Dealing With An Effect By Ignoring The Cause Of The Effect Doesn’t Work
Almanac Programme on GVRD/Lower Mainland Growth
Mr. M. Forsyth
Host, Almanac
CBC Radio
Vancouver, B.C.
Mr. Forsyth:
On Wednesday, I heard that Almanac was going to devote an hour to
consideration of two recent reports on growth.
Here are two points I would have made:
(1) In my humble opinion, the people behind the “Smart-Growth” movement won’t win awards for courage. As some of your listeners probably pointed out, in a finite world the notion of infinite growth is an oxymoron. I would go a step further and say that the idea that the GVRD/Lower Mainland can sustain infinite growth is senseless. The people who advocate this idea are the growth managers, the planners, politicians and others who don’t have the courage to stand up and say,”No, we’ve had enough.”
(2) Statistics Canada figures clearly show that the biggest factor in the growth of the Greater Vancouver Regional District is immigration. (Do some basic investigation and you will see.) Did you make that connection during the programme? Did you or anyone else make the point that if controls are to be put on growth, then controls have to be put on immigration? I have one key question for you: “Have you ever tried to deal with an effect by ignoring the cause of the effect? “
These are some things for you to ponder.
