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Anti-Jumbo fires continue to burn

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More than 150 people came out Saturday for the anti-Jumbo Glacier Resort rally at Central School.

Chants of "Jumbo wild," echoed through Nelson's Central School gymnasium Saturday afternoon, as about 150 people came out show their continued opposition to the Jumbo Glacier Resort.

Protestors dressed in bear masks and carrying cardboard signs with slogans such as "grizzlies not gondolas" and "I want grizzlies," whistled and stomped their way through approximately 90-minute rally, organized by Nelson-Creston MLA Michelle Mungall and featuring several of her NDP colleagues from the Lower Mainland.

First proposed in 1991, the Jumbo resort project would see a $450 million year-round ski resort built at the foot of Jumbo Mountain in the Purcells. While the project hasn't managed to gain provincial approval in the last 20 years, Mungall says she's heard from Steve Thomson, minister for Natural Resource Operations, that a decision could be coming in the next few months.

"Maybe he's not going to make a decision this time, but maybe he is," Mungall told the crowd, adding the rally should send a message to the eventual winner of the current BC Liberal leadership race, who might be called on to deal with the issue.

Andy Shadrack, regional district director for Area D, laid much of the blame for the longevity of the Jumbo fight on the province's Environmental Assessment Act.

"It's got no teeth," Shadrack said. "It's time corporations in this province learn there are economic, social and environmental values beyond their own."

The rally was also the Nelson debut for NDP leadership hopeful Adrian Dix, who said if the Jumbo resort is built it could be a precursor to other controversial projects, such as a proposed pipeline that would link the Alberta oil sands with the B.C. coast.

"We have to win this," Dix said. "The entire province of B.C. is watching what happens here."

Critics of the resort say it would damage the grizzly bear population found in the Purcells, as well as the Jumbo Glacier itself. The Ktunaxa First Nation has also opposed the project, saying the area is an important spiritual site.