To the Editors of the Victoria Times-Colonist

by Ben Isitt

Re: Quigg v LGB9
I hope your newspaper's favourable editorial policy toward the Bear Mountain development does not inhibit the fair and accurate reporting of Robert Quigg's lawsuit against Len Barrie and his companies.

 

Mob for hire construction goons attack pacifist protesters  

 

Boosterist stories such as the Florida Panther's article in today's newspaper, like yesterday's coverage of boulevard improvement programmes in Langford and similar documented coverage over the past 12 months, demonstrate a clear pattern of pursuing an editorial agenda under the auspices of news reporting.

 

This pattern appears to have prevented the publication of unseemly details relating to the Bear Mountain land assembly and interchange project: the granting of 243 acres of Crown land originally slated for Goldstream Provincial Park without public disclosure or open tendering; the removal of 35 acres of land from the Forest Land Reserve, following a last-minute plea to BC cabinet minister Stan Hagen; the sale of 180 acres of Skirt Mt. land by Langford councillor John Goudy, with the promise of "$10,000 for every lot sold" and Goudy's later participation in Bear Mountain Interchange decision-making; CRD chairwoman (and Langford deputy mayor) Denise Blackwell's apparent conflict of interest relating to her employment with the BC Archeology Branch and her role in Langford decision-making that has negatively impacted caves and other cultural heritage sites in the vicinity of the proposed interchange and the Skirt Mountain summit. The Times Colonist has been provided with such information since December 2006 and chosen not to pursue these news-worthy stories.
 
Your newspaper has reported prominently -- and commented on -- threatened legal action against critics of Bear Mountain and its interchange. So it seems completely reasonable to expect coverage of equal scope and intensity for an actual lawsuit against the developer.
 
Ben Isitt, PhD

Hi friends,

You may have heard about the "rent-a-mob" in Langford this morning (~100 Bear Mountain construction workers paid double-time by developers to intimidate and assault peaceful protesters. It was a shameful scene that demands a strong community response.

 

Please help ensure a big turnout for Saturday's hike -- plan to attend and call up friends and family encouraging them to attend as well:

COMMUNITY HIKE UP SPAET MOUNTAIN
Meet SATURDAY, 12 NOON
Shell Station (Trans-Canada Highway at Spencer Road)

Bring snacks, water, lunch, good footwear, raingear, warm clothing and cameras.
The hike will proceed on public land through high-elevation Garry Oak meadows threatened by Bear Mountain Spawl near the Goldstream Park boundary.

WE HAVE STRENGTH IN NUMBERS!

Ben

 

 

 

 

Bob McKenzie, Publisher
Times Colonist
2621 Douglas Street
Victoria, BC  V8T 4M2
 
CC: Lucinda Chodan, Editor-in-Chief, Times Colonist
Rollie Rose, Executive Director, BC Press Council

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