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Mayor stands by comments on cell towers

Deferring to the federal experts at the CRTC and the relevant federal ministries
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Mayor stands by comments on cell towers

Re: “Properties residents don’t want cell tower”

In his letter to the Citizen, Mr. Leith accuses me of having a “cavalier attitude” toward my community. He says it’s “shocking” that I would “pass the buck to the feds” on the issue of cell phone tower safety.

For context, the comments he objects to were made in a council meeting earlier this month, where I clearly said that health issues related to cell towers are regulated at the federal level, and that we (the municipality) have to trust those who are responsible for establishing the regulations.

In response to a suggestion from a member of council that we defer consideration of a planned cell tower on Mt. Tzouhalem so we could do “our own research” on the health effects of these towers, I said that I wasn’t prepared to “squirrel down into a multitude of websites with a multitude of different opinions on this issue.” And I meant that.

Because squirrelling down into those websites can lead one very quickly to the kinds of conspiracy theories that say the COVID virus is spread by 5G. (That claim has actually led to vandalism of cell towers in Europe.)

That is why I also stand by the other thing I said, which is that “opinions (on this) are like belly buttons; everybody has one. (But) the feds regulate the standards and they are accountable.”

So if deferring to the federal experts at the CRTC and the relevant federal ministries is perceived as being “cavalier” about this, I’m sorry. But I stand by my comments.

Al Siebring, mayor

District of North Cowichan