When I first saw the No to Enbridge sign I didn鈥檛 give it much thought. To be honest, I wondered why it took so long for a group of concerned locals to express their opposition to Enbridge鈥檚 pipeline proposal in just such a way.
It鈥檚 not like these signs are unusual along the proposed pipeline route through Northern B.C. Last I checked, there was a bit of opposition to the whole idea of piping modified bitumen from Northern Alberta to the West Coast, across or under every stream and river in between.
At this point, seeing an anti-Enbridge sign is as surprising and newsworthy as tree-planters in 亚洲天堂 Lake. It鈥檚 part of the landscape up here.
It鈥檚 a little Johnny-come-lately when you think about it. The pipeline would run very near 亚洲天堂 Lake. If there was anyplace where you鈥檇 expect public concern over Enbridge鈥檚 plans, it鈥檚 here.
But other than the 亚洲天堂 Lake Band fence, anti-pipeline signage has been non-existent in town.
After the unmitigated horror of the disaster in Quebec that involved the transport of crude oil through Lac-M茅gantic, is anybody surprised that local residents and business owners might want to express their concern?
So why is it making headlines?
Regardless of why the sign is being challenged by the Village, there is no way for this to play itself out as anything other than a pro-industry town quashing anti-pipeline sentiment. Perception is usually more relevant than fact and detail.
You can walk into a bar seven nights a week, but don鈥檛 say you鈥檙e only there for the pop, even if you are. Who would believe you?
It鈥檚 not like the Village of 亚洲天堂 Lake needs to be worried about being perceived as anti-pipeline or anti-industry. Its official position of waiting for the outcome of the Joint Review Panel before expressing an opinion is well known.
The perception of the village鈥檚 neutrality on Enbridge will completely evaporate if that sign comes down. Taking it down will draw a lot more attention to anti-pipeline sentiment - and stoke it more - than anything the Lakes Clean Water society could have done.
Bear with me as a I shift gears here for a moment.
A long time ago, the city I was born in decided to pass a city council resolution making English the official language of city business.
They did this because they didn鈥檛 want to be put in a position were they would be forced to duplicate expensive paperwork through excessive demands for french-language city documents.
Nobody was asking the council of the time to produce French versions of all documents. This was a 鈥榡ust in case鈥� thing. The irony of a city with a French name, founded by French Canadian voyageurs, 鈥榖anning鈥� french was too rich to resist.
It was national news fodder for a while, and the Tragically Hip wrote a song about it. I don鈥檛 know how many times people asked me, once they found out where I was from, 鈥淪o you鈥檙e from that town that banned French?鈥�
Explaining the details just made it all seem more ridiculous. It was just easier to say, 鈥榊eah, we banned French,鈥� and move on to less strange conversation.
If the No to Enbridge sign comes down, get used to saying, 鈥榊eah, we鈥檙e that pro-Enbridge town.鈥�
