Representatives of TransCanada told Smithers Town Council on Tuesday that if they could do it all over again, they would improve communication between their company and communities.
Kiel Giddens, public affairs manager for TransCanada and Tanner Woodman, who works at the company’s Prince George office, presented to council on March 26.
It was the first time the company presented to council since the fall 2018 election and the Oct. 2 final investment decision on the project, but Giddens said TransCanada and its Coastal GasLink project staff have learned that communication is critical.
“I won’t try to downplay it at all, but it has actually been a challenging time for our project. I’m sure here in Smithers people are well aware of the public attention on our project over the last number of months,” Giddens said during his project update, citing the work stoppage that occurred south of Houston.
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Coastal GasLink also suspended preparatory work on a construction camp site near Houston due to a Unist’ot’en claim of a “significant archaeological finding” on the site in February.
Giddens said the archaeological assessments are being finalized and work on the camp is expected to resume once they are completed, in the coming weeks.
During the question period of the presentation, Mayor Taylor Bachrach said it’s been a challenging time for the community as well, and asked what TransCanada has learned from the conflict.
Giddens said he could not speak on behalf of the RCMP, but that “continuous communication is absolutely critical.”
“The biggest thing we learned communication-wise is we need to provide more details and so that’s what we’re trying to do now,” Giddens said.
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Councillor Greg Brown took issue with something Giddens had communicated earlier in his presentation, about TransCanada working with the Town of Smithers.
“I’m just looking for the specific example where the Town of Smithers worked directly with your company,” Brown said. “I ask the question because I don’t recall. I just remember one-way conversation, presentations from your company.”
Mayor Bachrach said the Town of Smithers had the opportunity to participate in an environmental assessment working group, but chose not to, and Giddens apologized, making the distinction that it was the regional district their company had worked with.
“What we say matters,” Brown said. “We intentionally didn’t do that.”
In light of Brown’s comments, Councillor Lorne Benson decided to make a statement he had been saving for his councillor’s report.
“I get the sense that there might be a division within council,” Benson said. “I was encouraged to see the level of support that was demonstrated at the North Matters event that was hosted in Houston this past Saturday.”
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Benson noted the rally included representation from the Wet’suwet’en community.
“I just feel compelled to make it clear that there’s some mixed opinions with regard to the development of the project,” he said.
Councillor Frank Wray acknowledged the difficulty of coming to present in Smithers, a community divided.
“I appreciate Coastal GasLink trying to keep us updated,” he said.
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