The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Attentive to citizen concerns or afraid to take a stand? Those are the conflicting labels that residents will surely - and unfairly - be placing on Flin Flon City Council this week. After weeks of debate, council defeated a resolution that would have allowed the SPCA to build an animal shelter along Golf Road, near McKeen Avenue, a residential area. As unpleasant as this whole process has been for residents both opposed and in favour of that location, there are some positives to be gleaned. For one, this city council, not yet a year in office, showed that they are not sheep. So often elected officials engage in groupthink. They go with the flow, afraid to vote independently lest they rock the civic boat. The fact that council reached the narrowest of rulings, 4-3, shows that its members won't let themselves be swayed by how the person beside them is voting. Both sides stuck to their guns, and that bodes well for our democracy. Another positive - and I say this without taking a position on the Golf Road site - is that council did not appear to vote based on raw numbers. What I mean is that the amount of people opposed to the Golf Road location appeared relatively small. The number of those who favoured the location, both within and outside of the SPCA, was probably much larger. Council's decision showed appreciation for the important principle that, even in democracies, the majority should not always have rule over the minority. By no means do I suggest the supporters of the Golf Road site were unreceptive to minority concerns. After hearing and seeing the supporters (and opponents, for that matter) speak prior to the vote, it's hard to believe they were playing politics with this important issue. Indeed they displayed vast courage for holding firm in the face of some of the most immensely vocal opposition to hit City Hall in a long time. A final positive coming out of this contentious situation is that council still appears committed to ensuring the SPCA shelter finds a home. The SPCA does not believe council's other proposed site, beside the Recycling Centre and Eecol Electric building on Timber Lane, is at all suitable. But an alternate site, one that works for everyone, must be found. The Flin Flon area needs an animal shelter much more than most people realize. Let's all hope for a workable solution. Local Angle runs Fridays.
