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Letter: South Shuswap incorporation meeting makes for bad TV

Letter writer finds little to support decision-making process from CSRD streaming
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One can only bite one’s tongue so long before it begins to hurt.

Watching last Thursday night’s farcical episode of the Electoral Area C ‘Incorporation Hearings’, pushed me over the top – ouch!

The September meeting was bad enough, with the chairperson continually commenting about the benefits of incorporation. Wasn’t this committee supposed to be impartial, with an open mind, and only arriving at a decision after all of the evidential hearings were concluded?

As for the last week’s October meeting, what a waste of time. Following an opening statement by the Columbia Shuswap Regional District’s expert adviser, the camera focused solely on sheets of written material, ad nauseam. The poor lighting not only often made these pages illegible, but the camera remained focused in one spot for as long as 10-15 minutes without moving, while displaying three items on a page. There were no photo shoots of the speakers, and the background noise was often distracting, to the point of drowning out the speakers.

Unable to see who was speaking or watch their delivery, we soon found ourselves bored to tears, and craving the excitement of shows such as Let’s Make a Deal or Days of Our Lives. Truly a painful experience, hopefully never to be repeated.

As for questions from the general public, does Karen Brown, a staunch supporter of everything Mr. Demenok and the CSRD proposes, really fool anyone? If this standard of televised proceeding actually qualifies as a valued evidential hearing to help us taxpayers (thousands of residents) formulate an educated decision on incorporation, then you may as well conduct the vote now. Truly disappointing.

Read more: Column: South Shuswap incorporation study to get underway

Read more: Letter: Questions about South Shuswap incorporation

Ken Smith

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