UPFRONT 3
BUSINESS 11
Rentals part of plan
General Fusion gets boost
SPORTS 39
Local climber on the rise
5
THINGS TO DO THIS WEEKEND FRIDAY MAY 29, 2015
There’s more at Burnabynow.com
LOCAL NEWS – LOCAL MATTERS
SEE PAGE 17
Protester’s case triggers new bill
Alan Dutton says Kinder Morgan’s lawsuit against him was intended to silence and intimidate him By Jennifer Moreau
jmoreau@burnabynow.com
Kinder Morgan’s civil suit against five Burnaby Mountain protesters has inspired one of the defendants to push back with renewed calls for anti-SLAPP suit legislation in B.C., and the NDP is championing that cause with a new private members’ bill. Alan Dutton, a former member of Burnaby Residents Opposing Kinder Morgan Expansion, is at the heart of a new group calling for provincial legislation against frivolous lawsuits meant to silence opponents. “SLAPP suits are a direct threat to democratic process,” Dutton told the NOW. “SLAPP suits attack the very foundation of our society.They are designed to stop people from speaking out; they are designed to stop people from assembling.” “SLAPP” stands for “strategic lawsuit against public participation,” which Dut-
ton says refers to cases where the plaintiffs, often corporations, are trying to intimidate and silence opponents while draining their financial resources through the courts. According to Dutton, a retired academic, Burnaby-Lougheed MLA Jane Shin approached him about SLAPP suits. Shin then took the issue back to her caucus, and on Tuesday, Nanaimo MLA Leonard Krog tabled the private members’ bill in Victoria. Krog’s bill would allow SLAPP suit defendants to bring forward a motion to have their case dismissed in court. Since the Liberals hold the majority of seats in Victoria, there’s very little chance of the private members’ bill passing. In 2001, the NDP brought in antiSLAPP suit legislation, but it only lasted about five months before the Liberals secured a landslide majority in the provincial election and repealed it. Continued on page 8
What’s the plan for SFU? If there was a major fire at the tank farm thousands could be trapped on Burnaby Mountain By Jennifer Moreau
jmoreau@burnabynow.com
Tens of thousands of people would be trapped at Simon Fraser University in the event of a major fire at the Burnaby Mountain tank farm, and the university is unable to properly plan for it without more information from Kinder Morgan. Worst-case scenario infernos would force the fire department to close the only two access roads to SFU, and it’s not clear if people on campus would be safe from the resulting plumes. “There is not a plan; there’s not a plan specific to that scenario,” said Terry Waterhouse, SFU’s chief safety officer. “We would have to do what we call ‘shelter in place’ and keep people on the mountain.” There are only two access roads to SFU, and they intersect just above the storage facility, where massive tanks hold 1.6 million barrels of oil. Kinder Morgan wants to twin the Trans Mountain pipeline and ex-
pand the storage facility, tripling capacity to roughly 5.6 million barrels by adding 14 new tanks. Some of the new tanks would be about 150 metres from the crossroads to SFU. Information from the company has been lacking, even for the current tank farm, according to Waterhouse. “We had nothing from Kinder Morgan. We had had no commitment we would get unredacted plans from them.We had no commitment to work together.We’ve had all but minimal communication with them,” he said. SFU commissioned two studies to enter as evidence for the NEB hearing.The first examined the current tank farm risk assessments and impacts on SFU.The second report was a “gap analysis” to analyze the company’s risk assessments and determine what information was still missing. “Basically, what we found is the risk
COFFEE WITH RICHARD! Saturday, May 30 9:00 - 10:30 am Caffe Artigiano 4359 Hastings, Burnaby
I hope to see you there!
Richard T. Lee MLA Burnaby North
604.775.0778
Richard.Lee.MLA@leg.bc.ca www.richardleemla.bc.ca
Continued on page 9
SLAPPED? Alan Dutton was one of several people protesting the pipeline in Burnaby who faced a lawsuit by Kinder Morgan. The NDP have now tabled a private members’ bill to try and get such actions removed from the legal system . PHOTO FILE PHOTO REALTOR®
Order Take-Out. Call 310-SPOT (7768) or order online at www.whitespot.ca
BJELICA
Making Transitions Smooth 604-619-6263 Cell 604-435-9477 Office vidabjelica@hotmail.com