Do you remember Weldwood and Krog?
By Julian Guntensperger
Thursday, May 12 2005
You will, I am sure, recall that back in the days when Susan Yates and I were Trustees for Gabriola Island on The Islands Trust, we were embroiled in a most acrimonious debate about the future of the Weldwood lands which comprised almost 1/3 of the area of Gabriola Island. The issue was rather complex and as trustees, Susan and I were obliged to keep our minds open to both sides of the debate. This was not easy to do because one particular clique, were prepared to stop at nothing to have their point of view prevail. The propagation of all kinds of misinformation and total falsehoods was one of their tactics. So were hurtful personal attacks on both Susan and me. Susan and I had to deal with this daily and still listen to both sides of the argument and weigh the facts as dispassionately as possible.
Whether the Weldwood proposition was good for the Island or not, was lost in the fog of anti "Big Company" ideology.
Leonard Krog was of great assistance in providing that clique with a public statement to the effect that the Weldwood forest lands were protected from logging by existing laws. This was manifestly false and Krog knew that or should have. He was reluctantly forced to acknowledge that fact in writing but by then the damage had been done. In the event, the anti-Weldwood faction prevailed and, of course, the lands, which would have been park-land protected forever from logging or development, were instead clearcut. Weldwood sold the forest land to a small local entepreneur, who promptly clearcut it. I guess the fact that it was a small local guy, not a big company, who destroyed the forest, made it OK.
Big Company = Bad.
Attacking Big Companies = Good!
But it destroyed the forest and robbed the island of a beautiful park nonetheless.
Krog and many others were so blinded by the fact that Weldwood was a big successful company that telling lies to thwart them seemed virtuous to them no matter what the truth was and no matter what the consequences were
Leonard Krog bears a serious share of the responsibility for the fact that Gabriola Island has far less than its fair share of parkland. Of course this whole matter was lost in the shadow of Bingogate and the other NDP scandals of the time. And eventually the forest will grow back and maybe in the near future there will be another chance to save it.
|
