LETTER – Trans Mountain pipeline workers could bring COVID-19
(Image: Trans Mountain)
An open letter to Premier John Horgan and Health Minister Adrian Dix:
I draw your urgent attention to the KTW article detailing Kamloops Coun. Denis Walsh’s very legitimate and credible concern for the health and lives of Kamloops area residents with the imminent planned influx of transient workers into Kamloops for construction of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion under the Thompson River.
Dix mistakenly downplayed Walsh’s concerns on a CBC radio interview, saying physical-distancing and other measures will be enforced at workers’ camps.
What Dix fails to realize is there are no worker camps planned for the Kamloops pipeline work — which is scheduled to begin in June — and that possibly hundreds of transient workers, many of whom could be exposed to COVID-19 in their place of origin or during travels, will be finding hotels or other housing and living within the City of Kamloops.
Please take into account there is a huge spike in COVID-19 cases in Alberta at this very moment, from where we can assume many workers will be coming.
This is an absolutely critical moment in the efforts to stop movement of the pandemic into our community and you need to act now to protect Kamloops residents. Failure to do so will undoubtedly introduce great COVID-19 exposure to Kamloops residents, possibly turning it into an epicentre and causing greater illness — or even death.
When any of these consequences start to unfold, you will have liability for not delivering on your duty of care and will be held accountable.
That’s a promise.
JOHN McNAMER
Kamloops
John McNamer, a name long in the memory of locals, throwing his towel into Dennis Walsh’s ring, still stuck on blocking the Natural Gas Pipeline, what, I ask, would he have us heat our homes with?
Beverley Campbell, a name for someone we will remember as not knowing what she is talking about. Trans Mountain pipeline is not a natural gas pipeline. It is carrying diluted bitumen (heavy oil) from Alberta to Burrard Inlet in Burnaby. There it will be loaded onto oil takers and taken to China or somewhere else in Asia if any of them want to buy it. It is not for our use.