City council squandering its neutrality on Ajax
Public needs a voice on Ajax proposal.
Yesterday’s Armchair Mayor column, ‘Council in need of spine on Ajax’
seems to have struck a chord with Kamloops Daily News readers.
The gist of the column is that if City council is going to insist on not taking a position on Ajax, it should at least not squander that neutrality by sitting on its hands. In fact, that neutrality could be used to demonstrate leadership and do good for the community, instead of the do-nothing approach currently favoured by Mayor Peter Milobar and most of his councillors.
Kamloops needs a forum for discussing/ debating Ajax. KGHM refuses to hold a town-hall style meeting even though the B.C. Environmental Assessment Office promised it. And the EAO hasn’t seen fit to enforce the directive.
StopAjaxMine/KAPA don’t have the clout do host such a meeting. Their bias against the mine works against them, and KGHM will ignore any invitation to an open meeting.
City council alone has the influence and means to organize a citizens’ meeting, or a series of them. It comes from a neutral position, has the skills within City Hall to organize such an initiative, and, further, has a duty to do so.
To ignore this opportunity is a waste of its authority and a waste of the neutrality it has proclaimed.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
We need to shame our city council into taking an active role in this. It shouldn’t be left to citizens to do their own research – the internet can be an overwhelming source of information and misinformation. Their guidance would go a long way to making a lot of people feel better informed on this issue. As it is, their silence is compliance and that’s exactly what KGHM is relying on.
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