LETTER: Deltaport the better choice

Vicki Huntington (Delta South MLA)  makes a great case for saving farmland, and I have no argument with her on that. In fact I support her on that and from the results of the recent municipal election there are many in the community who do.

However, one cannot make the argument that Prince Rupert Port is an alternative to Deltaport.

Had Huntington chosen Ridley Port she would have had a stronger argument from a nearly comparable option for her case, as Ridley Port,  the coal terminal, is nearly similar from a construction cost perspective.

It is constructed of rock fill very much like Point Roberts or Deltaport. However, Ridley Port like the Port of Prince Rupert suffers the same disadvantage of being isolated by road or train due to landslides and avalanches every winter which denies it being an all weather port.

This leads to the issue of farming land in Delta. The standard value of any land is the highest and best use or what use that the land can be put to to return the greatest benefit.

The land here in Delta is below the water table and when the tides are full the salt  seawater rises in the land which at best could be labelled brackish.

Brackish land is not known for being fertile land or as fertile as the land we farmed in Scotland. What makes Delta land desirable is the length of the growing season, which has great bearing on productivity.

Deltaport had to happen, has to happen, and is happening. With the native band settlement treaty, my question of course, why would we prevent or disparage the native usages of their tribal lands to store containers on, or build homes, or the highest and best use of their tribal lands which really are brackish less arable land.

Now, I may not win any elections for saying this. But is it not time for a little realism around here?

Arthur David Serry,

Delta