Candidates spewing pure bunkum on Ajax issue

If I had a nickel for every time I’ve heard a candidate say, “There are too many unanswered questions,” or “We must wait for the environmental report,” I’d be a week closer to retirement.

Either they’re using the bureaucratic process to avoid taking a stand, or they’re just lazy. I speak, of course, of Ajax.

I asked one fence-sitter this week if he’d read the 141-page draft environmental assessment report from the KGHM Ajax Mining consultants, and he didn’t know it existed.

My bet would be that most candidates are in the same boat because they have written off the necessity of doing any meaningful homework, being that “we must wait for the environmental report.”

What are the “unanswered questions” that candidates — incumbent members of council included — want answered?

No doubt, the reply would be generalities about “the environment” and “the impact on residents” but not much more.

Supposing the residents of Aberdeen won’t be able to see much of the mine, and there will be minimum dust, but they can feel the vibrations from the blasting?

Is that a negative enough impact on their lives, or should they just live with it?

What if the lights from the mine prove bothersome, but everything else passes muster? What if the grouse and snakes die off, but other, more robust species survive?

Does the destruction or significant degradation of two lakes, and loss of sensitive grasslands, qualify as having a negative impact on the environment? Those two impacts are guaranteed, yet we have candidates saying they’re waiting to see if the environment will be affected.

I am impressed when I hear a candidate deviate from the standard “sorry, can’t comment, too many questions” response with something that is actually worth listening to.

Dennis Paget, for example, is willing to list off a lot of potential impacts that he will not accept. He’s willing to get down to specifics like the ones I’ve mentioned.

And, to him, the answers come down to a clear “no” to the  mine. “I’m all for jobs,” he says, but the mine “can’t happen to my kids and grand kids.”

Bryce Eberle rejects the mindtrip that there isn’t enough information to form opinions — there’s a whack of intel out there if you bother to look.

“People say there’s no information but in fact there is lots of information on which to have an opinion.”

He hasn’t absolutely decided to oppose or support the mine, but he’s found out enough to have concerns.

And Donovan Cavers opposes it based largely on location. The closeness to Kamloops, he says, will hurt the tournament capital program.

“I think we are at a point where we really need to ask ourselves, ‘Are we a large town (mining/logging) or has Kamloops finally matured to a point where we can be an actual city (tourism/tech).”

Will taking a thoughtful position on the matter instead of hiding their heads in the sand hurt these three on election day?

“I don’t know, I’m just trying to be real here,” says Eberle.

The Pagets, Eberles and Cavers have a vision of what they want their city to be, and they’re willing to think, not just find the safest political route to the polls.