Editor:
Peter Kvarnstrom’s “Support Canadian, lead by example” editorial is bang on and I thank him both for his comments and for producing one of the best regional weeklies in B.C.
Canadian journalism faces increasing pressure from digital competition largely from American media corporations capturing advertising revenues and controlling information flows. Gone are the days when we received our common news from a limited selection of media outlets operating under codes of journalistic integrity and stringent fact checking.
Today the internet is a swirling mass of good and bad information as complex algorithms direct your information flows, creating isolated information silos, making it more difficult to generate a national consensus. We need public support for Canadian media now more than ever!
Despite this, Canadians are rallying and purchasing Canadian and non-U.S. goods and services defying the Trump regimes’ bellicose threats against Canadian sovereignty. This is good, but we need to do much more!
The U.S. is no longer trustworthy.
Canada is not Charlie Brown, repeatedly trusting Lucy to hold the football steady only to pull it away at the last second. Our federal and provincial governments need to cooperate to re-direct our economy to serve domestic needs and significantly reduce our dependence on the American economy and work with other nations in Trump’s crosshairs.
Canada needs a Green New Deal to simultaneously address climate change and the economic imperative caused by U.S. threats against us. A Green New Deal will be a major transformation of our economy addressing the twin causes of inequality and climate change. By mobilizing our vast public resources, we can transition from an exploitative fossil fuel economy to one delivering dignified work and clean energy. A Green New Deal will create literally hundreds of thousands of well-paid jobs from coast to coast to coast.
Let’s go Canada!
Jef Keighley,
Garden Bay
