The following letter was sent to the Town of Gibsons and copied to Coast Reporter.
Word of mouth travels fairly quickly and, now, sad and discouraging news about The George proposal has reached out to Hopkins Landing.
This letter is not about The George, per se, that is for the Town of Gibsons elected officials, staff, and Town taxpayers to consider. The rest of us non-residents can only observe the process with interest, but from a distance; should it not succeed, we will not be subject to the necessary increase in Town taxes. But, should the George proceed, all of us on the south Coast will benefit to varying degrees.
A small clique of Coast residents, not all of whom live in the Town of Gibsons, are now submitting their disagreement in a socially unacceptable manner; they are conducting an abrasive and intimidating campaign comprising inaccurate, misrepresentative and misleading information, all disguised as supposed facts.
Multiple social media sites and an email list are being used to transmit this disinformation. And, now, there are letter-size posters being delivered to businesses in The Landing to threaten a boycott of their businesses unless they remove their "I Support The George" signs. This disrespectful behaviour is a repeat of previous years' anonymous postings on telephone poles impugning the honour of three members of Council.
This is not the society that many of us have worked hard to propagate and improve. Our society is based upon mutual respect for all citizens; and, certainly for those jurisdictional boundaries that apply. Freedom of speech is often quoted as the justification for many variations of behaviour today; but, this freedom is accompanied by society's expectation of responsibility.
Everyone is entitled an opinion, but each of us must communicate and manifest that opinion with decency, accuracy, and manners.
The Hon. John D. Reynolds, P.C.
Hopkins Landing
