To fulfil a campaign promise, newly minted municipal councillor and resident stuntman Peter Kent will soon set himself ablaze at the Loggers Sports Grounds.
And why shouldn’t he? After all, this is an unconventional town, anchored by a casino at one end and a monastery at the other end, a place where the pursuit of mammon in the here-and-now coexists with the promise of bliss in the hereafter.
It is also a community with a rebellious, in-your-face reputation. The bombing of a BC Hydro substation in the early 1980s was just one of many wayward activities carried out by the notorious Squamish Five, a group of self-styled “urban guerrillas.” During the late 90s two young employees at the Squamish McDonalds tried to unionize the local franchise. Those efforts were eventually quashed by the burger giant. And 15 years ago, loggers in the Elaho Valley, many of whom hailed from Squamish, made news when they put the boots to a contingent of “tree huggers” who vandalized forestry equipment and blocked an access road.
But that was then. This is now. Besides, what do those activities have to do with Councillor Kent’s pending pyrotechnics display? Craig Davidiuk, the official spokesperson for the local TEDx affiliate and president of Squamish Free Media, says it’s all about optics. According to Davidiuk, this stunt is “truly embarrassing” because it will send the wrong message about Squamish. In his estimation once the video goes viral we will be mercilessly lampooned by the sensationalist American media. As he put it on The Squamish Chief’s website, “One week we are on the New York Times list of top places to go because of our natural beauty and tourism appeal. Next week we have a politician setting himself on fire.”
In response, another blogger, posting under the “Squamish Teenager” moniker, told Davidiuk to chill out because “Squamish is hardwired for adventure and Peter Kent is my kind of guy.”
Elsewhere, a participant on the CBC Vancouver news website cut to the chase with this message: “Now we can literally tell a politician, ‘Liar liar pants on fire,’ lol.”
One commentator figured the whole episode was “insulting” because stunts like this “infantilize” voters. A fellow traveller warned that politicians who make off-the-wall campaign promises “should be removed from public office and placed into a public institution.” And the same blog featured this irreverent tidbit of keyboard punditry: “Squamish sounds like the name of a fruit or vegetable.”
Still, there is a saying in the business world that all publicity is good publicity. If that adage holds true, then this event may end up generating an abundance of free exposure and destination marketing for a town intent on taking its tourism sector to the next level.
