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Volume 60 No. 03
Sentinel
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Northern
www.northernsentinel.com
Tackling neutrality A motion which sought to emphasize the District of Kitimat’s resolve in protecting the community’s water supply got de-clawed from the original councillor’s wording. “This shows no guts,” said Phil Germuth, reacting to an amendment to his motion made by councillor Edwin Empinado. Germuth’s motion was initially for the DoK to “require Enbridge to install a leak detection system that can locate small volumes...” where a leak would “impact the Kitimat watershed or the District of Kitimat water intakes.” His motion kicked off a lively debate, which covered everything from the NIMBYs (Not In My Backyard) to concerns centred on the word “require.” “A spill into our watershed could devastate our community, especially if it enters our water distribution system,” said Germuth in introducing his motion. He said getting the town’s concerns to the company would give them plenty of time ahead of firming up the final designs of their project. Mario Feldhoff wasn’t sold on the motion. “Council has a policy of neutrality towards the Enbridge project. From my perspective that policy supported allowing the independent JRP... to conclude their findings,” he said, adding he supports the numerous conditions which came with the report. “Those conditions include elements related to leak detection. I do not want council to attempt to replicate the JRP process,” he said. Feldhoff however also took the opportunity to speak out to those who continue to doubt the JRP process, saying he did not feel the process was pre-destined. “To my mind, opposition to the JRP Northern Gateway report, at this stage, is yet another case of NIMBY-ism: Not In My Backyard,” he said. “We should reflect on the fact that Kitimat would likely not be the community it is today if the NIMBYs of the Nechako watershed had their way.” He said what he would support is having a discussion with Enbridge to talk about leak detection technologies. Councillor Rob Goffinet meanwhile didn’t see the motion affecting neutrality. “If we feel it’s prudent to quiz something about leak detection, that does not call into question the entire JRP or tips council’s hand to be for or against the project anymore than the JRP putting it into their 209 conditions are necessarily coming out 100 per cent in favour of the project,” he said. Continued on page 9
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
1.30 INCLUDES TAX
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An epic fight ensues during a dress rehearsal for Mount Elizabeth Secondary’s next stage show, Peter Pan. More on the show on page 7. Photo by Brenda Feldhoff
Moving ahead on a plebiscite We’ll still have to wait to know exactly what questions will be asked, but Kitimat Council has opted to go with a plebiscite to determine the community’s opinion on the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipelines project. That went against the staff’s recommendation of hiring an independent polling company to conduct a telephone survey. There was a divide in some councillors, some who felt they didn’t know enough about what to ask to vote on how to gather community opinion. But Rob Goffinet, who supported the plebiscite, poked the first hole into the problem with a telephone survey. “I have no reservation that a professional telephon-
ing company can try their darnedest to get people at every time of the day or night to answer the phone,” he said. “I like taking polls, I like answering my telephone, but I do not answer any sort of unidentified call...because I am bound and determined that I’m not going to get another pollster, another fundraiser, so I just shut down.” Phil Germuth, also supporting the plebiscite, indicated he had full confidence that staff could make non-biased questions, a concern staff had in their report to council. Edwin Empinado meanwhile was concerned that the majority of the community may not be reflected in a plebiscite. He pointed to municipal elections, where out of 4,000 registered voters the turnout
“I have no reservation that a professional telephoning company can try their darnedest to get people at every time of the day or night.” might only be about 1,500. He also wanted groups on both sides of the Enbridge debate to be included in crafting questions. Mario Feldhoff also supported the staff-recommended telephone survey, saying it could give them more power in crafting questions. “Not having one question but a series of well-crafted questions I think will get us better reflection of the whole community, and probably is one of the more cost-effective options,” he said. That option was estimat-
ed to cost between $15,000 and $20,000. A plebiscite is estimated at approximately $15,000. But Germuth wasn’t convinced that a telephone survey would be that effective, drawing parallels to the last provincial election. “If you look at Ipsos-Reid and them well I think a lot of them are the same companies that went out prior to the last provincial election and said one party was going to wipe it out. And we know what happened there.” Continued on page 2
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