As a member of the Sea to Sky Fisheries Roundtable, I need to provide clarification on John Weston’s letter to the editor in the June 12 edition of the Squamish Chief — that our group is not supportive of the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline.
We do appreciate the opportunities John Weston has provided to meet with him, fellow Conservative MPs and the fisheries minister. Despite numerous meetings, the Conservative government’s track record on fisheries issues has been very poor. Our group feels our voice is not being heard by the decision-makers.
In order to pave the path for this pipeline, we’ve seen the Fisheries Act changed by this government to allow for serious harm to fish, where “serious harm to fish” is defined as “death of fish or any permanent alteration to, or destruction of, fish habitat.” Technically speaking, nothing in our world is “permanent,” given enough time. This legislation was enacted in 2013.
These changes were not the only action taken by the federal government to degrade fisheries. Many Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) habitat staff were let go. If a leak does happen along a pipeline, who will be there to monitor it?
It gets worse. Late last year the National Energy Board reached an agreement with the DFO to assess potential impacts from oil pipelines to fish and fish habitat. Does this mean the National Energy Board will assess aquatic environmental impacts of a pipeline? Experts have said the “NEB has no expertise to do this type of work.”
The Conservative government’s record on transparency and acting on recommendations related to fisheries is weak. One only has to look as far as the lack of action on the 75 recommendations of the $26 million Cohen Inquiry into the collapse of Fraser River sockeye. In short, an unprecedented amount of expertise and diligence went into this investigation, and Canadians believed their money was going towards finding solutions to protect salmon for future generations. It’s been well over a year since the final report was tabled, yet government has yet to provide an analysis of the final report, or detail how it will implement the recommendations.
Exporting raw bitumen is not good for the Canadian economy because it’s not a value-adding endeavour. It’s only good for a handful of large multinational oil companies. According to Robyn Allan, a respected economist, our elected officials have created a false dichotomy pitting Canadians that care about the environment against those that care about the economy.
Prime Minister Harper, when running for re-election in 2008, promised that bitumen would not be exported to Asia, but would be upgraded to synthetic crude oil in Alberta, keeping the jobs in Canada and eliminating the transport risk through B.C. One has to wonder why Stephen Harper has backed away from this promise. More often than not, it seems like the Prime Minister and cabinet are more akin to marketing executives for foreign multinational oil companies than elected officials who should be protecting the public interest, boosting our economy and protecting our environment.
Dave Brown
Vice-chair, Sea to Sky Fisheries Roundtable
Whistler
