Dear Editor,

There is something rotten in the province of Alberta. And, it is not just the beef or the tar sands. Stephen Harper is on the brink of giving Canadian sovereignty away.

With 39 per cent of the popular vote in the last federal election his Conservative party sees fit to sign a “free” trade treaty that would allow a foreign power to dictate terms of that agreement.

For example, apparently China wants to purchase a major oil company that extracts tar from Alberta. If Canada sees fit, as it should, to limit the extraction of such a hugely polluting substance, China could, according to this agreement, sue Canada for compensation. If BC is successful in stopping the pipeline across its sovereign lands, China will be able to sue BC for billions of dollars for “unfairly” limiting its “corporate privilege” of delivering its dirty oil to China.

I urge every Canadian to take a stand. Climate change is already destroying this planet. The atmosphere is becoming toxic, the oceans are too acidic, and our children and grand-children will inherit this worsening mess. Let your voices be heard. Write to Mr. Harper, your MP, your MLA and demand that this trade agreement be squashed.

Join those British Columbians who are willing to fight the pipeline expansions in our “Beautiful BC”.

And finally, make a personal pledge to re-examine your own consumption of oil-based products – not just gas for your vehicle(s), but all that cheap, non-essential junk, like the latest iphone, the latest flat screen TV, the latest toys for kids that come from dirty oil carried by pipelines and shipped halfway around the world on tankers that burn oil to power them.