Editor,
When will our local leaders stand up to the province on our behalf ["Council Split on GAS," The Chief, Sept. 11]? At the request of the Garibaldi at Squamish (GAS) developer, Squamish mayor and council postponed last year's scheduled public forum.
Again at the request of the GAS developer, they voted against what the people of Squamish want: impact information with regards to water, as well as the on-going costs involved with infrastructure replacement, fire protection, school seats, hospital beds, and public transit.
The reasoning behind the decision: they want to see what the province decides before they relay the desires of their community.
What about the businesses that depend on Brohm Ridge as is? What about all those local organizations and businesses that signed the coalition letter against GAS? Wouldn't it be prudent to send our community's concerns about GAS to the Province before they make their decision?
Why are mayor and certain council members giving in to the demands of the GAS developer, while simultaneously ignoring the hundreds of GAS opposition letters from their own constituents?
The province has made a few decisions over the past several years that are not in our community's best interest. Now they want to give us low paying resort jobs in exchange for the high paying ones we lost with the sale of BC Rail and the closure of the mill, while at the same time saddling us with a brand new community that may not generate enough tax dollars to pay for itself.
Let's crunch the numbers and do the math on whether or not the district can afford GAS in the long run. And while we're at it, let's make the GAS proponents answer the tough questions, despite what the province wants.
Jessica Reid
Squamish
