LNG export is like a high schooler planning to wind up working in a gas station. A noble job to be sure, but it seems more of a plan B to me. Is that the most interesting dream a government can come up with? Can’t we do better?
Here is an example of what we can shoot for, between Whistler-Blackcomb, the Sea to Sky Gondola and the three North Shore ski areas, there is a network of lifts that operates quite safely in many adverse weather conditions. If stretched end to end, it spans the Sea to Sky Corridor.
Gondolas can span impressive distances over nasty terrain in a way that far surpasses road or rail construction. Using gondolas equipped with comfortable seats, wifi and a bathroom, why not connect Vancouver international airport to downtown Vancouver via the Arbutus Corridor, then to North Vancouver following the Lions Gate Bridge, from there to Horseshoe Bay where you can either connect with the ferry to the island, the gondola to Gibson’s via Bowen Island or continue north to Mount Curry with stops in Lions Bay and every other community along the way where there is ridership interest?
New developments could be created in between to capitalize on real estate opportunities. Offering an earlybird family pass would pique resident interest and the ticket sales could be more reliable than snowfall.
A project like this would not only benefit locals and visitors on a daily basis but it outshines the Woodfibre LNG plan on job creation, tax payment, environmental protection, investment in the province or any other argument I have heard in favour of LNG. To satisfy the frackers, you could run the whole thing on natural gas and warm the cabins with excess heat from the combustion.
Who could possibly be against this idea? Oh right, maybe TransLink, the bus companies, the parking pirates, the gasoline companies.... Oh well, so much for that dream, I’m sure we can come up with a better one. In the meantime, fill-er up? Check the oil? Clean the windshield? Thanks for the tip, come again.
Rob Neaga
Squamish
