Get Over It - Build the Bridge

While looking over some old files I came across this item I'd written and sent in to one of the local newspapers back in 2000.

I don't believe it was ever published then, but I think it deserves to see the light of day - hope you enjoy it and I hope it brings some thought to the recent BC Ferry layoffs and business problems.

"Get Over It" (Don Henley - Eagles)
                        July 21, 2000 - Pitt Meadows

The past year or so has put the capper on my patience with the Federal and
Provincial governments in general and BC Ferries in particular.

The boondoggle of the "Fast Ferries", the planned expansion in Horshoe Bay,
the screwy schedule, the possiblity of a strike; all have driven me to
actively lobby for a bridge.

I propose that the catchphrase for this necessary endeavour should be:

    GET OVER IT

    Get over the Straight of Georgia
    Get over the cost
    Get over the lost union jobs
    Get over the impact on the intervening islands

    Get over it and JUST DO IT!

To those in the various levels of government that say "we can't afford the
cost" I say GET OVER IT; you put one to PEI and you fund crap like the Fast
Ferry projects, why not this? You schemed to put our provincial capital on
Vancouver Island when it was just fine in New Westminster so many years ago.
The Island has grown up and needs a fixed link - DO IT. Private industry
will do it for you if you simply get out of the way.

To the people on the various islands the bridge might touch on its passage
to the main island I say GET OVER IT; progress marches on. You'll have to
find some other place farther from the center to escape to. If you pay
enough, maybe we'll just touch the islands with supports and not put in
access ramps - then we'll get rid of the ferries altogether and you can live
in complete isollation.

To the people of Vancouver Island who don't want a bridge because it will
ruin their isolated existence I say GET OVER IT; your reliance on a
resource/government base for your existence is over - tourism and high tech
are what pay the bills now, and the tourists are not coming because of the
cost in both time and money - waiting for ferries and paying through the
nose.

To the people in BC Ferries who have nothing but their own self interest in
mind when planning for more and more ferries and bigger and bigger terminals
I say GET OVER IT; yes, you'll probably be out of a job when all is said and
done, but there will be lots of tourist jobs on the Island(s) and you can
always run the toll booth or something. In fact, it would be cheaper to
continue to pay you until you die than it is to continue to make
multi-hundred million dollar ferries that use 3 times the fuel of their
slightly slower bretheren.

To the people of BC and the rest of Canada (I know you're out there, I can
hear you complaining), it is time. It is time to treat BC's second major
population center at least in the manner that you have treated the much
smaller population of PEI. But even if PEI hadn't already been treated to a
bridge, there are more than enough compelling reasons to build one to
Vancouver Island - and do it as soon as possible.

I give you the catch-phrase free and clear (subject to Don Henley of
course), and I'll support the movement in whatever way I can.

        GET OVER IT - and DO IT

richard

ps - to the various governments and vested interest groups:
    Lead, follow, or get the hell out of the way - there are no other
    options.
   
    Those of us who foot the bills for your daliances are at
    the absolute breaking point. I note with some dismay that there is
    emerging a kind of patriotism and esprit-de-corps amongst the
    heretofore relatively quiet majority of people in Canada in general
    and BC in particular that is reaching a breaking point. The dismay
    is because I'm dismayed at the reasons for the change - internal
    strife as opposed to external.

    I and a number of others could very easily leave BC/Canada and move
    to greener fields South of the border. While many people in fact
    have done this, I feel that rather than escaping the problem I'd
    rather change things. I like BC. I like most of the people here. I
    like the weather and the opportunities. What I don't like is being
    treated to bannana-republic government by the province and active
    neglect by the feds. I'm sick and tired of it and I won't take it
    anymore - but I'm not leaving, I'm fighting back.