Krueger: Ajax doing better at communicating
The Armchair Mayor and Kevin Krueger do some catching up.
COFFEE WITH THE ARMCHAIR MAYOR — Back in the day, Kevin Krueger and I used to talk with each other pretty much every week. That was when Kamloops was in bricks and mortar mode, and City Hall and the provincial government were working closely together to make stuff happen.
This week was the first time we’d sat down for coffee together in a long time. As the tape recorder rolled for a segment of CBC Daybreak Kamloops’ weekly Coffee With the Armchair Mayor, I naturally asked him about mining and Ajax.
Kevin was B.C.’s minister of state for mining in 2007-2008, and held a lot of other portfolios before and after.
“It’s the safest heavy industry in Canada,” he began. “It’s a very, very careful process.”
He said he understands people’s concerns. When he toured the Ajax site, “The beauty of the grasslands there just made my heart hurt to think that they were going to be changed, but I’ve seen mine reclamation done.”
He’s confident the Ajax site can be returned to some form of natural beauty. Different, but reclaimed.
Kevin brought up a letter he wrote shortly before retiring from politics. You might remember it. It began, “Here’s the thing,” and followed with a stern lecture to KGHM about communicating with the public.
“You gotta answer people’s questions,” he recalls now as being the gist of the letter.
So, does he think KGHM is doing better?
“Oh, yeah, I certainly do… I think they’re demonstrating that they’re sincerely trying to do it.”
In order to attract jobs and grow the economy, a government has to have credibility, he said. “A government can’t just flat say ‘you’re not going ahead because we don’t like the site.’”
Krueger isn’t saying Ajax will necessarily go ahead, but he likes the high-paying jobs mining brings to the province. The process will protect the land, he says. “The project is genuinely geared at having those effects mitigated. It will create a reclamation plan where there’s a lake that you can fish in and a contoured road down to it.”
So, I said, Kevin Krueger is a “wait for the studies kind of guy.”
“I’m a ‘wait for the recommendations of the people who will review those studies’’ kind of guy, he said.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
Kevin’s communication skills are legendary and loud , resulting in possible children mortality rates and Boss Power settlements. Consult Hansard.
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The information provided by the company is incomplete. They are sending out misleading pamphlets and trying to dampen the community’s very valid concerns. Kevin Kreuger’s idea that the mine site will make a nice subdivision with a lake for people to swim in is ludicrous. The water in the current pit lake is contaminated with heavy metals.
Click to access 1344895313813_c2d0910cb68527593dc12f5e75b2f6508ae8d967633bbd9ba4854e3913984a22.pdf
Maybe Kevin has been taken on tours of mines that are partially reclaimed, but even in Trojan pond, you can fish, but you can’t eat the fish… And look what coal mining is doing in the Elk Valley. If you scroll through the link I gave you, you will notice that Selenium is one of the metals in “exceedence.” It is the same metal that is damaging the salmon in Elk Valley.
We need to make sure we don’t accept superficial answers. Our government should force the proponent to explore the issues with much more depth. Even better, our government should get informed and lead the discussion. If Kamloopsians are the ones exposed to the risks and the “externalities” or costs of this project, we should be privy to a full analysis of what that entails. Everything is groovy won’t cut it!
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I am afraid I must disagree. It is not “the land” that is question. I don’t doubt that the land can be reasonably protected if all you seek is reclamation after 20 years. But this is a project without precedent when you consider it’s proximity to a major city. Noise, fugitive dust, health concerns, diminished property values and aesthetics will undermine the livability of Kamloops. There is already ample evidence that these concerns are real and AJAX has not addressed them beyond making vague assurances and pointing at economic benefit. The time to begin responding to these well articulated concerns is now. And what does AJAX do? They hold a rally limited to supporters – at the ISC tomorrow. That is not improved communication in my books.
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