REESE: POLITICIANS BETRAY RESIDENTS!

[Oscar]

REESE: POLITICIANS BETRAY RESIDENTS

Date: Thu, 27 Sep 2012 10:03:05 -0600
From: bgreese@telus.net
To: entwork@hotmail.com
CC: janice.darling@hotmail.com

Subject: Message for Sask

In 2007 residents of Northern Alberta were shocked to discover that their elected officials representing multiple municipalities had sent letters of support to Energy Alberta for a nuclear plant at Lac Cardinal. Most people began to learn of this months after their councils had taken it upon themselves to welcome this industry into this area without any consultation with the people who elected them.

As more details of this betrayal became clear, people began to get angry and demand some accountability from these elected officials. These people were entrusted to look after our day to day municipal concerns such as maintaining our roads and looking after the infrastructure, not to welcome in a potentially dangerous industry that they knew absolutely nothing about.

The industry had done a great job of keeping things quiet and getting deals done behind closed doors as is their standard method of operation. Industry proponents expected resistance from the “usual suspects” but as it turned out, pushback came from people who were far more mainstream such as elderly farmers, lifelong conservatives, churchgoers and for the most part people who had never protested anything publicly before. This was a demographic the industry/government hadn’t counted on. It’s much easier to dismiss a few radical Greenpeace type tree huggers than your lifelong conservative grandmother.

Over the next few years opposition grew and those officials who had supported the project began to change their positions. Some municipalities rescinded their letters of support. Some began to back away from their original position in other ways. The town of Manning stated that since the project had been taken over by Bruce Power from Energy Alberta, the letter was no longer valid.

One council that stuck to its guns was the County of Northern Lights, host municipality for the nuke plant. Councillors gave a variety of reasons not to rescind the letter, some of which made no sense. As they dug in their heels over the issue, opposition only grew stronger. Councillors were badgered, hounded, ambushed, voted out of office and generally had their formerly peaceful lives disrupted until the dust finally settled in the spring of 2011 with the letter of support being rescinded. One can be certain that all of those involved in sending the original letter wished that they had never heard of Energy Alberta and Bruce Power.

These events demonstrate that our public officials can be made accountable for their actions. This was done with relatively few people, but with the majority supporting their position. It became quite clear that these elected officials did not have the authority, mandate or knowledge to make a decision of such magnitude without consulting their electorate. A very valuable lesson in democracy was learned by all.
I was elected to council in 2010.

Brent Reese
Councillor Ward 4 County of Northern lights
North Star Alberta