A recent letter writer, Max Kellerman, proposed this (rhetorical?) question in relation to coal deposits on Vancouver Island: “Would we not be better off to keep what we have right now and save it for future generations?”
His question raises this question: What principles will we use to decide which future generation will get to use these resources? Having studied this question, I have never found a useful set of principles to help us decide which period, now or future, is the optimal-use period.
If Kellerman has this information, I would appreciate his help by sharing it with us so we can all use the the principles to help us consider our options.
In the absence of a response to this reasonable request, we will have no option but to conclude Kellerman’s question is merely a tactic to delay the decision to approve the use of this resource at this time, with no real future use being expected nor would it be tolerated.
Kellerman’s tactic posing his seemingly reasonable suggestion is, in my opinion, basically dishonest. His question implies a acceptable future use when no future use would be acceptable to him.
I challenge Kellerman to produce his set of principles that will permit us to determine the appropriate-use period.
C. Richard Riopel
Dashwood