With BC salmon stocks showing signs in recent years of serious troubles Steve Harper seems intent on making their plight much worse yet. If the name Enbridge comes to mind, you're on the right track.
The Victoria Times Colonist's Jack Knox has written a chilling account of plans by the Harper regime to gut environmental protections of coastal fish habitats and to 'modernize' environmental assessment legislation to fast-track industrial development.
Knox refers to a story out of Ottawa that, "dealt with the leak of a proposal to weaken 36-year old rules protecting fish habitat, the intent being to clear some of the barriers faced by projects such as the proposed Enbridge pipeline from Alberta to Kitimat."
"The fisheries minister's office reacted to the leak with a statement saying 'federal fisheries policies designed to protect fish are outdated and unfocused in terms of balancing environmental and economic realities.'"
What a thinly veiled admission that, if it comes to British Columbia salmon or Athabasca bitumen, for Steve Harper it's the Great State of Alberta all the way. That peckerheaded prime minister means to have his way no matter the danger or cost to B.C.
Why is the fisheries minister more concerned with the economy then the protection of fisheries? Isn't that Flaherty's job?
ReplyDeleteThat whole crew is screwed up. We have our Anti-Labor Minister Lisa Raitt, our Oil Minister Peter Kent, and of course our Minister of Unscience Gary Goodyear.
No, no you don't understand. In HarperLand a fisheries minister's job is to make sure those fisheries don't get in the way of SHarper's plans.
ReplyDelete