LETTERS TO THE EDITOR — `Miners-get-out’ attitude sending

I find it ironic that the cartoon in your July 26 issue would appear beside the two letters to the editor about “sustainable development fraud” and “Canada exporting engineers.” The cartoon implies that countries such as Chile are doing something extraordinary to lure Canadian investments, with juicy deals.

I would draw the cartoon showing a miner being tarred and feathered and run out of town rather than lured by a carrot at the end of a fishing line. For the battle-weary Canadian miner, it may now appear that a country which allows a natural resource company to exist at all is a special treat. Chile does not have onerous laws intended to stop mining at any cost; it is a country that welcomes basic, nation-building, resource industries. However, the cartoon shows this as being an intentional lure to business, which is not the real situation. As you and your letter-writers have been pointing out, “miners get out” is the cry from ungrateful countries which have been built on mining and other resource industries.

Chile appreciates the investments and employment which mining represents. North Americans seem to have lost sight of what has made them such powerhouses in the world. Selling insurance, waiting on tables and making beds at tourist resorts do not allow a standard of living we have grown to expect. Real economy-building jobs come from natural resources and their refining and fabrication into finished products.

In the meantime, Chile has carrots for those willing to risk capital, just as North America once had incentives up north. Welcome to Chile! Daniel Stringham

Placer Dome Sud America

Santiago, Chile