Shawnigan Lake – During the recent CBC radio interview with the Honourable Mary Polak, I was alarmed to hear about the significant amount of damage that has been done to the parkland immediately to the west of the proposed contaminated fill site in Shawnigan Lake.
Is it true that the Ministry of Energy and Mines will not act to protect the community forest and parklands neighbouring the operations of one of their permit holders?
After the incident at Mt. Polley, I did not think that ongoing disregard of compliance issues would be tolerated, especially when they impact a public park!
Apparently sending nasty letters to South Island Aggregates is completely ineffective, since the Ministry has been doing that since 2007.
If the Ministry of Energy and Mines cannot get this company to comply with the terms of their mining permit, I don’t see why the public should have any confidence that the company will comply with the terms of the new toxic fill permit either.
Alex Acton
Shawnigan Lake
