The Written Word: May 18th

By Rafe Mair

The  report  from the Special Committee on Sustainable Aquaculture has been filed and one can make a very safe judgment that the Campbell government will do absolutely nothing about it. It doesn’t matter that over 70% of British Columbians want to see the Atlantic Salmon farms either onshore or gone altogether. The government’s paymaster which includes the fish farmers, want fish farms to stay.

Let’s get one thing straight. Gordon Campbell and his autocracy don’t give a good god damn about the environment generally. Campbell, back in 1995 while Leader of the Opposition, supported the tubing of the Kemano Completion Project because it would jeopardize Sockeye Salmon runs – it was a good move politically - and now approves the death sentence on millions of Pink salmon smolts because the cause of this destruction are political pals.

The one good thing that came out of all this is that Alexandra Morton, the brave woman of the Broughton Archipelago, has been thoroughly vindicated. She first brought to public attention that sea lice from nearby fish cages were slaughtering migrating wild salmon smolts. For this she was pilloried by the two senior governments, even threatened with jail.

It matters not that all the scientific evidence supports Ms Morton – the Campbell government puts far more stress on pleasing pals than it does on saving our precious salmon.

The Committee did a fine job. They listened to the evidence, traveled the BC coast and delivered a report that should guide the government.

The sad truth is that this report was sent down the sewer before the committee got started.

This isn’t a bad government we have in Victoria but an evil one that puts its own partisan politics well ahead of the public interest.

It is to weep. 

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