Just a quick recap on Tuesday's meeting at Straiton Hall.

We were pleased with the turnout --- about 75 people were in attendance, almost all of whom were Sumas Mountain residents.

All of the invited candidates attended --- John van Dongen (incumbent, Independent), Darryl Plecas (Liberal party), Simon Gibson (Liberal party), Preet Rai (NDP), Don Stahl (Conservative party), and Aird Flavelle (Green Party). This was great news, considering we are a fairly small community up here on the mountain, and the sole topic was gravel mines.

Since there are two ridings on the mountain, Abbotsford South and Abbotsford Mission, we invited candidates from both sides of the mountain to attend.

Because the format was mostly open-microphone, many questions were asked by the audience, including whether the candidates supported a moratorium on any new gravel mines on Sumas Mountain.

Simon Gibson indicated he would not support any new mines, although he wouldn't necessarily oppose expansion at-depth of existing mines.

John van Dongen would not commit to supporting a moratorium.

Darryl Plecas supported a moratorium on any new mines, and did not support outward expansion of current mines.

Don Stahl said he would support a moratorium on new mines, but stressed the importance of regulatory compliance on existing mines should they want to expand deeper.

Aird Flavelle was opposed to new mines, and also expressed concerns about expansion of existing mines under the current regulatory system.

All the candidates seemed to be in agreement that the proposed new mine around the Chadsey Lake and Inter-regional Park vicinity should not be approved.

However, all the candidates were generally in support of mining as an economic driver, and acknowledged its importance in that regard.

Some other highlights:

Although all the candidates were in favor of increased regulatory compliance for existing mines, Don Stahl stressed the importance of having more inspection personnel. Darryl Plecas supported heavier fines. John van Dongen did not disagree with the stiffer-fines concept, but indicated it could backfire if the fines were too high.

Simon Gibson indicated that he felt the gravel trucks should be required to have proper identification clearly visible on the truck so unsafe drivers could be quickly identified.

Other issues discussed included noise disturbances from the mines, truck safety, road damage from gravel trucks, and the general issue of the mines' impact on the property rights of local landowners.

When the candidates were asked if they would work to support and strengthen the property rights of landowners, they generally indicated they would, although Aird Flavelle expressed reservations and was not in total support of the concept of "property rights" per se.

Preet Rai, while generally supporting the institution of private property rights, indicated he would have to look into whether his opinion may be inconsistent with that of his party's official platform.

While it was encouraging that the candidates mostly acknowledged the importance of property rights, it was disappointing that none of the candidates stressed that private property rights are one of the cornerstones of this country, and Western civilization in general. Thousands of our forebears died for this very thing.

Some other memorable comments from the meeting:

• One of the candidates accidentally said that mountain residents don't pay much tax. Big laugh on that one.
• Another candidate indicated he doesn't want to see any more people moving onto Sumas Mountain, at least until a better plan is in place for how to use the mountain.
• One of the local miners wanted to know if the candidates would support his property rights as a landowner and gravel mine operator. Valid question.

Another thing that stood out --- the meeting was very courteous. Mountain residents came across as thoughtful and concerned landowners --- something the candidates will remember and respect.

This meeting was important --- we reminded our political representatives that we are serious about our property rights, particularly how they may be affected by mine expansion.

A big thank you to all of you who attended. We are making a difference.

Sumas Mountain Rural Property Owners Association