EDITORIAL Sacrificing development for river rafters

It is hard to tell how many people pay for the opportunity to raft down the Tatshenshini River each year. It could be in the hundreds, and there may well be a large number of Canadians among them. For those who can afford it, regardless of their nationality, the ride must be an exhilarating one through the wilds of northwestern British Columbia. If you’ve done it once, it seems, the urge to do it again is irresistible.

How else can one explain the excessive demands by a privileged few to prevent development of the Windy Craggy mineral deposit in such an isolated area. It is perfectly understandable why the dozens of river rafters who spend a few days of vacation “roughing it” make such efforts to prevent others from using the area; they want a nice, untouched area of wilderness all to themselves.

A group called Tatshenshini Wild recently organized a presentation in Toronto in what it calls an effort “to protect the Tatshenshini wilderness by establishing the world’s largest park.” But some of the concerns expressed by river rafters are simply elitist. For example, the rafters don’t want a bridge put across the Tatshenshini because it will spoil the view as they float down the river.

In other words, for the sake of a handful of dilettante mountaineers, Tatshenshini Wild is demanding the sacrifice of a project that could create jobs and wealth for a multitude of employees, shareholders and the province of British Columbia.

There are obvious concerns about the Windy Craggy project’s impact on the environment, but emotional, extreme demands from either those who favor development or those who oppose it will not bring a resolution for the benefit of all Canadians any closer.

We believe those concerns can best be met with a reasoned, scientific approach to determine what the potential damage is and how to minimize it without depriving the rest of the population of the wealth that lies within the ground.