Re: “Here’s what the draft municipal 2023 budget would mean for Squamish” [Published Dec. 1]
This is a budget weighed down by the costs of the climate emergency.
The largest single item in the budget — $11.6 million for a sea dike to protect downtown from flooding — is a direct cost of climate adaptation.
These costs are going to rise and rise, unless we get off fossil fuels in a big hurry.
But we’re not doing that. Across B.C., we are still expanding fossil fuel infrastructure - like the FortisBC and Woodfibre LNG projects in Squamish.
And despite industry talking points about the wonderful jobs and revenue they will bring, we actually see in the budget their immediate costs too: almost half a million dollars for extra policing.
This is why communities across B.C. are teaming up to Sue Big Oil. [suebigoil.ca] Climate costs are rising like the floodwaters around us: the corporations riding a tide of oily profits should pay their share of the bill.
Avi Lewis
Xwilkay/Halfmoon Bay
