Dear Editor,
Jumbo Glacier is melting as are Commander and Farnham glaciers and Glacier Dome. Their assigned futures are in the proposed Jumbo Glacier Resort’s (JGR) Controlled Recreation Area (CRA).
Reviewing my 2012 Jumbo Wild file, I found two letters to editors concerning the proposed JGR’s melting glaciers: Margret O’Sullivan’s, Sept. 4, 2012, Valley Echo, “Jumbo Resort A Threat To Glaciers” and, E. Irene Varty’s, Dec. 12, 2012, Valley Voice’s, “Will Melting Ice Affect Jumbo’s Resort?”.
Sean Rooney’s, Dec. 12, 2012, Valley Voice’s letter questions investor’s rationale supporting JGR’s melting glaciers, “This can only lead to people thinking there’s something else going on here, something to which the public is not privy.”
The West Kootenay Coalition for Jumbo Wild helped Joyce Nelson (researcher/writer) publish the May/June 1998 LYNX Newsletter in which the entire contents exposes the water privatizers behind JGR. National Bank (client of PR giant, Bursan-Marsteller’s Canadian affiliate, National Public Relations) is closely connected to current water privatization efforts underway in Canada. National Bank’s subsidiary, LevesqueBeaubienGeoffrion Inc. is actively lobbying for water privatization in Quebec and has a stake in Noverco Inc., which (with Hydro-Quebec) owns water privatizer GazMetropolitan (another client of B-M’s National Public Relations). National Bank’s directors include representatives from seven companies who are jockeying for position in what the financial press calls Canada’s privatized water a potential $90 billion industry.
Of particular interest is that three National Bank directors have strong connections to the Desmarais family’s Power Corp. Power Corp’s aging patriarch, Paul Desmarais (PM Jean Chretien’s in-law) has long been a member of David Rockefeller’s Trilateral Commission. Power Corp is partners with the world’s leading water privatizer, Compagnie Generale des Eaux of France, in a proposal for shared private ownership of the city of Montreal’s water system. Power Corp. has also long been involved in massive Canadian water export schemes like Grandco, which includes western Canadian water exporting.
By 1985 the Grandco consortium was Paul Desmarais’ brother, Louis (president), SNC Group, Underwood McLellan Ltd., and Bechtel Canada, and actively involved with water privatization businesses worldwide, although almost nothing was written about this during the early 1990s. Grandco consortium member, UMA Group’s subsidiary, UMA-KPA Engineering, consults for the Jumbo project.
The Environmental Assessment Office’s report notes that the Jumbo Glacier Resort’s water supply will be taken from groundwater sources at the “ultimate extraction rate” of 20 litres per second — that’s 1,728,000 litres per day!
A 1995 posting on Oberti’s website included UMA-KPA Engineering, P. Eng., Ferdinand Beaulac’s report attempting to appease public suspicions of the proponent’s intent.
Enter 2012, Joyce Nelson’s article, CETA and Jumbo Resort, Sept/Oct Watershed Sentinel, exposes the Canadian European Trade Agreement’s thirst for glacial water.
After creating the world’s longest waterslide, just think what JGR’s proponents might do with that crystalline liquid if they had 99 years renewable tenure to JGR’s meltdown.
Rowena Eloise
West Kootenay Coalition for Jumbo Wild, Argenta