Director pushes for Salmo-Creston cell service
By John Boivin Local Journalism Initiative
The director for Area C of the Regional District of Central Kootenay says he’s going to get cell phone service for the Kootenay Pass between Salmo and Creston pass if it’s the last thing he does.
And Larry Binks told the RDCK board last week he’s going to the top to get it done.
“It’s been a burning issue for me for a number of years,” he told the RDCK board.
“I served up here and when I retired I moved up here, and when I got elected it became a real issue, because I kept getting complaints from everybody.”
Binks says it doesn’t make sense that there’s no cell service on what is the highest commercial vehicle mountain pass in North America. But he says he’s getting nowhere in dealing with Telus, which provides cell service in the area.
“Quite frankly there were clear in their decision not to do it because a) there’s no money in it and b) it wouldn’t work because there’s no power up there,” he says. Binks says the fact other regions have cell service with towers powered by battery or solar energy makes that argument thin.
Binks says the situation is intolerable, with families having to stay overnight in broken-down cars or vehicles waiting hours after an accident for help.
So he plans to meet with the minister responsible for local government at next week’s Union of BC Municipalities conference — September 26-30 at the Victoria Conference Centre — to push for a resolution to the problem.
“(I want to) ask him for help to put pressure on the cell service provider to get off their backside and get going on it,” he says. “I don’t intend to deal with Telus anymore.”
Binks says he won’t be running for re-election, so he plans to make this his ultimate accomplishment as a director.
