I recently received in the mail your letter to the residents of Sooke telling us all about our infrastructure grant application for town sewers.

Perhaps in your meeting with Mayor Macgregor and the Chamber of Commerce you somehow came away with the impression that the people of Sooke (cantankerous and dim-witted crowd that we are) were raising some objection to the current sewer proposal. And possibly you reasoned that if someone as prestigious and knowledgable as an Honourable MP were to write and explain to us what was going on in our own community we would quickly come to our senses.

1. "this sewer system is required in order to keep residents in Sooke from having to purchase their own personal septic systems." In fact, the residents of Sooke already have their own personal septic systems. The arena, several schools and the social services building all have state of the art waste disposal systems (paid for by taxpayers). The sizable expense (estimated at from $5,000 to $20,000 per household) will come from having to dismantle these existing systems and hook up to the sewers.
2. "a community sewer system would ... assist in the prevention of further pollution of Sooke Harbour ... (which) will benefit the tourism industry." In fact, the current plant is to discharge the effluent into the Straits of Juan de Fuca — not too far from the entrance to the Sooke Harbour. The straits are home to much of our fishing, whale watching, sailing, kayaking and wind surfing tourism industries as well as having bed and breakfasts, resorts and hiking trails on the shores. This effluent, even if treated, will be awash with endocrine disrupting chemicals, heavy metals, viruses and bacteria, among others. This hardly qualifies as "protecting our environment," one of your stated "infrastructure Canada goals."
3. "the new system would allow for more business to operate in the community." In fact, Sooke can barely support the businesses we now have if one can judge by the rate at which businesses come and go here. What the business community needs is not sewers as much as a broader vision and respect for the diverse town folk that it both employs and serves.