Dear Editor,

I find it extremely ironic that our Member of Parliament, Mark Warawa, would have been giving away free native trees outside of Home Depot in Langley this weekend as part of Canadian Environment Week, considering the Conservative government's position on the building of pipelines to transport crude oil from the Alberta tar sands to the Great Bear Rainforest.

The Great Bear is the world's largest intact coastal rainforest in the world, habitat to thousands of native plant and animals species.

Some of those species, such as the Spirit Bear, can be found nowhere else in the world.

Countless species of migratory birds, whales, and other sea mammals rely on those pristine waterways to get to and from their feeding and breeding grounds every year.

If the proposed plan to build a pipeline is allowed, oil tankers, for the first time ever, would traverse the pristine waterways of the Great Bear Rain Forest and its shores, loaded with dirty tar sands crude, destined for Asia.

This would put at risk all native plant and animal species and undermine and jeopardize the conservation efforts and gains that have been made.

It is not "if an accident or spill" would occur in these waters, with these super tankers, but "when."

Think of an Exxon Valdez-type of disaster multiplied by 10.

A spill of the magnitude of the Exxon Valdez's would have unimaginable consequences for our coastal forests, our waterways, our communities and our economy.

Giving away free native trees to British Colombians is preaching to the choir, and is, frankly extremely insulting.

I strongly urge our government to have the foresight and ingenuity to move forward with a plan that will move B.C. and Canada into a green, sustainable future, and protect and cherish what we still have.

Say "No" to the Enbridge Northern Gateway proposal and to supertankers on our coast.

Sandy Kohlman, Langley