Postmedia partners with LNG lobby to sell Woodfibre LNG – latest lapse in journalistic integrity

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Resource Works Executive Director Stewart Muir (Credit: Resource Works - Flickr  CC licence)
Resource Works ED and ex-Vancouver Sun deputy editor Stewart Muir (Resource Works – Flickr CC licence)

I am, as readers well know, a babe in the woods when it comes to matters of journalism. Ever naive, I read the papers in awe and know that all times they have my better understanding of affairs at heart.

Well then, imagine my horror when I found that my hopes and dreams had been dashed. I’m like that little boy seeing his idol, Shoeless Joe Jackson, arrested for cheating, mumbling through tears of disappointment, “Say it ain’t so, Joe.” Here’s how it happened.

About a year ago, one Stewart Muir, for nearly 14 years the Deputy Managing Editor of the Vancouver Sun, founded an organization called Resource Works, stated to be an independent organization dedicated to bringing people together to come up with sensible answers to environmental concerns. (As the Duke of Wellington said when a man accosted him on the street with “Mr. Robinson, I believe”, “If you’ll believe that you’ll believe anything! “).

As we have well demonstrated in these pages, one of Resource Works’ main functions – amidst broad platitudes about “breaking the ice in the controversial resource debate, through research and honest, respectful dialogue” – is to promote the controversial, proposed Woodfibre LNG project near Squamish.

Now comes the part where, if you’re a believer in newspaper honour and ethics, you’d be wise to pour yourself a stiff drink.

Dangerous liaison

The first thing available to you when you “Google” Resource Works is a document called “About Resource Works. It’s bright and full of pretty videos and even prettier statements about Resource Works. When you get to the bottom, it’s black as the inside of a goat with barely legible grey printing. Scroll down – make sure you have lots of light – and there’s a heading called “Partnerships”, which tells you, “We’re proud to work with a diverse range of partners“.

And who are these partners?

Under “P” just above RBC Royal Bank – are you ready for this? – none other than the Vancouver Province!

In the name of God, the Province, Resource Works, and by logical extension, Woodfibre LNG, are partners!

In short, Postmedia, which includes the Vancouver Sun, the Province, and the flagship National Post are shills for  a highly controversial undertaking which we expect them to hold to account on our behalf!

Composite of Resource Works "Partnerships" page
Composite of Resource Works “Partnerships” page

Conflict of interest?

Is it any surprise that the Province doesn’t care about the ethics of the owner of Woodfibre LNG? Or any wonder they’re not concerned that Howe Sound and the Fraser River are too narrow for LNG tankers?

This is a good moment to look at how a newspaper ought to behave, as outlined in the Pew Reseach Centre’s nine core principles of journalism:

[quote]While news organizations answer to many constituencies, including advertisers and shareholders, the journalists in those organizations must maintain allegiance to citizens and the larger public interest above any other if they are to provide the news without fear or favour. This commitment to citizens first is the basis of a news organization’s credibility, the implied covenant that tells the audience the coverage is not slanted for friends or advertisers.[/quote]

I can’t imagine any publisher or editor arguing with the proposition that their papers cannot place themselves in a conflict of interest, real or perceived, any more than a Member of Parliament or MLA can. Remember the merry hell the media raised with then Premier Vander Zalm when he confused his role as premier with hustler of a theme park?

Industry gets easy ride from papers

Let’s look, then, at two environmental issues which have come to the fore since the Campbell government came into power in 2001 and see if we can spot a conflict of interest?

During that time, The Sun and Province each had a political columnist, Vaughn Palmer for the former and Mike Smyth for the latter.

First, a quick look back at Palmer’s columns during the NDP decade. He was thorough, critical, and accurate. He almost single-handedly brought down the Glen Clark premiership with his coverage of the fast ferry fiasco. I can’t think of any issue where the NDP of that decade got an easy ride from Palmer – nor, for that matter, should they have

Starting in 2001, Palmer changed from being a government critic to being only a critic of things that were not going to get his newspaper into trouble with the government or advertisers.

Example: Early in his regime, Campbell brought in a new energy policy which, with the exception of Site “C”, forbade BC Hydro from creating any new sources of power and gave that right exclusively to the private sector. This “Run Of River” policy is, far from being a benign as advertised, hugely destructive in several respects. Prominent economists added the concern that BC Hydro was losing buckets of money by being forced to buy private power at several times the cost of either importing or making the power themselves.

