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MPs don’t stand up for ocean’s well-being

At one point, Fisheries and Oceans Canada had a policy of ensuring that no negative elements would enter the aquatic environment, and should there be a question of negative effects, one would side with caution.

At one point, Fisheries and Oceans Canada had a policy of ensuring that no negative elements would enter the aquatic environment, and should there be a question of negative effects, one would side with caution.

However, with the removal of the science element in aquatic management and the prime principle in play now being corporate success, our environmental managers are shareholders in corporate development and growth. With the signing of inter-corporate agreements that ensure less national control of our water and environment, our federal government has ensured the demise of what we hold dear in Canada, namely clean air to breathe and water to drink.

Perhaps the most alarming development is unquestionable party control by the Prime Minister’s Office. On Vancouver Island, we have the Conservative party whip John Duncan and MP James Lunney. Both live near the ocean, yet are incapable of standing up to something blatantly wrong and dangerous. Lunney attempted a claim to fame with a Vitamin D day, but will not stand up to his party for the welfare of the planet.

Of course, Duncan’s job is to control those who would vote against Prime Minister Stephen Harper, but what a poor choice, especially when you see the Salish Sea with increased acidity due to fossil-fuel combustion, and now the introduction of pesticides to attempt to control sea lice. This problem can be solved simply by removing open-pen salmon farms from the ocean.

Failure to make good choices is personal. It is time to wake up and start being heard.

Bob Tritschler

Parksville