Re: “Weaver backs Black’s refinery proposal,” Feb. 8.
There is a saying that goes: “If it sounds too good to be true, it is.” Well, the saying can also be written like this: “If it sounds too stupid to be true, it is.” As someone who has spent his life working in the area of climate-change science, the very last thing I am going to do is be an advocate for the fossil-fuel industry.
Anyone in the media business knows that a headline writer’s goal is to attract a potential reader to an article. So when a provocative headline says: “Weaver backs Black’s refinery proposal,” you can bet that heads will turn.
In this age of sound bites and 140-character tweets, too often the subtleties explored within the full article are overlooked. And that is precisely what is wrong with much of our political discourse in British Columbia. Issues are not black and white; they are nuanced shades of grey.
Let’s see what I actually said in the article: “Weaver doesn’t think it’s appropriate for an MLA to endorse or advocate for a specific project.”
I have provided a more extensive analysis in a 3,500-word piece on the topic here: andrewweavermla.ca/2014/02/09/ british-columbia-alberta-tar-sands
Andrew Weaver, MLA
Oak Bay-Gordon Head
