LETTER – City council will discuss next steps after rejecting Ajax mine
(Image: SLR report cover)
Response from Acting Mayor Arjun Singh to a letter from Dr. Jennifer Takahashi:
Dear Jennifer,
Thank you for your email and my apologies for the delay in responding. Thank you for your very kind words. I am thankful to my council colleagues for giving me this opportunity to serve in my “summer job”. I take a lot of inspiration from them and from the community as a whole.
With respect to our letter to the other levels of government, the tone and text of the letter reflected the view of council as a whole – strong opposition to the Ajax proposal – and it also noted the 5-1 vote to acknowledge Councillor Wallace’s views and support of the proposal.
Written comments read by councillors at council meetings do not form part of meeting minutes. Our minutes are not written in the same way as the hansard from the provincial legislature or from the House of Commons. We note decisions and vote splits as the main components. Individual councillors are free, if they wish, to post their statements.
I would not ever want to speak for another member of councillor. Often, generally speaking, new economic development locally or within the region adds to the tax base of Kamloops. This happens either directly or through spin off businesses.
We have certainly (heard) anecdotally that at least some professionals would be leaving Kamloops if the mine was approved. That was one of the concerns I personally cited in my reasons for not supporting Ajax. This is a tough one to quantifiably measure. And there will certainly be different views among good, thoughtful, serious people.
I will ask council about a discussion on the next steps in terms of outreach to the Ministers who will make the decision on Ajax. I will raise with them the possibility of inviting Minister McKenna to visit Kamloops on this issue.
very best
Arjun
(Arjun Singh, Acting Mayor)
ArmchairMayor.ca 
This would be a good time to make the point to both the Provincial government and also the Federal government about the real concern the citizens of Kamloops have about the air quality in our City at the present time.
At these times, when our air quality is in the extremely poor category, would KGHM Ajax respect our citizen’s right to “no extra air pollution” and cease operation of the mine, if the mine ends up being approved?
I think this very point should be a matter of discussion for our acting Mayor and council at the earliest available time.
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Thank you, Mr. Singh for your low key approach to this divisive issue. You have definitely shown that to be a leader, one does not have to be in forefront of meaningful discussions or debates. As Grouchy 1 pointed out, our city council’s collective opinion is important but does not have much power in forcing governments to change their decisions. So, keep up the good work, Mr. Singh, and of course, if we have members of the community objecting to your style, then they should run for public office.
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. There actually are good, thoughtful, serious people in this land, my sense is that you are one of them. mr. Singh.
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An anecdotal concern as one of the reasons…really?
Never mind the folly of a tailing pond the size of dozens of football fields up above the city and up wind from it. Never mind all the outlandish claims of zero harm et al,
It sure appears the acting mayor is acting like it is a “summer job”…
Does anyone have any idea where Ajax “fits-in” in Mr. Singh greater vision for our besieged City?
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Actually Pierre, the mayor position at this point is a ” summer job “. Overall, I think Arjun is doing a good job of it. At least, unlike Milobar, he is doing the job, and not trying to be the news, or start expensive & unnecessary projects. Remember too , that councils decision is only a footnote in the government studies, and there is no power to exert any authority over the mine if it is approved.
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If this was a Toastmasters club, Arjun would get an “excellent” from me too. But this ain’t a Toastmasters club…
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