Private power play

This was a big election issue in 2009, every bit as egregious a sin, hell, far more egregious than the Fast Ferries debacle. There was the documented damage to rivers not just by dams (the private power people preferred “weirs”) but roads and power lines to the critical insect population, the resident trout that were seriously imperilled, as were spawning salmon, and thus gulls and eagles – a plethora of issues.

Palmer rarely covered this policy and when he did, it was usually in defence of it. For 14 years, Palmer and Sun editorials have spared the Liberals from a moment’s discomfort on this subject!

Palmer ignores troubling LNG facts

Fast forward to more recent days, the Christy Clark government and LNG. Clark, apart from making a horse’s ass of herself with promises of a hundred billion dollar Prosperity Fund, has displayed child-like indifference to the many serious issues involved.

Woodfibre LNG proponent has history of fraud, tax evasion
Sukanto Tanoto (right)

For starters, wouldn’t you think that Palmer, would have  thoroughly investigated the background of Sukanto Tanoto, the man behind Woodfibre LNG?

As everyone knows, Mr. Tanoto is a convicted, big league tax avoider and destroyer of tropical jungles. The evidence is thorough and easily available but Postmedia and Palmer seem quite uninterested in whether or not WLNG would pay its taxes and respect our environment.

There is now overwhelming evidence from leading scientists that both Howe Sound and the Fraser River are far too narrow to sustain LNG tanker traffic. This, apparently, is of no concern to Palmer and Postmedia either

Why not?, I wonder.

There are, of course, many other concerns about LNG, including fracking, transferring natural gas to the plant, converting it into LNG, and the hazards of producing it and loading it for transport. Again, one would’ve expected Mr. Palmer to examine this issue pretty carefully. To the best of my knowledge, he has not written a word on these problems.

Neither has Mike Smyth for the Province written much critical on these two enormous issues.

Why would these men avoid these two major topics. They are both skilled writers and it’s hard to explain their silence. Could they be under outside pressure? That suspicion certainly crosses the mind.

Postmedia sells journalistic credibility to oil lobby

Last year, the Vancouver Observer reported on a Postmedia presentation that outlined a content strategy including several Financial Post “Special Report” sections, with topics to be arranged by Postmedia and the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP).

The partnership also includes 12 single-page “joint venture” features in newspapers across the country. Those are different from “special reports” in that CAPP fully directs the topics and Postmedia writers just pen them.

This note from Douglas Kelly, the publisher of Postmedia’s National Post, may help explain these, ahem, corporate blow-jobs:

[quote]From its inception, the National Post has been one of the country’s leading voices on the importance of energy to Canada’s business competitiveness internationally and our economic well being in general. We will work with CAPP to amplify our energy mandate and to be part of the solution to keep Canada competitive in the global marketplace. The National Post will undertake to leverage all means editorially, technically and creatively to further this critical conversation.[/quote]

Now there’s “arms length” journalism for you! This helps explain the Sun and Province’s support for the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion, opposed by many municipalities and citizens affected by the project.

A lucrative partnership

Resource Works and the Province have had a very profitable time as partners.

RW teamed up with the paper to produce a weekly feature on how important trade, industry and resource development are to the B.C. economy. Combining company propaganda and being partners, one can assume that the financial deal was very favourable to the Province.

Postmedia alum Muir gets lots of op-ed ink from his old employer
Postmedia alum Muir gets lots of op-ed ink from his old employer

The Province gave Muir a podium to argue that we can’t have health care without LNG development. It continues to give him a regular soapbox, as you will have noticed in what appear to be op-ed pieces at will. You might also have noticed that when I, for example, answer one of his screeds, it’s heavily censored and published several days later, if at all…after which Muir is given free reign to rebut my rebuttal.

The Province also gave a similar podium to Resource Works adviser Dan Miller, who was briefly premier as the New Democrats imploded in 2000. Miller is a long-time resource industry evangelist and a consultant with PR powerhouse National Public Relations, which has Enbridge as a client. Partners, you see, are nothing if not loyal.

Clearly, Postmedia takes its obligation as RW’s partner very seriously indeed!

Did Resource Works doctor interview?

But could it be that despite all this, Resource Works is still telling us the true state of affairs?

Screen capture of alleged interview by Meena Mann (left) with Dr. Mike Hightower (right), which appears to have been doctored
Screen capture of alleged interview by Meena Mann (left) with Dr. Mike Hightower (right), which appears to have been doctored

To answer that, I’m going to poach on my own column, here, of March 15, 2015. I’m satisfied that it succinctly and fairly sums up the situation.

