Who really speaks for Flin Flon area cottagers?
That’s been a hotly contested question ever since city council declared cottagers de facto Flin Flonners with a duty to financially support the municipality.
Officially, the cottagers are represented by North of 54 Cottage Owners Association, described by director Dale Powell as an elected, legal entity.
But some proponents of the city’s position, including MLA Clarence Pettersen, argue that North of 54 isn’t doing a very good job.
Addressing the Flin Flon and District Chamber of Commerce in May, Pettersen said some of his cottage area constituents don’t feel North of 54 is looking out for them.
It’s a “big problem,” Pettersen said, that there’s no one representing cottagers who have told
him they are willing to pay fire and municipal fees to Flin Flon.
But Powell has a completely different sense of the situation.
“We have meetings where all cottagers are invited to attend, and if there’s a majority of people who do not feel they’re being properly represented, then they need to elect a new executive,” he says.
Favour arrangement
There is no doubt that some cottagers – exact numbers are impossible to know – favour some
type of fiscal arrangement with the city. I have
spoken to them just as Pettersen has.
But no one can reasonably conclude that those cottagers are the majority, or even close to it. They may very well feel excluded from North of 54, but no more so than Flin Flonners who did not vote for Pettersen but still have him as their MLA.
The majority rules, of course. And in this case the majority of cottagers are clearly saying that becoming part of Flin Flon – in the physical rather than colloquial sense – is not in their best interests.
As much as that must disappoint Pettersen it is a position that deserves respect, just as Pettersen deserves respect as the MLA chosen by a majority of voters.
Does that mean that all talks between cottagers and the city should end here and now? No, because I still believe that there is room for negotiation between level-headed people. I still believe that city council can bring something new to the table – as can cottagers.
