Canadian gold medal men?s hockey captain Scott Niedermayer has joined the residents of the Columbia Valley in calling on the Provincial government to keep the Jumbo Valley wild.

For over twenty years, locals have used every democratic tool available to them to show that they do not want a major resort built in the midst of the Purcell wilderness, 50 kms west of Invermere.

Local people have told their representatives repeatedly that the project simply does not make sense from a public policy point of view. Nor is it environmentally responsible.

Scott Niedermayer joins other internationally known figures such as world-renowned mountain climber and photographer Pat Morrow, Olympic gold medalist Beckie Scott and musician Bruce Cockburn in lending his name to the effort to see that the will of the people is respected in this matter. The Jumbo Valley must be kept wild.

My wife Karen and I first camped up in the Jumbo Valley in 1984 and most recently in 2008. Like most valleys it has had human activity over the years but it is still a beautiful and wild place that should be preserved.

When I was Mayor of Golden in the 1990?s, Kicking Horse Mountain Resort came to Golden. But before it proceeded we had a community referendum to determine whether or not the resort should be built. If the community had voted against the development, the resort would not have gone ahead. But with a 96 per cent approval it was clear the people wanted it.

What Scott Niedermayer understands is that British Columbia?s public lands are special and that decisions about how that land is used should sit with the people who know it best.

The government is considering whether or not to force Jumbo Glacier Resort on the people of the Columbia Valley. The people say no. And we thank Scott Niedermayer for standing with us.

Norm Macdonald MLA

Columbia River - Revelstoke