By Bill Metcalfe, Today, TheTyee.ca
British Columbia's East Kootenay region is close to having a major, $450 million ski resort in its midst. The project is on its way to pioneering a new legal definition of a city as well -- a "mountain resort municipality" capable of existing for years without elected officials or even any residents. This latest twist in the 18-year effort to build the Jumbo Glacier resort in the Purcell Mountains west of Invermere has added fuel to local anger towards the development, while raising new questions about democracy and accountability in local government.
On August 4 the Regional District of East Kootenay (RDEK) decided it doesn't want the final say in whether the Jumbo real estate development proposal will go ahead, asking the provincial government to take over instead. The RDEK also wants the province to turn Jumbo into a mountain resort municipality.That decision followed a meeting about Jumbo earlier in the summer between the RDEK board and Bill Bennett, the minister of community services and rural development. Bennett is the MLA for Kootenay East and an avid Jumbo supporter. Several RDEK board members have declined to tell The Tyee what happened at that meeting with Bennett, saying the meeting was in-camera. And Bennett did not respond to a request for information about it.(more)
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