The Province and Sun haven’t uttered a peep of concern about the adequacy of Howe Sound to handle LNG tankers. Perhaps this has something to do with their partnership with their old colleague Muir and his Resource Works – d’ya think?

When they unveiled their Citizens Guide to LNG: Sea to Sky Country Edition in March, we were told to watch a video interview of Dr. Michael Hightower, an expert on tanker traffic.

Here is what I wrote, in part:

Let’s look at transportation of LNG by tanker through Howe Sound. I do that not just because it’s of enormous concern to everybody who lives along the proposed route, but because Resource Works dwells upon the issue. They concede that if tankers go too close to the shore, there could be a problem. However, they assure us there is no problem because they spoke to Dr. Mike Hightower, of Sandia Laboratories in New Mexico, a world acknowledged expert on the subject, who’s developed a protocol accepted by US authorities for the distances ships must maintain between themselves and the shore.

Resource Works has produced a number of videos which they make available to the public in order to sell the benefits of LNG. In all of them the interviewer is an attractive young lady named Meena Mann. It is in one of them, featured on the Vancouver Province (surprise, surprise!) website, where Dr. Hightower appears to talk to Ms. Mann about LNG and tankers and you would likely conclude that there is very little danger, if any, posed by LNG tankers in Howe Sound.

Here is what Sandia has reported, based upon Dr Hightower’s work:

“Sandia National Laboratories defines for the US Department of Energy three Hazard Zones (also called “Zones of Concern”) surrounding LNG carriers. The largest Zone is 2.2 miles/3,500 meters around the vessel, indicating that LNG ports and tankers must be located at least that distance from civilians. Some world-recognized LNG hazard experts, such as Dr. Jerry Havens (University of Arkansas; former Coast Guard LNG vapor hazard researcher), indicate that three miles or more is a more realistic Hazard Zone distance.”

What the video does not tell you is that Dr. Hightower had not addressed his attention to Howe Sound, and when local resident Dr. Eoin Finn did so, Dr. Hightower concurred that Bowen Island and parts of West Vancouver are very much at risk – within the 1-mile radius – as are parts of the Sea-to-Sky Highway and Lions Bay/Bowyer Island. In other words, if one accepts Dr. Hightower’s formula, as Resource Works clearly does, there is no way any LNG tankers would be permitted to proceed from Squamish to the ocean.

Dr. Finn, a  former KPMG partner and chemistry PhD, took the time to phone Dr. Hightower because the interview didn’t look quite right. Well, it wasn’t right because it wasn’t conducted by Meena Mann at all but by a male!

Was the question changed when Ms. Mann did her fake interview? Was Dr. Hightower’s answer altered? I don’t know but this sort of shabby deception is bound to raise doubts like this. What we do know is that far from supporting Resource Works’ assertion that LNG tanker traffic is safe in Howe Sound, given the facts, Dr. Hightower comes to exactly the opposite conclusion …

Resource Works is guilty of a hugely deceptive practice. Even if Miss Mann asked precisely the same questions the real interviewer did, there are different inflections in the voice no doubt and her body language during the interview was, to say the least, descriptive of her feelings. If this is an example of the integrity of Resource Works, they are not entitled to any credibility whatsoever.

Resource Works’ distortions continue.

A case was brought in 2013 against Encana and the province by the Wilderness Committee and Sierra Club. The issue was whether or not section 8 of the Water Act, which allows back-to-back short-term permits, was valid. That was the sole issue; the judge made it clear that she wasn’t deciding on the government’s overall water policy, or the “fracking” question, but whether back-to-back short term water leases under The Water Act were valid – bear that in mind.

Resource Works, in reporting this – and I quote, from page 47 of A Citizen’s Guide To LNG: Sea To Sky Country Edition – states: “When a ruling came down in late 2014 it showed that the regulatory processes in place, and industry compliance with them, are sound and well managed.

“In an overwhelming endorsement of current practices in water protection, Justice Fitzpatrick concluded that when it comes to the regulation of industries water usage, British Columbia is in good shape with a “justifiable transparent and intelligible framework for the regulation of short term water use.”

In fact, she did no such thing as a reading of the judgment makes abundantly clear. She confined her decision to the interpretation of Section 8 only. The issue was whether or not section 8 of the Water Act, which allows gas companies to get an endless number of water approvals back-to-back, was lawful.

Only a practitioner of the black arts of Public Relations could read into Madam Justice Fitzpatrick’s judgment that she said “that the regulatory processes in place, and industry compliance with them, are sound and well managed”, or “when it comes to the regulation of industries water usage, British Columbia is in good shape.’”

