An 87 year-old former librarian, and Bowen Island resident Alejandro Frid (see opposing page) count themselves among the more than 100 citizens arrested for protesting against Kinder Morgan’s drilling on Burnaby Mountain.
Burnaby’s Mayor, Derek Corrigan, has told protestors not to risk arrest. This time, he says, the government’s got their back and will fight this battle out in the courts.
Of course the protestors will go ahead and risk arrest anyhow – as they should.
On the heels of an election I see democracy at work in Burnaby, where a majority of citizens share the same goals as their elected leaders, each working in different ways to achieve it.
I was particularly impressed by a letter written by Corrigan to residents of two Burnaby neighbourhoods clarifying the reason why the City of Burnaby is opposed to the Kinder Morgan project. If you haven’t read it yet, I would recommend looking it up (it’s under News & Media on the City of Burnaby’s website). It is well researched, clearly written and proves that the mayor really is willing to stand up for citizens. He knows that his job is to protect the “public interest” – two words I don’t often hear being spoken by elected officials. And if a livable climate for future generations sounds too wishy-washy to be a credible point of opposition for you, in his letter, Corrigan lays out a long list of other reasons why the Trans Mountain project doesn’t make sense. For example, there are no jobs, even short term ones, promised to local workers. Trans Mountain’s claim to have been operating in the community safely since 1953, says Corrigan, is a lie if you count the spill of 1,572 barrels of crude oil in from the pipeline in 2007. And as for the company’s committment to fully restore any areas disturbed by their work?
“This is not possible,” writes Corrigan. “The damage done as a result of Kinder Morgan’s initial survey work has had far-reaching damaging effects on the Mountain.”
These are just a few examples put forward in the letter.
So in my mind, we can look to our neighbours in Burnaby for an example of strong leadership. Even if we’re planning on heading over there ourselves.
