False Accusations Against CERCA
E-mail sent on 5 th of April 2017 to CVRD Board of Directors
Dear Area Directors,The re-zoning application related to Crown Leases in the Cowichan Estuary has taking an ugly turn. Somebody is deliberately spreading false rumors in the Valley accusing CERCA of driving hundreds of jobs away from the estuary and the Cowichan Valley, deliberately amalgamating the re-zoning issue with Western Forest Products sawmill operations in Cowichan Bay, two totally un-related items. This likely politically motivated fear-mongering about job loss is totally unfounded and utterly irresponsible. To make it clear: there is no relationship between the re-zoning issue CERCA opposes for good reasons and Western Forest Products Sawmill operations in Cowichan Bay.CERCA does not oppose storage of forest products and forest product related stevedoring from the so called Westcan Terminal and dock facilities since both are allocated uses specified by the Leases currently subject to re-zoning. There is no threat to longshoreman jobs/contracts working for Western Stevedoring as long as stevedoring is confined to forest products as specified by the Lease agreements and their Provisos.Until today we have not received any answer to our questions of how many jobs are provided by Pacific Industrial Marine on the Terminal Area, and how many of those jobs are permanent, how many casual, and how many are union-jobs which pay union wages.Meanwhile CERCA has collected over 400 signatures from local constituents, mostly from Area D residents, opting against the proposed re-zoning. This is not the result of a concerted effort to collect signatures. With a bit of effort there could well be hundreds more judging by the general response from Valley constituents. The signature sheets will be hand-delivered by two CERCA Board Directors to John Lefebure as Chair of the CVRD Board of Directors. The signatures reflect how the constituents of Area D and the CVRD feel about this issue. Be reminded that estuary conservation also ranked highest amongst constituents of Area D contributing to the OCP for this area.We also understand that numerous personal letters had been sent to the Director of Electoral Area D opposing the re-zoning. We sincerely hope that these letters are shared with all other electoral area directors with a vote on this issue.Respectfully,Dr. Goetz Schuerholz, Chair CERCA