Coun. Chris Pettingill was the only councillor to vote against Walmart’s plan to sell groceries at a Committee of Whole Meeting on November 19. His vote, however, had little to do with the company’s plans. It was the FortisBC pipeline on Finch Drive and Industrial Way that drove his opposing vote.
If you are wondering how the two could be possibly related, here is what he said.
“Unfortunately, I’m not going to be able to support this, and the primary reason is actually not the proponent’s fault, but the Fortis pipeline that’s going along Finch and Industrial. It’s an incredibly and unusually large pipeline close to human habitation,” he said.
He said Fortis was not providing the information he sought to make an honest decision.
“I’ve been asking Fortis and they did a presentation, and I told them clearly it was insufficient. The information they should provide is outlined, and they should have ideally…they are not willing to share it. Without that information, I am not comfortable with this being safe. So, my only tool as a local official is to think about land use and proximity to that pipeline. In the absence of the information, I have to say that this probably isn’t a safe thing. I have to go with the best information I have, and I would encourage us to find a way to get some better information, and we may have some further and hopefully soon, conversations about how we might do that. But at this point, unfortunately, that is a deal breaker for me.”
While he had a question or two about Active Transportation and increased car trips to Walmart, Pettingill focused on the FortisBC pipeline. He started by asking staff if they had received any updates from Fortis about the risk or consequence of their proposed pipeline along Finch and Industrial. The staff told him that all pipeline permit holders in BC must develop and implement a pipeline integrity management program, and the BC Energy Regulator confirmed that FortisBC has developed and implemented an integrity management program.
Not satisfied, Pettingill said he wanted a risk and consequence analysis, which the staff told him District had never asked for.
“I think what I’m looking for is risk and consequence analysis, because, basically in Canada, there’s very little regulation mandating public safety, from what I can tell, and it is our job. Through our land use decisions, it’s our opportunity to manage public safety, and it’s not a great system. I’m quite frustrated by it, but it’s sort of what we have, and so I’m looking for that understanding so I can make a decent decision about land use. But it sounds like then that we haven’t received it because we had asked for this previously and hadn’t had much luck, but they still haven’t provided some of the risk and consequence analysis that we’ve been asking for.”
The staff, however, told the Mayor that the District had never officially asked for any such analyses. It was at this point that Mayor looked at Pettingill somewhat pleadingly, asked him not to derail the meeting and brought the discussion back to what the councillors had gathered for: Walmart and its plans to sell groceries.
In the end, the motion passed with Coun. Chris Pettingill opposed.
Lynda says
I think we have enough grocery stores! Walmart should carry more Walmart stuff, toys,clothes, health and beauty, things we need….which our Walmart is lacking on Squamish needs (as I know a lot of people that won’t even shop there at all, because they never have what their looking for..and the shelves are never stocked ) what’s the point if the store can’t keep up!
Really? says
Did you ever stop to think that maybe the reason the shelves aren’t fully stocked is because of the volume of sales happening and that’s why they can’t keep up? I do know that there has been a drastic increase in the amount of grocery products shipped to this store in the last few years….to me this indicates there are not enough grocery stores in Squamish – certainly not ones that aren’t overcharging. If you haven’t shopped for groceries anywhere but Squamish you might not realize how much more you’re paying for your groceries.
At issue here isn’t Walmart but Councillor Pettingill’s reasoning behind not supporting this. Will he propose that the entire Business Park be shut down/moved? Or is he just being Petty Pettingill because he didn’t manage to shut down Fortis completely?
Jackson Gostein says
While I am a big proponent of green technology, It’s disappointing to see the greenwashing the Chris is pushing. It’s disturbing to see the level of ideology and religious fervour, which with which opponents of the pipeline use it as a values issue on every topic.
Yes, we need to de-invest from fossil fuels, but we don’t have other good technologies and at present LNG is the cleanest, safest possible fuel that there is.
The level of privilege and disconnect that some wealthy members of this town seem to exhibit while there are many of us that are struggling to make a living and depend on natural resources for that living.
Come down from your ivory tower, Chris. Come talk to the folks on the government Road who depend on LNG to heat their homes and make a living.
Don’t worry, we’ll be the ones shopping at Walmart for cheap groceries. It won’t affect you at all.
Bob says
Sheer madness. Has anyone ever stopped to think that in this nepotistic one horse town, that there’s a lot going on behind the scenes at these grocery stores that keeps the stocks low for those of us that aren’t employed there or have relatives that are?
Drew says
Chris has started to remind me of a certain type of politician down south. I will let you guess who.
Think an arrogant rabble rouser, doesn’t care for facts or other people’s opinions, works to align public policy with his narrow political agenda. In election time, this polician sways voters with emotional rhetoric, who think of him as a fighter fighting the good fight, the one they must win, whatever the cost or consequences. They will continue to support him, however unhinged, conspiratorial or ridiculous he sounds.
Those who don’t believe in his ideology regard him as a dangerous idiot and wonder how he got public office in the first place. Who comes to mind ? Were you thinking Trump ? Or is it Putin ?
Chris has now started to exhibit another trait psychologist have started using to define Trumpaian antics: Disinhibition. Well, it’s the very opposite of inhibition, but there is a nice pathological ring to it. It’s the utter inability to not say inappropriate things. In other words, you start rambling about things you wouldn’t otherwise in polite company. In this, Chris has good company in his VP-elect, Lauren Greenlaw, who takes a certain pride in saying things you would rather keep quiet about for risk of looking like a fool. She reminds one of Sara Palin but only from the other end of the political spectrum.