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Editorial: Fear & politics in Port Moody

Two questions for Port Moody Mayor Rob Vagramov and Coun. Hunter Madsen:
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Two questions for Port Moody Mayor Rob Vagramov and Coun. Hunter Madsen regarding their successful action Tuesday to remove the road right-of-way from Bert Flinn Park and limit development on the PoMo portions of the Ioco lands:

What’s the rush? What are you afraid of?

With councillors Diana Dilworth and Meghan Lahti away this week, Vagramov/Madsen could easily have waited until the new year so that all councillors could be heard.

It’s troubling that they acted to effectively silence, in an official setting, two likely opposing voices.

And Vagramov’s claim that he didn’t know two colleagues were going to be away strains credulity.

Further, there’s no reason to act without knowing the legal and financial ramifications of these changes — it’s not like there are bulldozers being fired up at the edge of the forest.

Finally, it’s disingenuous for Vagramov to claim a mandate for these actions from the election or public feedback.

He won by a few hundred votes — hardly a ringing endorsement — and the public input, both in the summer and before Tuesday’s meeting, was heavily in favour of retaining the road option.