There are, indeed, some lessons to be learned from Kitimat’s plebiscite on Enbridge pipeline

SUNDAY MORNING EDITORIAL — In Saturday’s editorial, we described the Kitimat plebiscite on the Northern Gateway pipeline project and discussed whether it offered any lessons on a possible Kamloops plebiscite on the Ajax open-pit mine.

As reported in The Armchair Mayor News last night, voters rejected the pipeline by 58.4 per cent. It’s not an overwhelming majority but it’s a firm one.

Now that the vote has been tallied, what are the take-aways?

For one thing, one shouldn’t make assumptions that giant corporations can sway votes by throwing money into a plebiscite campaign. In fact, it seems that contrary to a lot of the reporting that was suggesting Enbridge had mounted a formidable media campaign, opponents of the project actually outspent Enbridge.

It’s also worth noting that residents outside the District of Kitimat raised complaints that they had no way of expressing their opinions since the plebiscite was called by the district council and could only be held within Kitimat’s boundaries.

If such a vote were to be held here, determining voting eligibility would be tricky since Ajax straddles the City’s southern boundary. At the least, residents of the adjacent Electoral Area J of the Thompson-Nicola Regional District should get a vote.

And what about Electoral Area L, which is right next door?

But Electoral Area J wraps around the western end of the city and stretches all the way north to Vidette, while area J runs east all the way to Chase. Should everyone in those two areas have a vote, or should an artificial line be drawn to include only those most affected?

And how do you decide that? Who’s to say people who live up the North Thompson Valley shouldn’t have a vote, since they’re part of the Kamloops economic zone?

It would take the wisdom of Solomon to draw lines on a map that everyone would agree to, but that’s not to say it couldn’t be done with co-operation between the city and the TNRD.

And then there’s the matter of what to do with a result once you have one. Kitimat council has gotten itself into a bit of a pickle by officially declaring itself neutral and then asking people what they think.

The plebiscite is non-binding on council, but good politics suggests that if you ask people to vote on something, you should follow their wishes.

In 2001, Kamloops City council put universal water metering to a plebiscite but passed a resolution prior to the vote binding itself to its results. Kitimat council should have done the same.

Indeed, it looks like there is much to learn from the Kitimat example. But, of course, Kamloops council would first have to agree to set up a plebiscite on Ajax.