Re: Environmentalists score small victory, April 21 - 27
Analysing the decision making process around Ender Ilkay’s development proposal is like peeling an onion. The deeper you go, the more it stinks. The meeting of the Juan de Fuca Land Use Committee on April 19 revealed a very skewed and partisan political process. The five male committee members acted like the development proposal was a done deal, where public feedback was merely a formality. However one brave female on the committee stated her criticism of a “pseudo election process” where the only truly elected member of the Land Use Commitee is Mike Hicks. It turns out that one of the male members is the past president of the B.C. Association of Landowners. Many of the people making this momentous decision are property owners with vested interests in approving Ilkay's proposal. It makes me shudder to think that the future of those beautiful untamed wild west coast landscapes is in the hands of a few people who seem to have little interest in preserving them. It was disturbing to watch committee members turn a deaf ear to the impassioned opposition and vote five to two in favour of the developer. The integrity of this whole affair is questionable. The only worthwhile victory is one where those world-renowned lands are protected in perpetuity. The provincial or federal government needs to step in to make them parkland.
Doreen Marion Gee,
Victoria