Dear Editor: 

Fraser-Nicola MLA Harry Lali keeps blowing a gasket at the Legislature in Victoria about how raw log exports should cease and the logs should be milled here to create jobs for B.C. taxpayers. It would be appreciated if Harry Lali would do some research about previous NDP governments, listen to the facts, and stop his regular shoot-from-the-hip propaganda comments. I think Fraser-Nicola deserves much better from an MLA who is paid a yearly salary of $101,859. The B.C. NDP's Forest Practices Code, with more than 4,500 regulations contained in 252 sections, 19 regulations books, and 38 guide books, added at least $1 billion in costs to the forest industry for no public benefit, making the coastal industry the highest cost producer of timber in the world. Between 1991 and 2001, 39 mills closed because of the NDP provincial government, not the economy.  NDP Premier Glen Clark "ordered" the forest industry to create 21,000 new jobs over five years or lose timber-cutting rights; 13,000 jobs disappeared. References from Vote Smart B.C. 

Joe Sawchuk
Duncan, B.C.

Editor's note: Vote Smart B.C. was developed by the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association.