Well, we argued last week how could Kelowna Mountain become a municipality when there's nothing there to incorporate yet.
It seems the provincial government beat them to the punch and has announced it will incorporate the controversial and oft-delayed Jumbo glacier resort in the Kootenays.
Opposed by the majority of Kootenay residents and the local native band, Jumbo is about to become B.C.'s newest mountain resort municipality.
That despite the fact not a soul lives in the remote wildnerness area and there's still no guarantee a ski resort will actually be built there.
Last May, the province quietly amended the Local Government Act, giving itself the power to declare such resort municipalities whether or not they are inhabited.
The province even went so far as to appoint a municipal council until one can be elected in the next civic election cycle. . . . And we thought Third World elections were rigged.
The Jumbo issue, pardon the pun, has been moving at glacial pace for the past two decades.
Much of the approval process was started under the NDP, so it's difficult to blame only the governing Liberals on this one. It should have been shot down from the beginning.
The lure of jobs and tourism is strong, but so is the remote area's wilderness value as home to grizzly bears and a vital source of drinking water for the region.
A $450-million resort with 5,500 beds is proposed in three phases. It will be a tall order to ensure that level of development does not adversely affect the environment.
- Managing Editor
Jon Manchester