Many years ago, I learned how to fly fish while drifting down the Cowichan River.

I was struck by the beauty and how pristine and delicate the water and all it supported felt. It was as if a talented cinematographer had manipulated the light and colours with filters and shadows to produce images pleasing to the human eye.

The trout we caught and carefully released that day were equally stunning, and the thought of them living in the cool water shadowed by overhanging bushes was pure magic. I will always remember it.

Now, reports of possible leaching pollution from a nearby illegal dump site are in the news. That delicate little river is in danger. It is a big job to clean up that site, and so far, local First Nations and various levels of government are trying to figure out who has the will and the money to fix the problem.

There is, however, another smaller threat to the Cowichan that could be easily fixed. Ban the summer activity of tubing down the river.

This practice isn’t just a few local kids cooling off by scrounging some old tractor tubes and doing what kids should be doing. These days it’s a well-organized tourist activity with shuttle buses and tube rentals.

Yahoos by the hundreds show up slathered in toxic sunscreen to imbibe and cruise through nature while leaving behind more than just dollars. Most are drinking and smoking.

The bottom of the river ends up covered with battery-powered vapes, cigarette butts, drink cans, plastic sunglasses and the occasional cellphone. I’ve seen the videos made by those who clean it up. It’s sickening to watch and just another example of how much humans put their own pleasures ahead of the health of nature.

I’ve been guilty of it myself.

C. Scott Stofer

Gabriola Island

Re: “Carney offers 20th-century responses to 21st-century challenges,” column, Nov. 16.

It is with great sadness that I agree with Trevor Hancock’s assessment of the recent federal budget put forward by Prime Minister Mark Carney.

I would like to add that it is also a military budget that is fuelling war instead of a budget to work toward and promote peace. Promoting war to resolve differences is the coward’s way out. Working for peace takes courage.

Working hard for peace certainly doesn’t provide the kind of mega financial profits war offers to the warmongers and the manufacturers of the weapons of death.

We are in the 21st century, but the minds of our leaders are firmly in the neo-liberal economic mindset of the 20th century. Canadians voted for an economist and a banker, so I guess we can’t expect anything much different.

A nation-building budget? I think not.

Lorna Hillman

Victoria

Re: “Reroute the highway around ­Goldstream Park,” Nov. 14.

The Trans-Canada Highway runs through the park, sharing the narrow gorge with a salmon-bearing stream.

One stretch particularly has the road narrowed to a single lane each way, causing traffic slowdowns and stoppages. Widening this section to four lanes, as proposed, would require extensive rock removal and likely impact the creek.

Removing traffic from the park entirely, allowing only visitors, involves finding an alternative route. This is the........

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