An editorial in the Pender Harbour and Egmont publication Harbour Spiel has angered many Powell River residents in its claim that Powell River shouldn’t be part of the Sunshine Coast.
The editorial, entitled “There can only be one ‘upper’ Sunshine Coast,” accuses “some envious Powell River marketeer, likely aiming to put some perfume on their odoriferous pulp mill” of borrowing the Sunshine Coast brand.
The piece then goes on to talk about how the city has poured salt on the wound by “making a desperate attempt to rebrand themselves as the ‘pearl’ of the Sunshine Coast—ostensibly casting the rest of us in with the oyster’s gooey bits.” Topping off the article is a proposed “Name our Northern Neighbour” contest to find Powell River a more suitable title.
Author Brian Lee admitted he has received some negative responses, but wants to remind everyone that he wrote the piece with humour in mind.
“It was written tongue in cheek, not to be taken seriously,” he said. “The goal was to provide some humour and riff on some historical confusion.”
He added that the target audience of the Harbour Spiel, the Pender Harbour area, already knows the magazine is rife with irony and satire. “I’ve had some negative responses from Powell Riverites, and I’ve had some positive responses from Powell Riverites once they realize it’s tongue in cheek,” he said.
Although humorous, his opinions weren’t conjured out of thin air. “I think maybe a lot of long-time locals don’t consider the Powell River area as part of the Sunshine Coast,” he said. “Geographically speaking, when we talk about the Sunshine Coast, we’re not including Powell River in the conversation.”
In the end, Lee explained that the editorial was meant to be larger than life and perhaps “create some friendly rivalry.” Only a few have entered the contest so far, but Lee said he’d love to have some entries from Powell River residents themselves.
City of Powell River Mayor Dave Formosa counts himself as one of the many Powell River residents bothered by the article.
“I thought it was a little over-the-top, and I thought it was a little rude,” he said. “We don’t need that kind of animosity carrying on, especially when we’re working so hard to work with the Sunshine Coast in so many regards.”
Formosa said he realized the editorial was written tongue in cheek, but still held that it was offensive. “I would prefer to think it was done in a joking manner, but there didn’t seem to be any punchline there.”
MLA Nicholas Simons, who represents Powell River-Sunshine Coast in the BC legislature, has also weighed in on the editorial. He pointed out on his website that the two areas were once called the Inner Coast and it was the territory of Coast Salish First Nations, who had place names “for almost every inch of it since time immemorial. They did not make a distinction between the two, although they had names for either side of the Jervis Inlet.”
Simons also wrote that the differences in the two areas unite them “more than BC Ferries and the Island Sky could ever deny” and described them as fraternal twins. “From someone who once lived on the Lower Sunshine Coast but who now lives in the middle Upper Sunshine Coast, I think my fellow Sunshine Coasters from the upper Lower Sunshine Coast in particular would agree that sunshine is sunshine and that a coast is a coast and we’re fortunate to both have both.”
Harbour Spiel, which is self-described as “informing, entertaining and infuriating,” has been in print since 1990. Lee took over the operation in 2006.
