As I read the Dec. 18 news article about the looming dike issues in Matsqui, I can’t help but shake my head in disbelief.
This very paper recently did an article outlining the huge economic impact agriculture has on the City of Abbotsford.
Yet the city, provincial and federal governments continue to squabble over who needs to pay to fix a worsening problem.
As a Matsqui dairy farmer, I have been to numerous diking and drainage meetings and have personally raised the issue along with many other local farmers and residents over last five years.
Five years ago, it was a million dollars to line the river bank. Today it’s three to four million and yet we still do nothing but squabble and point fingers.
It seems a small amount compared to what would be paid out from the disaster relief fund if we flooded – a couple billion possibly?
Not to mention possible human lives and thousands of cattle pigs and chickens lost, and thousands of acres of crops and berries decimated.
For a city whose slogan is “city in the country,” perhaps finding the funding in our own pocket would be prudent protection of one of the largest economic engines in this great city.
Steve van der Loos, Van Der Loos Farms