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Helipad needs a Whistler solution

by G. D. Maxwell

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There may well have been three cases since last summer where people who died might not have if the pilots of the single-engine helicopter they were being transported in had been able to land at WHCC. They were obviously very injured and it cannot be said they'd have survived anyway.

But that's not the point, is it?

The point is, it's going to happen. Somebody, probably more than one somebody, is going to die because their pilot can't land at WHCC and their lifesaving treatment is delayed.

So, the question I'd like to ask of the management of VCH is this: How many people are going to have to die before we see some action? How big a body count do you need to be shamed into finishing this job? Five? Ten? Twenty?

And to our MP, John Weston — John, could you please intervene with Transport Canada. Their requirements, ostensibly in the name of safety, may make perfect sense if WHCC were operating, say, a commercial heliport. But they're not. Since 1994 there have been zero injuries and no remarkable incidents landing single-engine choppers on the old helipad.

This is a classic case of bureaucratic think, which is to say, a one-size-fits-all rule that doesn't allow for deviation. This is the same kind of reasoning that makes Whistler treat water that doesn't need treating. Every jurisdiction is assumed to be Walkerton, Ontario. We have to treat our water as though we have pig farms or cattle feedlots in the watershed.

Any chance of getting a little more nuanced, guys? Same question: What body count will be enough for you to promulgate more sensible rules?

Okay, enough on that. I have no reason to believe VCH or Transport Canada has any intention of pulling their heads out of the sand.

I do still hold out hope for our very own town council though. Specifically, guys, really? Plastic bags again?

Even the Grade 6 class that started this latest round when they approached the mayor have backed off the whole banning alternative. It's dumb. It's ineffective. And it's the worst kind of greenwashing.

And if all that weren't enough, don't you really think staff has better things to do with its time? I mean, I've looked at the RMOW Corporate Plan and it seems to me like there are a lot more important things to be accomplished.

But let's say, for the sake of argument, you feel absolutely compelled to do something greenish. Ban plastic shopping bags? That is so lame, especially in light of all the heavy-duty plastic garbage bags the town uses every day, many of which aren't even close to being full when you replace them.

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