Pan Pacific Aggregates' (PPA) Mission Hill project has caused a stir not only in Sechelt, but also across the pond in the United Kingdom.
Coast Reporter has learned that its question of the week on-line feature regarding support for the Mission Hill project has been responded to en masse by PPA commenters living off-Coast.
Community watchdog group Save our Sunshine Coast (SOSC) discovered the voting irregularities as well as several harsh comments about the Sunshine Coast posted on the London South East investors' blog. PPA is traded on the London Stock Exchange.
One poster claimed to have voted as many as seven times in the poll and asked others on the message board to help pump up the "yes" vote.
Another poster signed in as panicinair wrote, "good to see the poll reflecting what the community really needs PPA to mine the shit out of the sunshine coast."
The weekly poll had over 500 responses, mostly in support of PPA, when Coast Reporter's web administrators confirmed the poll had been compromised and disabled it on Tuesday, Sept. 29. The question of the week rarely prompts more than 200 responses.
Another blog poster signed in as rossers predicted PPA would get its mining permit regardless of how it would affect people on the Coast.
"Like it or not (depending on your point of view), in this situation a business will nearly always win, particularly if it brings gainful employment. Although granted it make take a bit longer and may cost a bit more So as shareholder roll on ugly trucks and destructive mining asap !!!!"
Rossers later wrote, "Wait till they twig the voters are mainly a bunch of greedy PI's in the UK a billion miles away !!"
Someone identified as spikey hedgehog acknowledged the community upset over the Mission Hill project, but said that suited him fine anyway.
"It looks like the locals are majorly hacked off with PPA But is it enough to overturn the decision to re-open Sechelt? To be honest, I would be pretty hacked off if I lived there but I don't so it's ok," he wrote.
One user tagged yoohoo presciently cautioned other posters against voting too much and the blowback it could cause.
"I think the voting thing is a tad overdone and if we are found out it could cause damage to the reputation of the company the board is not immune to derampers and they mite spill beans even if you do vote please be discreet about it thanks."
Save Our Sunshine Coast spokesman Michael Poole said the messages by PPA shareholders are typical.
"The manipulation of the Coast Reporter's poll by speculators on the London Stock Exchange merely confirms what Save Our Sunshine Coast has long suspected: PPA is first and foremost a stock play by people whose real interest is making a quick buck on the market They couldn't care less about any impact their machinations have on the community. The good news is that they have probably written a one-way ticket for PPA out of the Sunshine Coast," Poole said in a statement to Coast Reporter.
London South East's disclaimer states all chat messages are the opinion of the authors and the company does not authorize or approve any of the content in them.
Repeated calls and e-mails to PPA's Abbotsford and London, England offices seeking comment from company officials were not returned by press deadline Thursday morning.
Editor's note: The blog quotes are verbatim, including spelling and grammatical errors.
