Skip to content

Radio towers saga makes its way to courtroom next week

I have been involved with the opposition to the proposed KRPI antenna power project in Point Roberts for about a year-and-ahalf. To recap, KRPI is a radio station located in Ferndale, Wash., that serves the Punjabi community in Surrey.

I have been involved with the opposition to the proposed KRPI antenna power project in Point Roberts for about a year-and-ahalf. To recap, KRPI is a radio station located in Ferndale, Wash., that serves the Punjabi community in Surrey. It is/was operated by, and controlled by, Sher-e-Punjab of Richmond through an American company called BBC Broadcasting Inc.

Its application to Whatcom County to construct a 50 KW tower array in Point Roberts was approved by the county planning department but subsequently rejected by the county hearing examiner and later by the county council (unanimously).

KRPI appealed the decision to the Skagit County Superior Court and that appeal is to be heard in Mount Vernon starting Oct. 7. If the appeal is successful, the proposal will go back to the hearing examiner for a public hearing; if it isn't successful, then it could be appealed to a higher appellate court in Washington.

Keep tuned on this if you live in Tsawwassen because the project could adversely affect any electronic devices you may use and possibly your health as well. I suggest you ask the candidates in the upcoming federal election to provide a detailed position on this issue to you.

Speaking of which, the federal election seems to be a yawner, with a large proportion of voters (including me) either undecided and/or uninterested.

I was in southern Ontario last week and found a similar attitude there as well, except that Conservative support seems to have slipped in the 905 region of the GTA.

Since there are two centre-left parties (excluding the Greens) and one centre-right party, the math indicates a Conservative minority if the undecided vote breaks evenly. None of the parties is presenting a set of well thought-out policies, notwithstanding having had four years to develop them.

It seems as if they are running only to retain their jobs, and are doing that begrudgingly. Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau says he will increase the taxes on "A" and give the money to "B" (Robin Hood socialism), without clearly describing who "A" and "B" are. The premise is that you will infer that you are "B" and vote for him, but check whether you are an "A" before you do so.

The Liberal proposal to run deficits for three years to build infrastructure projects is impractical when such projects take five to 10 years to plan, design and build.

The Conservatives promise to avoid deficit financing, but they have run deficits each year since 2009. The NDP offers balanced budgets and expensive new social programs. This requires more revenue.

My interactions with the federal government - taxes, airports, passports, the border - are generally less enjoyable ones. The federal service that I do appreciate receiving is daily mail delivery to my door and an occasional discussion with the mail carrier.

At least one party promises to continue delivering the mail; I think I'll vote for that one.