According to , if mining stopped, we would lose at least 11 per cent of the Yukon's income, possibly more. But that's only half of the economic picture. What does mining actually cost us? I doubt that the income is more than the total costs of ripping up and poisoning the environment, massive emissions of greenhouse gases and the bills that are leaving us all to pay for huge and ever-expanding clean-up costs, if remediation is even possible.
But these are not included in Keith Halliday's lop-sided analysis. We all know that our current population is really struggling to find housing, health care and teachers, so more miners moving here is the last thing we need. It would be better to encourage more tourism that celebrates our vast and naturally beautiful territory, but we can't have it both ways.
First we'd need to finish the massive clean-up work and eliminate those very ugly and very toxic scars on the landscape that are the real cost of mining. Peggy Land Whitehorse.
