Dear Editor:
How appropriate is it for a company to hire PR firms, such as Hill + Knowlton and National Public Relations, to lobby the federal government all the way up into the Prime Minister’s Office? How appropriate is this when this company has the Canadian Environmental Assessment Office indirectly assessing its application? How appropriate is it to lobby the Canadian Environmental Assessment Office at the time when your proposal is under review? What does your intuition tell you?
Right, it is not, but that is exactly what Woodfibre LNG is able to do, and not a peep is coming from anyone in our governments about this. Woodfibre LNG does not appear in the BC lobbyist registry, but of course that doesn’t mean anything in Christy Clark’s government, notorious for not keeping records.
While we, as citizen groups, have a hard time to even set up an appointment with our local MP, hired lobbyist from PR firms and company representatives have no problem chatting up to elected officials: Christy Clark happily has a picture taken with Woodfibre LNG owner, Mr. Tanoto, while MLA Jason Sturdy has his table sponsored by Woodfibre LNG at last February’s BC Liberal fundraiser
We are now waiting for the environmental assessment of the Woodfibre LNG’s proposal, and its outcome is yet unclear. Will it include a risk assessment of the LNG tanker routes? We don’t know. We realize that there is too much at stake to be nonchalant about and that we cannot always rely on the governments to look after the interest of our region, our province, our country and our world. The decisions about to be made, if negative, will seriously change the character of Howe Sound.
People on Bowen Island have shown they care about this issue: more than 1,150 Bowen Island residents have signed the Howe Sound Declaration and the number is still growing. We will take this clear indication to our MLA and MP.
Join the Save Our Sound Flotilla on July 11 at 11am to cross the proposed LNG tanker route at 12 noon! We are asking for some of your time away from the Bowen’s Steamship Days but, like the organizers of Steamship Days, we want to celebrate the beauty of the place we live in and we like to keep it that way for the generations to come.
On behalf of Concerned Citizens Bowen,
Anton van Walraven