She simply did not say this!

Over the decades, I’ve seen unscrupulous people misquote judges but never have I seen a situation like this where the judge’s words were completely made up to suit!

Credibility gap

Surely, one’s entitled to conclude that this sort of dissembling, distortion, and outright misrepresentation colours all of the presentations of this outfit not to mention their partners, Postmedia.

What we have then is an organization, Resource Works, set up to deceive people and they’ve diligently done just that. They pretended initially that they were “independents” only trying to get a dialogue going between people but, as anybody who takes a glance at this issue would quickly confirm, this was barnyard droppings. RW is clearly a shill for Woodfibre LNG, plain and simple.

Part of this process of deceiving the public comes in what Resource Works does not say. It’s interesting, for example, that A Citizen’s Guide To LNG: Sea To Sky Country Edition doesn’t touch the issue of “fracking” until page 46 and then only in two brief paragraphs. It mentions that there is a US documentary on the subject but says that they, Resource Works, don’t think there’s any evidence of problems with “fracking” in BC. If that doesn’t convince you, I ask you, what will?

To make matters much worse – and the purpose of this column – is that one of the largest media corporations in Canada is involved up to their ears in this sham – I nearly said scam – and no longer can make any pretence at providing independent information for its readers. It’s like a clock that strikes 13 – you can never trust it again.

Is that overstating the matter?

I think not.

Circling the drain

By their own clear admission, Postmedia is in deep financial trouble, laying off and buying out huge numbers of employees. Their stated reason is lack of advertising revenue. Does this affect their reporting of what advertisers, current and potential, are up to? Does it impact on how they report on governments supported by those advertisers? Has it made it attractive enough for them to ignore time-honoured journalistic ethics and make unholy alliances? These thoughts are bound to occur to one.

When you read nothing from either the local paper’s political commentators on the downside of the Woodfibre LNG proposal, given that Postmedia’s a partner, does it not immediately occur to you that something’s strange here? Here’s an issue which may bring down the Clark government and both Vaughn Palmer and Mike Smyth, political commentators, are apparently not interested!

Can we trust anything concerning LNG when it appears in Postmedia? Can they be trusted to fairly present opposition to Woodfibre LNG? What are they not reporting?

My father used to say, “Rafe, don’t believe everything that you read in the newspapers.” I change that advice to my children and grandchildren by saying, “apart from the comic strips and possibly the Obituary Page, don’t believe a damn thing you read in the newspapers!”

Unless, of course, you believe in the Easter Bunny, think slot machines are fair and are interested in buying a bridge I have for sale.

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About Rafe Mair

Rafe Mair, LL.B, LL.D (Hon) a B.C. MLA 1975 to 1981, was Minister of Environment from late 1978 through 1979. In 1981 he left politics for Talk Radio becoming recognized as one of B.C.'s pre-eminent journalists. An avid fly fisherman, he took a special interest in Atlantic salmon farms and private power projects as environmental calamities and became a powerful voice in opposition to them. Rafe is the co-founder of The Common Sense Canadian and writes a regular blog at rafeonline.com.

48 thoughts on “Postmedia partners with LNG lobby to sell Woodfibre LNG – latest lapse in journalistic integrity

    1. Rafe didn’t say they NEVER cover these issues – his point was that they: a) don’t cover them enough; b) don’t cover them well; c) their star editorial columnists don’t sink their teeth into them – instead they go easy on the Liberal government compared to the (justifiably) scathing, sustained criticism to which they subjected their NDP predecessors. Look hard enough and you’ll find some stories. That’s not the point.

      1. The Province and Sun haven’t uttered a peep of concern about the adequacy of Howe Sound to handle LNG tankers. Perhaps this has something to do with their partnership with their old colleague Muir and his Resource Works – d’ya think?

        Uh..Damien the last time I checked “haven’t uttered a peep” means nothing, nada, zip.

        Just check any newspaper archive database with the words LNG and BC over the past one year. In The Province there were 116 stories..with a third of the being marked critical or negative, and only 15 marked positive.

        Rafe talks about a credibility gap. Maybe he should check his facts first before running his mouth off. Its this type of myths and rumour mongering by Rafe that gives journalism a bad name. Not open and publicly declared partnerships to promote BC Resources.

