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Ministerial should look at this
Television reports say 300 people at a town hall meeting in Whitecourt last week voted almost unanimously for local government to keep investigating the nuclear generating station there.
Newspaper reports say the reception from “200’’ people was “cool’’ with most people taking a “wait and see’’ position.
Energy Alberta, the company proposing the multi-billion dollar plant, says almost 900 permanent, high quality jobs will be created by the plant.
Energy Alberta also says they have not decided on a location yet.
This news should be of great interest to the High Prairie Ministerial Association. High Prairie residents might recall the Association was unanimous in condemning a proposed casino in High Prairie. Their argument, besides the ill repute of gambling, would be the jobs created would be, in their words, “McJobs.’’ In other words, jobs paying so little they would not be worth the effort to bring them to town.
So, what about Energy Alberta?
One knows local governments are not making industrial development a priority.
Not to mention, most of the present councillors in the two big local governments, the MD and Town, ran for the hills over the controversy a casino was creating.
Can you imagine what they would do if a nuclear plant was on the table?
These are high quality jobs of all kinds. Maybe the Ministerial Association can run this. After all, what’s the cost of a couple phone calls and maybe a few stamps?
Regional
Environment issues
The company behind the nuclear plant proposed at Whitecourt is pulling out the stops to convince people the plant is safe.
Worldwide, there are about 10 plants under construction and 435 operating plants. Patrick Moore, a noted conservationist and former Greenpeace activist, was at the Whitecourt town hall meeting promoting the virtues of nuclear. Interestingly, a New Brunswick citizen living in the shadow of a generating station there says that right now, the big controversy in Brunswick is whether a proposed natural gas pipeline through New Brunswick is safe!
Lesser Slave Lake might be considered a natural home for a nuclear generator. While the town of Slave Lake is downstream, the town of Athabasca and city of Ft. McMurray are downstream from Whitecourt.
Jeff Burgar
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