250 News, December 07, 2010
Kitimat, B.C. – A Kitimat councillor has stepped down from the Enbridge Community Advisory Board, calling the process a “sham”.
Randy Halyk says he originally joined the board because he felt that Kitimat should have a voice, that it was a good way to find out about the positives and negatives of the Northern Gateway Pipeline, and open a dialogue with Enbridge. However, he says the CAB has morphed since its early days and has degenerated into and Enbridge vehicle to stifle community participation.
“Throughout this time the group was changing, the vacant chairs where being filled, new faces appeared around the table but not one citizen of Kitimat only companies set to make a profit. The CAB is now ostensibly made up of project supporters from the Lower Mainland, from Terrace with a few from Kitimat including our EDO, with the remaining being Enbridge Staff.
Furthermore, I don’t know how you can call what remains, “a Community Advisory Board” when most members are from out of town and the region. “
Kitimat Council has voted for a resolution that it will stay neutral on the project and Halyk says he is bound to continue to support that plan. However, he says can no longer participate on the CAB and expect to maintain both his own integrity and that of Council’s. Halyk is urging his fellow members to sever all ties with the Enbridge CAB and find another way for Council to engage the company.
Halyk says sooner than later, Kitimat Council will have to take a side on the contentious pipeline project.