        1. Your databases clearly employ a different standard than we do when it comes to their definition of “negative”. We don’t mean the just-for-show, slap on the wrist kind of negative. We mean serious critical journalism and the kind of harsh editorials apparently only reserved for the NDP of the 90s. And for crying out loud, this is the biggest news story in BC – the primary plank in the Liberals’ successful election platform. The only idea they have ventured for the future of our economy. And you think 116 stories over an entire year is a lot?! LOL. We’re a tiny publication and we’ve put out 74 over the same period. 74 of them negative, which is as it should be.

          Finally, when Rafe says “not a peep”, he is quite literally correct with regards to Howe Sound. We’ve done 5 or 6 stories on the tanker safety issues there. Nothing from Postmedia. So you’re hanging your hat on one web video addressing the recent Fraser River issue? Where’s Palmer and Smyth? Where’s the reflection of the outpouring of public concern over this issue which we’ve documented in the pages? 1100 letters from citizens to CEAA. That’s huge. Both city councils now, flanking wither side of the river where the project is proposed.

          Anyway, enough with the semantics. Rafe’s point is justified and well made. Our biggest newspapers are in bed with industry and no longer provide the kind of muckraking, public defender role they used to. If you really believe otherwise, then you’re not reading the same Sun or Province we are.

          1. As you pointed out – one sided muck raking journalism – damn the facts or balance – is what’s required to be a good news outlet ie 74 stories about LNG all negative.
            Oh well…happy ranting

  1. Right now CBC Radio 2 is running an ad extolling the virtues of the marine research partnerships Irving Oil has funded over the years. It’s a feel-good type of ad but immediately I thought of the agreement the company has to restrict their traffic in the bay of Fundy to protect the whales here. The only reason I can think of them bringing this up now is that they are going to request a massive increase in tanker traffic in the bay, probably breaking their agreement on marine protection. The reason they would do this is that the pipelines running east are very near approval and they want to export tar sands. I’ve heard nothing in the usual media about any requests like that but I suspect it is on the horizon and this is a PR job to soften public opinion.

  2. The symmetry between gov’t/industry and media has been apparent for some time but never quite as obvious. The dynamics of the alliance between wealth and politics is as old as ancient history.
    I wonder if people have a difficult time believing what they know or is the immense nature of collusion/corruption so overwhelming; its almost as difficult to believe as is the earth travels around the sun at over 60,000 miles per hour.

  3. It is quite unfortunate that The Province has removed the video clip interview that Resource Works did with Mike Hightower from Sandia Labs as mentioned above as I had linked to this clip in my EA submission. It is still available on Resource Works Facebook page though:

    https://www.facebook.com/resourceworks/videos/vb.599978396722894/781943318526400/?type=2&theater

    It also unfortunate that my recent comments on an LNG article in The Province have been removed as they involved discussions and links to Sandia, Resource Works but alas also a link to the Common Sense Canadian discussion of the interview.

    All I know is that my family will certainly be moving from Bowen Island if this project goes ahead. I’m a mother and I just don’t want my children going to school in an LNG Hazard Zone.

  4. I too would’ve loved to know, from Jon S, just who these respectable peiodicals are?
    Jon, typical of those who cannot meet an argument, diverts attention with the irrelevant. I must say, Jon if you believe Woodfibe’s meetings are to ” inform” you’d better call me about that bridge! Postmedia in general and the Vancouver Province in particular are official partners in the enterprise. This paper is ethically required to fairly and fully report on events such as the suitability of Tanoto to be BC’s business partner, the critical issue of the width of Howe Sound etc. in fact it is in a formal conflict of interest that takes the breath away! Why should anyone ever take their reporting or lack of it to be impartial? That, Jon, is the bottom line won’t you, with respect, del with it?
    ,

  5. I do believe the criminals in government/industry will provide their own noose. As it should be.

  6. I have been out to many of the WLNG meetings. WLNG spokespeople will not conduct a public forum – only show maps and resource material. I have privately questioned some of the spokespeople and have been misinformed by their answers. They are as truthful as the many TV commercials we are inundated with. They are either blatant lies or partial truths which do not equate to the real truth. I have heard scientist state that the entire Fracking process creates more GHGs than coal. Are we to poison our neighbours to the north, use vast quantities of precious water, dump the toxic mix where ever, kill sea life and create more air pollution in Howe Sound all for the sake of creating a few jobs and maybe or maybe not some tax money? Thank you Rafe for your courage and conviction to report the abuse by government and industry.

  7. This whole “article” is a riddled with inaccurate information and assumptions. The reality is that Rafe couldn’t get published in any respectable periodical so he had to create his own to get this garbage out there. Same on you Rafe, I’d expect more from an ex-lawyer.

