Saturday, October 3, 2009

Dejavu all over again?

Watch for these attempts to disarm us:

They may underplay the company's foreign ownership and overplay its experience:

Their media campaign will likely be professional, friendly and relentless. Expect to see them in all the local newspapers in various forms including advertisements with the the company's name and logo accompanied; pictures of the company's representatives surrounded by local and provincial politicians and officials;

Expect rhetoric about responsible industry leadership, with a local heritage and world-wide expertise;

Expect commentary emphasizing Environmental Stewardship profiling the wetlands near their properties;

Expect generous donations made to various Community programs, such as the arts, education, sports\recreation, and conservation groups.Watch for these attempts to divide and conquer the Community;

Businesses and individuals encountering the immediate negative financial impacts from the proposed quarry, such local realtors and homeowners with homes for sale, may be pitted against the Community as a whole;

They will likely avoid having an open debate of the issue with knowledgeable people;

Community Open Houses hosted to "provide more information about the project and offer Community members the opportunity to ask questions and give feedback" provide very little detailed information, and only a continuation of the general assurances that everything will be OK;

Selected employees may even move in to the proposed quarry neighbourhood to demonstrate that it's alright to live next to a quarry;

I bet you are thinking this relates to Highlands.

WRONG. This was pulled word for word off the FORCE website in the tactics being employed by St. Marys in the Flamborough quarry. (check the link: http://www.stopthequarry.ca/StMarys/StMarysCement.php)

Does sound awfully familiar though, doesn't it? Although then it would, since both the Lying Lowndes brothers have their fingers all over both of these "projects".

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