Critical Environmental Issues in Canada

The Saturday, April 3rd edition of The Globe and Mail contains three articles that should concern us all and call our government to account.

“Troubled Waters” by Alexandra Morton describes the disastrous decline of wild salmon populations on Canada’s west coast. The article states: “Salmon farming in Canada was born on the wrong side of the law more than 30 years ago, and it has continued to bend the spirit and intention of Canadian fishery laws, no matter the successful legal challenges to its practices or the science measuring the harm it causes to wild fish.”  Morton cites instances of senior bureaucrats playing down and suppressing science reports on the impact of salmon farms on wild salmon. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) refused to acknowledge evidence of their own and other scientists about a decimating virus traced to Norway that caused heart damage and the rupture of red blood cells of chinook salmon. Only 5% of the late-run Fraser River sockeye salmon lived to return to the river in 2020. Morton decries the government’s act of hiding evidence of an epidemic that could wipe out the last of the salmon in the Fraser River, the largest salmon river in the world. The renowned biologist issues a warning: This is a moment after which B.C. will never be the same.  Many wild salmon populations can no longer decline; if this abuse continues, they can only vanish.”

In this same issue of The Globe and Mail, “Delta in danger: Time is running out for Vancouver’s ecological wonderland” is equally troubling. Margaret Munroe, a Vancouver-based journalist describes abuses of journalists and wildlife photographers, and human traffic that has battered the Fraser estuary, one of the richest and dynamic ecosystems on earth.  In the past 200 years, the landscape has been transformed “Grizzlies and elk are long gone, and less than 30 percent of the wild habitat remains.”  The floodplain has been drained and diked to allow for farms and the sprawl of Metro Vancouver.  The Port of Vancouver’s plan for a 3.5 billion dollar expansion of a shipping terminal and a ship-to-ship LNG marine refueling service, and the continued development and encroachment of the estuary threaten the wetlands on which chinook salmon depend and the killer whales that, in turn, rely on the salmon.   A recent UBC study concludes that there is an urgent need for action to protect and restore the estuary in which two-thirds of the 102 species have less than a 50% chance of survival over the next 25 years.     

Finally, the third article by two-time Olympian, Scott Niedermayer, “Old-growth forests are an invaluable resource we can’t afford to lose” evokes sadness. These once vast forests which have been growing from the middle ages have been mostly lost. Less than 3% of the province’s forested land is made up of big tree, old-growth forests, an area of only about 400,000 hectares. Many species of animals are endangered. The role of the forests in storing carbon dioxide and mitigating climate change is critical. Unless these old-growth forests are no longer logged, they will be gone forever from earth, our common home.

We need a government that exercises its responsibility to the world in placing the protection of our environment above economic self-interests.  We also need each of us to demand that our government fulfill its responsibility.      

-Sister Pat McKeon, csj

The Negotiators

They’re back, those four roving tom turkeys.  This morning, I spotted them shuffling between the rows of cars in the parking lot near the Scouts Canada premises.   They seemed to be collaborating seriously as they stepped along the path.  Well, what’s up?  I presume that Tom and his brother-in-law Tim have lured the accompanying two American relatives across the border seeking asylum for their families here in Canada.

According to environmental experts, these birds have roots in Virginia, USA.  They have deep concern for their families who are multiplying rapidly.  With the present government upset and trade talks, the future looks grim.

The sheltered spot along the banks of the Thames River looks inviting.  It is well treed for winter protection  and there are few wild predators.  Human beings are afoot but pose no threat.  Tom boasts to his friends of Canadian laws that protect their species.  Happily, gun control is stricter here  in our fair land.

How long will the trade talks continue?  In the meantime, I wonder when we will see Tillie Turkey arrive with her brood bobbing past the dining room window, nibbling a few blades of grass as they head to their new Canadian digs.  You’re doing good work, negotiators!  May the NAFTA trade talks results come to beneficial  fruition for all, as planned.

- By Sr. Eileen Foran

Recovering Democracy : Our Task as Citizens

There is a disconnect between government, citizens, and their elected representatives. Low voting rates, social media, Idle-No-More, Occupy Wall Street, and anti-pipeline protesters on BC’s Burnaby Mountain indicate that many of us believe that our Government is unresponsive to its citizens and to the welfare of society. 

Parliamentary democracy was established on the principle that members of parliament represent their electors and are responsible for calling government, i.e., the prime minister or provincial premier and his or her cabinet, to account. Thus they are to act independently in choosing a leader. Changes in the past century have resulted in leaders being elected by their political parties and being thus perceived as responsible to the party, not to members of their caucus. Increasingly power has been centered in the leader on whom members rely for nomination, promotion, recognition, or continued membership in the caucus. Brent Rathgeber was compelled to resign from the Conservative Party for refusing to amend his private member’s bill on public salary disclosures. Bill Casey was expelled from this same caucus in 2007 when he opposed a bill which violated the Atlantic Accord regarding the rights of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland to oil and gas revenues. Mr. Casey has criticized the Conservatives for actions such as instructing members how they are to vote in committees or having staff bureaucrats script “responses” in Question Period which are not answers but simply attacks on the opposition.  Mr. Casey is now the new Liberal nominee in a Nova Scotia riding for the coming federal election.

Back benchers speak from “talking points” rather than conviction; aware of their lack of power, they avoid honest debate or even attendance in Parliament. Many politicians leave Ottawa on Thursday or early Friday to spend time with constituents, tending to requests, concerns and complaints because the power of constituents to re-elect them outweighs fruitless efforts to make a difference in governing our nation. Powerful corporations and lobby groups rather than ordinary MPs influence policy and governance. Is it any wonder that cynicism has replaced respect for politicians and that our most qualified citizens are reluctant to enter politics.

And yet, recent events portend hope of a return to a situation in which leaders are accountable to elected representatives rather than MPs or MPPs being accountable to the leader. MP Michael Chong has received support from all political parties with his private member’s bill which posits new rules for riding nominations and provision for MP’s to remove a leader by secret ballot. In Manitoba where Premier Greg Selinger’s conflict with his cabinet led to resignation of several ministers, Mr. Selinger has been forced to back down with a promise to hold a leadership convention in March, 2015. All of us need to support a return to democracy by using our voices and pens to hold our elected representatives accountable for their actions on our behalf. If we want our most ethical and capable citizens to govern Canada we have to demand changes that will restore the rightful place of those whom we choose to represent us.

Pat McKeon CSJ