again she is proven dead wrong and this proves it, “ For the first time in more than 50 years, Alberta has received more funds from Ottawa than it sent in taxes”. So who are you going to believe the lies these Reformers are spreading or the true facts that prove them wrong? Lawyers, accountants, oilmen and bankers in my world estimate that they have cheated Albertans out of $800 to $900 billion by cutting royalties and corporate taxes to benefit the rich and try to buy votes and the records prove it.

Alan K. Spiller,

Edmonton

Province needs further energy initiatives

Dear Editor,

Premier Smith and her Ministers are accusing Trudeau of wanting to end oil and gas jobs in Alberta. They neglect to mention that’s been happening for years due to automation, which EY Canada says could continue to remove another 30 per cent of jobs in oil and gas by 2030.

Nor does the premier or her crew talk about the likelihood that demand for our products will fall. As of Jan. 1, Hyundai no longer sells internal combustion vehicles in Norway; VW and Volvo are not far behind. Will that be the last country to fully embrace EVs?

In 2022, heat pumps outsold furnaces in the US, and the EU is moving ahead with plans to install 45 million heat pumps in residences alone by 2030; where is our natural gas demand going to come from in the coming years?

Wayne Gretzky said “Skate to where the puck is going.” We would do well in Alberta to heed his advice.

Roger Gagne,

Calgary

One response to “Letters to the Editor Jan. 18”

1. Fedup Conservative says:

   January 19, 2023 at 10:10 PM

   While Smith continues to prove how out of touch she is and whines about Trudeau’s intelligent plan to create jobs as the oil industry gradually shuts down oil executives tell us they fully support it, leaving Smith with egg all over her face. When the oil industry crashed in 2014 and they were forced to lay off employees the oil industry paid tuition fees at NAIT for unemployed employees to learn to build solar panels. In addition oil executives have indicated that the 2050 emission limits established by Trudeau and a lot of the rest of the world is reachable by using a lot more green energy, yet these reformers feed their gullible supporters the lie that Ottawa is trying to shut down our oil industry. Why would they be trying to shut it down when they were the ones who bought the pipeline to save it and it brings Ottawa billions of dollars in federal taxes. Smith is a joke and I don’t know anyone who supports her.

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