Sylvie Paillard
[email protected]
The Coalition to Save Eagleridge Bluffs is continuing its onslaught against the provincial government and the highway improvement project, this time lodging formal complaint with the Competition Bureau regarding a BC government advertisement entitled "The Facts About the Sea to Sky Highway Improvement Project" they say is misleading.
Squamish council added its voice to the melee during a council meeting Tuesday (April 18) when members denounced West Vancouver's attempt at circumventing a quarter of the entire highway project's budget for the first kilometer of roadway. Council passed a motion made by Coun. Corinne Lonsdaleto send a letter to Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon reminding the province that its first priority should be safety. It seems council may get its wish.
Although the coalition is claiming a small victory for a one-day delay of Eagleridge blasting, Falcon said the delay was not due to the group's tent city blockade, and the group will not influence the direction of the project.
""My resolve is full and total. There is not a chance in the world that we are changing direction," he said.
The mayor of West Vancouver, Pam Goldsmith-Jones, who once posed semi-nude in a calendar to oppose a highway through the Eagleridge Bluffs, told camped out protesters to give up the fight. But the coalition only ramped up their attack Tuesday by denouncing a provincial ad that appeared in the March 31 edition of the Vancouver Sun.
Due to formal complaints lodged by coalition members, the Competition Bureau is now looking into the legitimacy of the ad's claims regarding highway improvements at Eagleridge Bluffs, which the coalition opposes as unsafe and environmentally unsound.
The federally-run Competition Bureau is obligated to look into accusations if enough people sign a letter of complaint. Coalition media liaison Barbara Pettit said the minimum requirement of six names signed the letter. She said a variety of environmental, planning, legal and economic experts from various professional and educational institutions support the coalition's cause, but they cannot bring their names forward for fear of reprisal from the province, which funds their programs and research.
In a letter to the Vancouver Sun, Pettit questions several key points that the provincial ad addressed. The Ministry of Transportation (MoT) states that there was open dialogue that included 34 meetings in West Vancouver and a meeting with the Minister of Transportation, council and concerned residents for a tour of the Eagleridge Bluffs prior to making the decision 18 months ago. But Pettit asks: "How many times did MoT refuse to answer questions of fact posed by the Western Residents Association and the coalition? Why did the Ministry refuse to publish visuals of the overland route until the residents, in desperation, published their own best efforts?"
In response to the coalition's demand of a tunnel rather than an overland route, the Ministry ad stated: "a two-lane tunnel would have twice as many fatal crashes". Pettit said that the coalition desires a twin-tube tunnel, and the minister's constant comparison of a single tunnel with undivided lanes to an overland route is misleading. But even without comparison, Pettit said the planned overland route is still dangerous.
"Multiple driving decisions will have to be made in very short distances. The video clip showing the convergence and divergence of lanes draws gasps from viewers," she wrote.
In regards to environmental concerns, the provincial ad states: "the overland route would not cause significant environmental harm and could be built to minimize those effects" and "a tunnel would potentially drain the Larsen Creek watershed and impact the fish-bearing Nelson Creek." It also tells readers that West Vancouver had taken the province to court challenging the environmental assessment and lost.
The coalition states that according to the MoT's own report to the BC Environmental Assessment Office, dated August 2003, the Eagleridge Bluffs and Larson Creek Wetlands are the most sensitive ecosystems in the entire Sea to Sky corridor and are "extremely rare, unique, and highly susceptible to disturbance".
"Given their own assessment," asked Pettit, "how can MoT seriously contend that it can 'minimize' the effects of the overland route?"
The Competition Bureau's assessment could take several months. In the meantime, said Pettit, the coalition will continue to pressure provincial authorities and lobby for vocal public support.
