WEDNESDAY
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SEPTEMBER 10, 2014
The Invasives, et al >
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Vol. 63, Issue 174
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Bennett, Macdonald tangle over Mt. Polley Premier should hold Minister Bill Bennett accountable, Macdonald says; Bennett vows to resign if his Ministry found negligent C AROLYN GR ANT
Two old political foes are going at it again over the Mt. Polley tailings spill. Columbia River-Revelstoke MLA Norm Macdonald, Mines and Energy critic for the NDP, is calling on
Minister of Energy and Mines Bill Bennett to step aside and Bennett has said that he will resign — if his Ministry is found negligent. Macdonald has just returned from a trip to Quesnel Lake, Polley Lake and the
Mount Polley mine site. “We had a tour of the lakes, saw where the debris and tailings went in,” he said. “We travelled by boat over a vast plume of material suspended in the water. “Until you see it, it’s diffi-
cult to comprehend the scope of the vast amount of material that left the tailings enclosure” Macdonald was also given a tour of the mine site itself and attended a public meeting held by Imperial
Metals, the mine’s owner. He says there is tremendous distrust among community members about what they are being told, and frustration over the lack of solid information. And that’s on the BC Lib-
COURTESY SHARI REID
Kids Connection Preschool was the recipient of two new raised garden beds this summer thanks to a generous donation from the Cranbrook Garden Club. The beds were custom built to be accessible to both young children and people with mobility impairments. The new additions will be incorporated in growing and farming themes and will allow young children to make connections between the earth, weather, science and the food they eat. The children, along with their teachers and Linda from the Cranbrook Garden Club planted blueberry and raspberry bushes, rhubarb, strawberries and flowers and will add more food and flower plants as they grow from seeds in the spring.
Last chance to register for City business info session ARNE PETRYSHEN
Time is running out to register for a information session being put on by the city that will help businesses do business with the city. If you’ve ever wondered how to bid on a City of Cranbrook tender, how the city
determines which company to do business with or your business is interested in working with the city then the Community Vendor Information Session may be for you. The city is inviting anyone interested to attend the
session on Thursday, Sept. 11, at 9 a.m. Registration is required and will only be taken until today, Wednesday, Sept. 10 at 3:30 p.m. The free two hour session, hosted by the City of Cranbrook will be held at the
Manual Training School Meeting & Conference Centre at 1212 2nd Street North. The city will provide information on the following: • City of Cranbrook Purchasing Policy • Invitation to Tenders and Requests for Proposals
• City of Cranbrook Hired Equipment List • New vendors interested in working with the city To register call or email Melissa Smith, Financial Services Manager for the city, at 250-489-0265 or msmith@cranbrook.ca.
erals, Macdonald says. “In response to this crisis, the BC Liberals are doing what they always do. Just like their response to the mill explosions in Burns Lake and Prince George, where people lost their lives, they try to pretend that they are not responsible. They claim they have the best regulations in the world, and what occurred was beyond their control. “The Mount Polley breach was not an accident. The area was not subject to a catastrophic weather event. There was no earthquake. There is no suggestion of an act of terror. It simply failed. “And Bill Bennett, the Minister responsible for mines, knew there were real concerns with the Mount Polley tailings enclosure prior to the breach, yet he did nothing. “Minister Bennett knew that the government had allowed expansion of mining at the site without dealing with the problem of where to put the tailings from the increased activity. Minister Bennett knew the original engineers for the tailing enclosure had walked away stating serious concerns about the project. Minister Bennett supported drastic cuts to ministry staff responsible for oversight and enforcement.” Bennett says it would better to let the investigation into exactly what happened proceed before pointing fingers. “The cause of the Mt. Polley tailings dam failure is unknown but I have appointed a world class independent team of geoscientists to investigate the failure and report back to government and First Nations,” he said. “Tailings dams in Canada fail rarely. 1948 is when the last BC dam was breached. It is dishonest to suggest government could have known the event would happen or that it was not an ‘accident’.
See BENNETT , Page 4