PORT Metro Vancouver is perhaps not feeling the love. Last week, it advertised for a communications and advertising agency "to develop and implement a communications program that will increase awareness and understanding of the port and its role in facilitating Canada's trade, primarily among residents of its bordering communities in the Lower Mainland."
One can only hope that the port does not seriously believe criticism of its activities will cease once its neigbouring citizens attend yet another open house for a lesson in economics and international trade.
The vast majority of North Shore residents and certainly its politicians and this paper wish the port all the success in the world. As the port goes, so go the economies of British Columbia and Canada.
And, at a local level, we recognize and appreciate the efforts Neptune Terminals and its president Jim Belsheim have made to give back to the community in the last couple of years.
None of this absolves the port from its responsibilities to the municipalities and residents that its component businesses impact.
When PMV considers expansion of terminal facilities, it would appear that "good-neighbour" considerations are mostly an afterthought, prompted by protests, rather than the first set of criteria applied to new applications.
Dust, noise and views are serious consideration to PMV's closest neighbours. Addressing those concerns and working to mitigate them would go a lot further to improving PMV's image than any new PR campaign.
