Dear Editor:
I was part of a delegation of representatives from all municipalities along the coal train route from White Rock through Surrey, and those affected by the Surrey Fraser Dock facility and resultant barge traffic from New Westminster to Texada Island last week at the Port Metro Vancouver offices at Canada Place. We were there to present them with our 400plus signed petitions, letters and a request for a meeting.
Of all the posters, placards, speeches, and letters at Canada Place, the most impressive presentation came from a high school student. He and some 40 others of his generation had evidently convinced port authority to allow them to make a presentation about the effects they saw in allowing Surrey Fraser Docks to proceed to facilitate U.S. coal exports via Canada. Alas, the port authority reneged on the promised meeting, ostensibly on the basis that the experts the students wanted to bring to the meeting were too one-sided and Fraser Surrey Docks had no experts to bring to the table in rebuttal!
I am relying on his account of events but, if true, the hypocrisy demonstrated by that action not only undermines the faith that youth should have in their "right to be heard" but is also demonstrative of how the Surrey Fraser Docks so-called "public consultation" is really a "public relations" exercise - a one-sided sham sanctioned by the port authority as they ink their rubber stamp.
Our local politicians here in New Westminster are to be lauded for their initiative to hold a public town hall meeting on Thursday at Douglas College with all parties invited to share their views on the issue. Even though Surrey Fraser Docks refused to have one of their open houses here, there is no reason to exclude them from a meeting we put together - both sides need to be heard, just like in a public hearing. On the assumption that the port authority attends, I am hoping this lad and his cohorts will be invited and allowed to finally make their presentation, despite their earlier shoddy treatment. By doing so, perhaps we can begin to restore the faith of the next generation in public institutions and due process.
E.C. "Ted" Eddy, New Westminster
