Dear Editor,
In reading a recent letter to this paper (“Who can we trust to provide reliable information,” Walkerton Herald-Times, Oct. 3) Sheilah Whytock provided her expert opinion on who to trust in voting in the upcoming nuclear waste referendum. After reading it I get the impression that it would be somewhat foolish for South Bruce residents to cast a vote based on the opinion of anyone other than an authority on the matter, those who spent their careers studying geology, nuclear energy and mining and have been peer-reviewed in their findings.
She strongly asserts we need to seriously ask ourselves if “activism is a form of expertise and if activists should be telling our community members how to vote.” She says there are those out there who claim to be experts based on their lifelong experience as anti-nuke activists, strongly suggesting their opinions are likely biased or unreliable.
“With such an important decision looming in South Bruce, it is imperative we as residents must form our own opinion and vote accordingly. In doing so it’s important that we should check our biases and look at all the reliable information from certified experts in the fields that are relevant to the project,” she wrote.
All of which I fully agree with, but still have to ask: If those so-called “experts in their fields” she points to, include those who are lifelong workers in the nuclear industry? And who writes a letter presenting themselves as experts on how to vote?
Maybe. just maybe, there might be a hint of bias in such a letter. But full disclosure. I am no expert on such matters. However, I do consider myself somewhat of an activist who takes any outside opinions with a grain of salt and considers the source.
David Wood, Mildmay
