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CN certainly not a good neighbour in Prince Rupert

To those of us who feel shut out by the closing of the waterfront by CN, I suppose we should take comfort in the editorial (Oct. 10, 2012).

Editor:

Re: Waterfront access closed

To those of us who feel shut out by the closing of the waterfront by CN, I suppose we should take comfort in the editorial offered by Shaun Thomas (Oct. 10, 2012).

However, seeing CN as a good neighbour offers us cold

comfort. Like we are to supposed to be thankful to this “good neighbour” CN for graciously allowing us access to our waterfront for as long as we had it!

Seriously, it’s hard to see CN as a good neighbour. Rather, is this not a corporate entity that uses a land resource for sake of its shareholders, and puts profits ahead of

people?

(And please, let’s not buy into the convenient ‘safety and liability’ argument. Any area can be made safe where there is a willingness to do so.)

Apart from a few jobs, just what has CN actually done for the people of this city?

It also needs to be asked just how far the rights of “ownership” exceed the rights of citizens to a decent quality of life. I think that Rupertites should not roll over on this issue.

This is a quality of life issue for a city that already has a number of distinct disadvantages.

If we want to see families move into our city then there needs to be incentives for them to do

so.

Keith Gaetz