anonymous - November 18th, 2005
I share Eckhard's, and others' view of the Olympic juggernaut: it needs to be kept in check, and it needs to follow through with its promises.
We are supposed to have the "greenest games ever". So far I haven't seen anything other than lip-service paid to sustainability. So far VANOC seems to be clear-cutting, paving, and developing whatever it wants. So far I've seen little room for little community input and little attention paid to real environmental consequences.
The Olympics will come and go, but we will be here for a long time. Don't expect VANOC to look out for your best interests. It's looking out for itself, and for the IOC.
The Provincial Liberals' Bill 75 says "We don't care what you want done in your backyard, we're going to tell you what we want done in your backyard" - and you better believe that Victoria and VANOC are close bedfellows.
From a 2003 Whistler Question article about Bill 75:
"Local MLA Ted Nebbeling defended the bill, saying it merely helps the government reduce the amount of red tape when a project comes up for approval.
As an example, he cited the Callaghan Valley, where a number of venues related to the 2010 Winter Olympics are planned.
“With the Callaghan, there is forestry impact, First Nations impact, environmental impact, and all these various agencies have to be involved in the approval of that project,” Nebbeling said.
“Because it’s in the SLRD (Squamish-Lillooet Regional District), you deal with the regi onal district as well. You get an enormous amount of benefit by coordinating (the approval process) as one strategy. Declaring it a significant project would force all these groups to come to the table and find ways to bring it to completion.”
But the bill is meeting with vocal and, it appears, widespread opposition.
Eckhard Zeidler, a board member with the Association of Whistler Area Residents for the Environment (AWARE), said that as written, the bill would give Cabinet and individual ministers sweeping new powers.
“What’s really scary about it is it trumps local government authority,” Zeidler said. “I don’t see anything barring them from putting a nuclear reactor in the RMOW if they see fit, over the wishes of local residents.
“We stand to get the surprise of our lives in Whistler if the Olympics is one of the things that they have in mind for this, because we could see things happening within our municipal boundaries that people don’t particularly want.
“This is just the latest in a great wave of things in this direction that are coming out of Victoria. If it’s passed, it’ll be just one of many things that local planners have to deal with. If Victoria wants to do something that doesn’t fit with what they’re doing, then our local planners will just be streamrolled.”
At Monday’s SLRD meeting, Susan Gimse, SLRD Area C director and a member of the Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) board, called Bill 75 anti-democratic.
A motion from Gimse opposing the proposed legislation passed by an 8-1 vote, with only Lillooet Mayor Greg Kamenka voting in opposition."
Scary, eh? Welcome to big-business BC, where developers' desires will trump municipal needs and plans. And one more reason not to vote for Ted. |
