LETTER: Keyboard warriors, Facebook trolls and one intelligent question

Dear Editor,

One week has passed since our city council has met to discuss amongst other things the boil water advisory dilemma and the peoples reactions on social media and in general conversation.

I congratulate Councilman Gurvinder Randhawa by all I have read asked the only real question regarding this, he asked when? Thank you, common sense goes a long way in a crisis.

The acting Mayor attempted humour but it failed; what was abundantly clear though was his ability to deflect any criticism and make sure it didn’t land on him. When you are being paid to do a job the best thing one can do is to do the job, not stumble, bypass, neglect, deflect, shirk responsibilities.

Another Councilman stated perhaps the criticism and comments about the crisis came from “keyboard warriors” or “Facebook trolls”; how utterly immature and childish of a statement to the good people who put you in office…my family has lived here four generations, paid municipal taxes since the mid 1930’s, our children were born here, educated here, married here and we buried our dead here. Two generations have worn a uniform and served the country faithfully and no one in my family is a “keyboard warrior or Facebook troll”. You owe an apology to the community; learn to respect your Peers, your Elders, your Position and your Community or leave. I have to ponder what you are trying to start and why?

Perhaps the questions we should be asking are not to difficult to answer, questions like:

Is Phase 1 complete and accepted as done.

Has Phase 2 been started? If so then who is the contractor, how many people are working on the new dam, how many tons of rebar have been used, how many cubic meters of concrete have been poured to date.

At what percentage complete is Phase 2 today ? In what year will it be completely finished and ready for Phase 3.

We cannot get to the water upgrade until Phase 2 is complete which means it will be years until it is all completely done. Water comes from the two lakes so who made the decision not to build the water treatment plant here first, it would have been so easy to tie a new facility into the existing incoming water to the secondary system while Phases 1,2 and 3 were being funded and built.

There is a definite line between useful and useless, common sense is non-existent and we have to pay for that ineptitude. I have decided to award the very first Forrest Gump award to someone who thinks we are all perhaps keyboard warriors. The inscription on this invisible but noteworthy award simply says “stupid is as stupid does.”

READ MORE:LETTER - Without prejudice, on the boil water notice

Just wait until next provincial election when our current representative is able to be pensioned; our mayor will want to jump in and save our community from peril and despair in Victoria.

Common sense and clean drinking water are both lacking. No harm or malice is intended but clearly no one elected can see the forest because of the trees.

Glenn Boychuk

Prince Rupert