Letter: Desirability of outcome, not quality of construction, is the important issue

By Letter to the Editor on January 8, 2022.

Dear editor,

In response to a Jan. 6 letter to the editor written by John MacLaren

Mr. MacLaren extols the supposedly high quality of construction of the pipeline as justification for its existence. This pipeline, of course, is the one Canada owns, it having been purchased in 2019 by Mr. Trudeau and his Liberal government. If high-quality construction is the measure of the value of something then will Mr. MacLaren hereafter be a staunch supporter of Mr. Trudeau and the Liberals for having purchased it on our behalf?

Certainly, an unbroken pipeline is most desirous, but the issue is not supposedly high-quality construction. The issue is that our planet and our environment can not afford to use what flows through the pipeline. It is noteworthy that the pipeline stood the test of extreme weather caused, in significant part, by our use of what flows through it, but the point is that it is desirability of outcome, and not quality of construction which is the important issue.

For example, suppose I hire a crew of professional house painters to apply, free to Mr. MacLaren, the highest quality paint job on the exterior of his house. They will be well trained and experienced. They will do complete and comprehensive surface preparation and will apply one primer coat and two finish coats of the highest quality paint. The walls will be neon pink, except the lowest four boards which will alternate red and white. The doors will be brilliant orange and all door and window casings will be fluorescent yellow. The eavestrough, downspouts and fascia will be electric mauve. Mr. MacLaren will have received the highest quality paint job money can buy. Will it be desirable? I’d bet that even the “anti-pipeliners and the David Suzuki types” would not like it.

Perhaps in coming years, as our use of what flows in the pipeline continues, the intense weather events caused by that use will stress the pipeline beyond its strength. Hopefully not.

Gregory R. Cote

Irvine

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