After reading this piece in the Burnaby Now, where Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan talks about his recent taxpayer-funded trip to Sweden to look at incinerators, I just had to send in a response. Our letter to the editor:

Dear Editor,

Re: “Burnaby mayor back from whirlwind tour of waste-energy facilities in Sweden”

Derek Corrigan’s trip to Sweden is just another example of how Metro Vancouver is throwing our tax dollars away to push through this incinerator that no one wants.

I guess the point was for him to learn more about this technology he’s trying to force on taxpayers, but it sounds like he didn’t learn his lessons.

In the article, he admits that they have lower recycling rates in Sweden because of incineration, and that the European Parliament is questioning continued investment in incinerators. So why does he want to build another one here BC?

Shouldn’t we be focused on recycling more, not less?

He spent our tax dollars getting there and yet says that there was no time to see anything, spending his whole time in meetings and lectures. Ever heard of a telephone? Skype?

Must have been a nice vacation.

Corrigan says he’s seeking limited dependence on incineration here in BC, and that we don’t really need the energy this proposed facility would produce. So why are we building a new one? We already have one that is underused.

He also learned that in Sweden they get a cut of your personal income tax at the municipal level. Is that his plan to pay for his $500 million incinerator?

His waste plan is a waste of your money.

Jordan Bateman
B.C. Director
Canadian Taxpayers Federation