    1. Name one, John. You say it’s riddled with inaccuracies, so why don’t you name at least one. That way you won’t sound like an hypocrite levelling empty ad hominem attacks.

      1. Fact: Woodfibre LNG meets SIGTTO rules and guidelines. The company has been granted membership meaning that fully comply with SIGTTO guidelines. Rafe has suggested otherwise which is a LIE!

        1. They may be a due paying member but their corridor does not meet the organization’s safety guidelines. I’m sure this is an oversight on SIGITTO’s part – one that should be rectified. Probably high time they were notified that one of their members is bringing them into disrepute. Thank you for the suggestion.

          1. This oversight is likely due to the fact that Woodfibre hasn’t even settled on a route – as evidence by their recent flip-flop under public pressure. Time to turn the lights on and get the cockroaches scattering.

    2. Also name one Jon, name one respectable periodical. I think that is the reason Rafe had to create his own.

      1. Indeed, Don. And the whole point of his piece. You certainly can’t call any Postmedia publication “respectable” when they’re selling their editorial space and journalistic integrity to the likes of the oil and LNG lobbies!

        1. And is this not the whole problem. The 5th estate in BC are whores plain and simple, bought and paid for.

  8. THESE ARE THE SCARIEST COMMENTS YET ON THE APPROPRIATENESS OF LNG TANKERS ON HOWE SOUND. NOT ONLY DO I LIVE ON THE SOUND, BUT MY FAMILY LIVES IN BRACKENDALE. I WAS ASTOUNDED YESTERDAY TO READ ON FACEBOOK THAT WLNG CLAIMS TO HAVE CONDUCTED “HUNDREDS OF MEETINGS” WITH THE SQUAMISH CITIZENS. IS THIS NOT ILLEGAL – FALSE ADVERTISING?

    WHAT CAN WE DO RAIF?

    RAGING GRANNY!

    1. It is because they have conducted hundreds of meetings.You either don’t live in Squamish or have some serious wool pulled over your eves.

      What can we do? You can read Woodfibre’s submission to the EAO in it’s entirety.

      – Content Grandpappy

      1. Bogus “open house” meetings don’t = safety, John. Try dealing with the specifics of Rafe’s argument – namely the fact that these tanker corridors don’t meet the minimum accepted safety standards according to the global LNG tanker and terminal body (SIGITTO) or Sandia Laboratories.

        The truth is Woodfibre has no idea what it’s doing – evidenced by its befuddled attempt to reroute the tanker corridor in light of these criticisms – and winding up choosing an even less safe one. Here: you don’t have to read the entire EAO submission – this short piece will suffice:

        https://commonsensecanadian.ca/ret-navy-commander-torpedoes-lng-lobbys-tanker-safety-story/

        1. I’ve never claimed that meetings = public safety? I’m not sure where you’ve gotten that idea. The truth is that Woodfibre has indeed held hundreds of meetings. That is fact.

          1. Well, not hundreds – that’s not a fact – but even if it were, it would be irrelevant to our present conversation, which was the essence of my reply.

          2. “The truth is that Woodfibre has indeed held hundreds of meetings. That is fact.”

            Would you be kind enough to take a moment and list the dates, times and locations of those past meetings?

      2. Dear Jon S.

        You comment is very typical of some of the people living in Squamish. Call it the (former Interfor) logging faction, with its self-centered mentality. The same mentality that “inspired” 60 masked forestry workers to attack anti-logging protestors in the Elaho valley in 2001 and send three of the protestors to hospital. (I was involved the campaign to protect the Elaho Valley and I know all about it).

        It seems some of you in Squamish simply don’t care if jobs would destroy old-growth forests or, in the case of Woodfibre LNG, would create jobs in Squamish, while expressing no concern regarding the important part of this project, the proposed LNG tankers going up and down the Howe Sound, and how this would endanger the communities in Howe Sound living along the proposed LNG tanker routes.

        I live with my family on Bowen Island, one of the communities in Howe Sound that would be exposed to risks that come with having LNG tankers sailing in close proximity to where we live.
        And you wonder why I have very little sympathy for your argument.

        This is of course exactly where the proponents, Woodfibre LNG, the BC LNG Alliance, the BC government, advised by their PR firms, like Hill + Knowlton, NATIONAL Public Relations etc., would like us to be. The people on the ground fighting each other over jobs versus the environment.

        Instead of fighting each other, we should come talking about the future, come together and talk what we have in common and go from there. That is our only option!

        Kind regards,

        Anton van Walraven
        Bowen Island in the Howe Sound

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