Xeneca resorted to deception when it thought convenient and necessary to achieve its ends, misrepresenting cameras as belonging to a government ministry without permission from that ministry and then baldly justifying its deception and fraudulent behaviour saying that others are being unethical in the environmental assessment process. As long as Xeneca thinks it can make a profit to be made here this development will be pushed.
What will ultimately play a role in the fate of the Petawawa is multi-factored, but will be impacted in part by the reality that the number one leading development company proposing new dams on rivers accross Northern Ontario is Xeneca. This dam is just one in a matrix of projects on Xeneca's drawing board - all of which are ulimately supposed to return a healthy profit to investors. On most of these rivers Xeneca will have carte blanche, no or little scrutiny and therefore it will be to breeze through the compliance process, its plans "rubber stamped" and that = profit. On the Petawawa, however, it is facing huge opposition and push back at every step. From what I can see, it hasn't gotten buy in from the local government and business. Its actions are being vigilantly monitored and people need to push every level of government and official whose stamp of approval is necessary so as to prevent these fraudsters from circumventing any step in the process before any necessary permits are granted for any work to proceed. By making Xeneca jump every possible hurdle and by continually causing unforeseen contingencies and delays to the project, compliance costs increase exponentially, hopefully far outstripping every other project Xeneca has on the books. If the project becomes a financial "dog" Xeneca will face the wrath of investors who hold the purse strings. The measures necessary to protect spawning sturgeon for example and other necessary remediations to obtain permits must be so high that profitibality of this development is eliminated and therefore its worth to its investors will be nil, in contrast to other projects in which Xeneca is the leading proponent. If this happens in conjunction with Xeneca facing increasingly negative PR over the project such that investors get nervous, then the costs may just be too high.
Xenca will keep pushing and lying as long as they think there is money to be made.
Unlike the Kipawa, where the government itself was the dam proponent and in a conflict of interest, such that its concerns for liability pre-empted its ability to serve the public interest and where the local government in Laniel, Quebec supported the governent project "as is." Here the dynamics are different - a profit-driven private actor is proposing a dam on a pristine natural flowing river and government officials can exercise the role and responsibilities entrusted in them to act in the public interest and to treat the land as something we hold in trust for future generations. It is up to us "the public" to bring the pressure to bear such that they are compelled to fulfil their roles on behalf of the public and not cater to limited short term profit driven goals.
I just wanted to send out a big YEAH! and say how impressed with what Philip, Joanne, Mike and all the unamed activists hugely involved in this defence of the inherent value of undammed Petawawa have done so far. The growth in HOHW over three years is an example of that. Huge kudos, a big thanks to you all and keep up the pressure!
