Letter to the Editor

Response to Doug Clovechok’s Feb. 8 letter to the editor:

Facts? Or simply saying what Bill Bennett tells you to say?

What does a government do when disaster happens on its watch, and absolutely everyone can see that it is entirely the responsibility of government and the Minister in charge? Hold a press conference, refuse to allow journalists to actually see the report that is the subject of the announcement, and then lie about its real contents.

And when the opposition calls out the government for its failure and deception, get failed BC Liberal candidates to pose as regular citizens with letters to the editor, written by BC Liberal hacks and Bill Bennett apologists.

What really happened at Mt. Polley? Who is really to blame? What does the report released on January 30, 2015 really say?

Following the official press conference where no one was allowed to see the document that was being presented, Vaughn Palmer of the Vancouver Sun got the full report and actually read it.

And here’s Palmer’s analysis: preceding the disaster, industry and the Mines ministry were playing a ‘dangerous game.’

Palmer clearly states, “(T)he engineering panel (that wrote the report that Mr. Clovechok didn’t read but is happy to comment on) had plenty to say about the sorry state of affairs that preceded the dam failure last August.”

Palmer continues: “Mount Polley was not a story of one flaw that went undetected for years with nothing to be done about it. Rather, it was characterized by a pattern of dubious behavior, margins of safety that skirted the edge of the cliff, little thought of worst-case scenarios, all factors in a disaster waiting to happen.”

And all this happened on Minister of Energy and Mines Bill Bennett’s watch. So on this issue, I think British Columbians would be better off believing the journalist who did his job on this file, rather than Mr. Clovechok who clearly does not know what he’s talking about.

Norm Macdonald,

Columbia River-Revelstoke MLA

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