LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
- October 14, 2008
To The Editor;
First I need to apologize to our local Area H, RDOS, APC. In a previous article I said, "...no single elected official can effectively represent this large and diverse area without an active APC. This has not been the case in Area H. Over the years this APC process has been at best an on again, off again practice."
I should have made clear, that in 2008 the APC has been active and has met on numerous occasions, and also that the council is made up of unpaid volunteers, and that I am appreciative of their efforts. I should have been more specific and referred to previous councils. For example, the RDOS record shows only two meetings in 2007, and in prior years no meetings were recorded.
In any case, what I was suggesting is that the APC and similar forums be involved beyond their present role and consider more than land applications and variances. My concern is that many important Area H decisions are made without community consultation.
As a case in point, in last weeks paper, Director Logan said she met and presented a brief to Environment Minister Penner to inform the Province of the potential risks of coal bed methane (CBM). She said she outlined the many concerns that our community has about CBM and then told the Minister; "Should you decide to permit the exploration of methane in our communities we believe that the following should be, at minimum, considered due diligence." She then listed the minimum requirements.
Director Logan asked Mayor McLean to add his name to her brief and was surprised that the Mayor would not, stating that "council did not agree with what I was asking and did not want any CBM drilling in the area at all."
SOS is a local organization with broad based community support. SOS has, over the past year, conducted extensive research into CBM, arranged numerous community forums, brought in many specialists, conducted extensive water well testing, put in thousands of volunteer hours and has worked on strategies with other provincial organizations to effectively lobby the province for a drilling moratorium. In all of the strategies considered none involved giving the Province a list of requirements that would allow them to begin drilling for CBM.
I suspect that the reason the Mayor would not sign that document is that he and council members have met, on more than one occasion, with both SOS and the proponent, as well as other community members and realized that providing a list of minimum requirements is in fact capitulation.
Why, I wonder, would that brief be presented when the town refused to endorse it and without any consultation with the group that has worked so hard and in fact is the reason that Petrobank is not at this moment already drilling!
Director Logan ended her article with "I will keep you advised and up to date on any development." Rather than being advised on developments, I believe the community would be better served by being included in the discussions and in fact directing those developments, which brings me back to my original premise, that no one single person should make decisions for the entire area. Had prior consultation with the community taken place some of the inaccuracies and omissions Director Logan reported might have been avoided and we would not now be working at cross purposes.
- Brad Hope, Princeton
Dear Editor;
The Princeton Attainable Housing Society would very much like to thank the Princeton District Teachers' Union, members of Living Water Foursquare Church and everyone else who came out to support the October 4th demonstration about the need for safe and attainable "Homes For All" in Princeton, as well as everywhere else in BC.
The BC Teachers Union Federation has encouraged their members to support the "Homes For All" demonstrations throughout BC because the teachers are the ones witnessing and dealing with children who are coming to school with no breakfast and no lunches because their parents have spent the food money on putting a roof over their heads.
We also very much appreciate the generous donations from Overwaitea and Irly Bird to make it possible for us to offer hamburgers, hot dogs and drinks to everyone who came out.
Princeton's homeless are not visible as the ones in big cities are because they are not sleeping on the streets and in the alleys but they are here nonetheless. They are sleeping in places that are not safe or heated; we have heard about, storage sheds, campers, tents and on other people's couches because there is no place to be found for them that is safe or a price they can afford.
We hope everyone who believes that everyone deserves a safe home will join Princeton Attainable Housing Society to help us find a viable, win/win solution to our local situation of homelessness. Call (250) 295-4464 for more information. We also hope to see you at our monthly "Homes For All" demonstrations at the cenotaph - please call the above number for the dates. Princeton performing Arts Society will be entertaining at one of these demonstrations very soon.
Again, a very heartfelt thank you to everyone (approximately 60 to 75 people) who came out.
- Sylvia Bailey, President
Princeton Attainable Housing Society
To The Editor;
The Canadian public have been subjected to a needless and very expensive election, thanks to a Prime Minister who could not have his own way 100%.
Thank goodness he could not.
Stephen Harper's for right thinking and style of economics, pander entirely to the corporate elite and are unable to think forward to a new low carbon economy.
A Carbon Tax is not something to fear or dismiss as something that can't work. For an example of just how well it can work we can look to Norway, they have had a carbon tax since 1992. The economy is very strong and unemployment is low.
The BC Carbon Tax may have been hastily implemented, and need some refining but it is a step in the right direction, in a world that needs action urgently.
- Jim Hodge, Princeton
To The Editor;
I'm writing this to put in a word for our representative in Parliament, Alex Atamanenko.
When I first met Alex I was almost intimidated. He exuded intelligence and I thought that anything I might say to him would come out almost incoherent. But I was very wrong. He seemed to understand everything I said and turned out to be a very good listener.
I introduced him to several people in town and noticed that he listened more than he talked. Alex has covered his riding from the Slocan to Manning Park and has participated in community forums, fought with us against the coal-fired plant, informed us about the very secretive Security and Prosperity Partnership being hatched by the Conservative and Bush governments, held a Shine A Light On Poverty Forum, comes to our Mother's Day Peace Walks, and generally is very visible. He was doing all this while he was our MP, not just while he was campaigning. I don't consider Alex a politician, he is our representative and he does it well. It would be a travesty to lose him now.
A lot of us were very impressed with Elizabeth May's intelligence in the debates but in our area a vote for the Greens won't help her to get in one whit. And the Liberals have never made a foothold in this riding and their candidate has almost no chance of getting in here. It's traditionally been a race between the Conservatives and the New Democrats. I don't believe it's fear-mongering when I say I personally am afraid of Steven Harper and his Conservatives.
There has always been a push by his party for deep integration with the American government. He follows lock-step with Bush's policies, which are taking Reaganomics to new lows. We hear the mantra of "smaller government" and are told that's what we want. What that means is that government is letting go of the reins. We are left open to being sued by private companies. The Canadian government got sued when it tried to protect its citizens from getting an additive in their gasoline that was known to be harmful. But it was cutting into the profits of private business and they could sue for that.
Canada Post was sued by a private courier company for cutting into their profits. And often these are not real profits but projected ones! The governments of the US and Canada (and BC for that matter) can't wait to offload their responsibilities.
Some of the direct results of government neglect appeared when babies were getting sick from imported toxic toys. Doesn't anyone inspect imported goods anymore? Now we have 20 people who have died of Listeriosis because the food inspectors have been dumped. Having the power to make companies behave in an ethical manner is now considered
'government interference'.
If I were Steven Harper's elementary teacher during the debates I would have told him to wipe that smirk off his face. Why do politicians smile when they're under fire for bad policies?
Out of five political parties, he stands alone when he says we should "stay the course". I don't think so.
- Donna Stocker, Cawston
