Dear Editor,

There was a time not so long ago that Canada was the envy of the world: we had natural resources, a highly educated people; we built things the rest of the world were in awe of.

Those were the days that Canada had a government that believed in Canada and Canadians. They built things like the Avro Arrow – a time when the whole aviation world’s eyes were on Canada.

The, Arrow was designed and built specifically for Canadian military requirements, and was the most advanced aircraft in the world. As such, the Arrow didn’t have a lot of buyers, but with Canada’s proven expertise in the aircraft industry, Canada should have been a leader in aircraft and aerospace design today.

Unfortunately, Canada elected a Conservative government under John Diefenbaker that did not believe in Canadian ingenuity and our place in the world, and canceled both the Avro Arrow and the Iroquois engine program.

The tragedy for Canadians was that, though we demonstrated phenomenal success, we were never able to reap the benefits, thanks to a Conservative government. So instead of a boom in the aerospace industry, Canada suffered the biggest brain drain in its histor, with 50,000 highly skilled workers leaving the country – going to NASA and helping get them to the moon – going to Europe and designing the Concord jet…

Consequently, Canada’s aerospace and aircraft industry was set back decades, costing Canada multi-billions of dollars and thousands of high-paying jobs.

The sad conclusion to this debacle was that Canada ended up buying Bomarc-B missiles which were nothing more than giant paperweights, and because we were then totally dependent on America for our military aircraft, we ended up with F-101 Voodoos that not only cost more than the Arrow, but were inferior to it.

Sadly, this whole scenario is playing itself out again with, not surprisingly, another Conservative prime minister. Only this time it is with the whole scientific field.

Canada’s prime minister simply does not believe in science, and has chosen to fire scientists and cut back funding in every in field of science.

Scientists are the very people the world needs to find the answers to pull us out of this downward spiral mankind finds itself in.

What will Canada do after all the scientists have left for greener pastures? Do you really think they are just going to take jobs flipping hamburgers at MacDonald’s until Canada elects a sane government?

Canada’s government, instead of using the massive brain power this county is blessed with, and instead of being on the cutting edge of green technology, has thrown all its eggs in the dirty oil basket, to the detriment of every other job and occupation in Canada.

Canada’s government has decided to take Canada back to the dark ages.

Wayne Clark, Maple Ridge