by Meghan Hildebrand
Hello on a beautiful day,
The Powell River Water Watch Coalition formed to advocate for a publicly controlled wastewater treatment facility for our community. Our City has signed an “Agreement in Principle” to pay the mill (a lot of $$) to treat our waste. It seems there may be some “free money” from the province to pursue this, but I don’t believe this is “free money” that we can afford.
The project will be extremely rushed with no room for mistakes, and we are getting into bed with a company with a very uncertain future. Read more at our website:
http://prwaterwatch.wordpress.com/
If this is something that concerns you, please sign the online petition and attend meetings as they arise.
by Eva van Loon
The protest petition was wildly successful, garnering more than 150% of the required signatures to take it to the next level.
Vanderzalm’s Fight HST group couldn’t prevent the imposition of the so called Harmonised Sales Tax July 1, but they have every intention of forcing the government to deal with the effects of the petition. For example, two dozen MLAs, from the ridings where the greatest proportions of signatures were gathered, have been listed as potential targets for recall in November. That should light a fire under a few political rumps. Read more »
By Mark Brown, Vancouver BC
To force anyone to retract statements of opinion is a serious abuse of power. This abuse, having closed door meetings, refusing an elected official entry into said meeting and not having any elected officials at this newly elected councillor’s swearing-in ceremony is a clear indication of a council that is not transparent or open. I agree with councilor Aldworth’s letter, “Welcome to City Council” and like to add that I am one of those who have said things regarding all levels of government in the “cut and thrust of political debate.”
Win Brown is my father ( I dare not state how I feel about his original online statement for, I too, cannot afford to fight a lawsuit) and I am appalled at the actions of this council. To bully a retiree on fixed income for doing his civic duty by trying to holding politicians accountable is sad. Voting is not the only way to express one’s opinion on the actions of politicians. Writing letters and holding marches and rallies are a few other actions at our disposal.
Would this council sue those involved in such actions because they may shed a little negative light on the goings-on in Powell River? I hope this abuse is made a huge election topic and the councillors responsible for these threats of lawsuits are voted out. I for one will not retract this statement, for this is my opinion and I am entitled to it.
by Bill Vander Zalm
Our campaign to defeat the HST has exploded across the province. It has become a massive people’s movement that is reaching beyond the Initiative Petition to repeal the Hated Sales Tax, into a popular uprising to reclaim democracy.
Over capacity crowds filled every town hall room we attended. Kamloops: 240 + people. Vernon, 300+. Kelowna 250+ (even with the Rockets’ playoff game on the same night). Penticton: 510+ on a Sunday morning. Osoyoos 250 people! Trail: 160. Cranbrook: 300+. In some places, like Revelstoke, we had virtually no advertising, not even an organizer in place for the meetings – and yet people came in droves to fill the hall. Read more »
I am sure that we are all capable of picking up a bag of litter a week in our neighborhoods. There have been studies done that show that the cleaner an environment the less likely there is to be a high crime rate. Living in a community we are all so proud of has the ability to be cleaner. The highway is one thing with the trucks going to the Dump from Savory or Lund and garbage flying off the truck. The streets downtown could use a few bending over citizens to pick up. In a city where the streets are clean, it’s more likely that the tourists will leave it that way. It’s so beautiful here in Paradise we owe it to the environment to keep tidying as we go. Read more »