Grand Forks resident Donald Pharand says a “very serious public safety” issue has prompted him to run for mayor of Castlegar.
Pharand said in an interview that for the past couple of years he has been raising concerns about three active landslides above Revelstoke, known as the Downie slide, the St. Cyr slide, and the Little Chief slide. The latter is adjacent to and above the Mica dam.
“No one seems to be aware of these slides and the danger they pose to the well-being of everybody along the Columbia River from Revelstoke to Vancouver, Wash.,” Pharand said. “My goal is to inform the person on the street of the danger at hand.”
According to the Canadian Geotechnical Society, the Downie slide has been the subject of a major stabilization project, which is monitored and maintained by BC Hydro.
Pharand said he has been doing presentations on the issue in various places, but as “an old activist,” he feels that he needs to “enter the political realm to see if it would give me more clout in getting this message out.”
He said his preference would have been to run for office in Revelstoke, “but it’s five hours away. It’s quite a long drive for an 81-year-old.”
Castlegar, however, is on the Columbia River and within easy driving distance of Grand Forks. Pharand said winning the mayoralty would send a message that there is a strong public concern about the issue.
He suggests referendums be held on dismantling the Mica and Revelstoke dams. He fears any one of the slides could cause a tsunami that knocks out one or both of the dams, with catastrophic consequences for downstream communities on the Columbia River.
While he could have run for election in the Boundary, Pharand said he thought it was important to seek office in a community that is on the Columbia. “The people who have the power to turn this around, to take out the Mica, live on the Columbia,” he said. “That’s why it’s more of an impactful location to talk about this.”
Pharand also ran for the provincial Green Party in West Kootenay-Boundary in 2005.
The other mayoral candidates in Castlegar are incumbent councillors Brian Bogle and Sue Heaton-Sherstobitoff. Incumbent mayor Maria McFaddin is not seeking re-election.
Coincidentally, former Castlegar mayor Kirk Duff is running for mayor of Grand Forks. Duff moved to Grand Forks four years ago.
General voting day is Oct. 17.
