BC Residents Don't Vote Conservative - No to Stephen Harper and Marine Harvest, Cermaq and Grieg Seafood

British Columbia residents voted in high numbers against fish farms, more than 100,000 signing a petition to stop expansion, and to get fish farms out of out pristine ocean. See: https://www.change.org/p/restore-wild-salmon-ban-salmon-feedlots-in-bc.

The Conservatives, the Harper Government, did the opposite of what British Columbians want: they issued four more sites to fish farms in BC; they weakened the already weakened laws by bringing in new fish farm regs (See: my article on the recent Blacklock article: https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1880129387856188740#editor/target=post;postID=3089477178877178483;onPublishedMenu=posts;onClosedMenu=posts;postNum=6;src=postname; and they issued licences in BC for 9 years.

All of these actions are against what British Columbian voters want: we want DFO and the government to get on with saving wild Pacific salmon, and protecting the environment by putting fish farms on land.

Of the other federal parties, the Green Party has a specific policy against fish farms and will get them out of the water immediately after the election. See: https://www.greenparty.ca/en/policy/vision-green/economy/fisheries.

Please note that as of September 1, 2015, neither the Liberals nor NDP have stated policies to eliminate fish farms from BC waters. Those who support wild salmon, do not vote Liberal nor NDP.

In a province with 99.8% of all the wild salmon in Canada - some 73 million before fisheries in saltwater - salmon are an important issue, providing along with freshwater fishing $2.52 Billion, and with another $200 Million if the Georgia Strait chinook and coho stocks are brought back. In other words, $2.72 Billion. See my Pacific Salmon Foundation Salmon Steward editorial: http://onfishingdcreid.blogspot.ca/2015/05/pacific-salmon-foundation-psf-editorial.html. This post gives you links to all the references I used to derive these figures.

By comparison, fish farms, provide only $469 M revenue, or only 17 percent of what we receive from BC wild fish. Their sewage is a $10.4 Billion cost to BC taxpayers and voters. The Liberals and NDP need to get out in front of this issue by publicly stating policy to get fish farms out of the oceans.

Stephen Harper and the Conservatives Don’t Get BC – Atlantic Salmon Poster

As you can see from this Conservative Party election ad, Stephen Harper and the Conservatives don’t get BC. The salmon leaping on the ad is an Atlantic Salmon, not one of the five species of Pacific Salmon. All this ad does is make British Columbian’s angry, and confirm that DFO and the Conservatives don’t get BC.

As mentioned previously, virtually all British Columbians are against farmed Atlantic Salmon in BC. Some 110,000 citizens have signed a petition to stop fish farm expansion and to get fish farms out of our pristine ocean and put them on land where they belong. See: https://www.change.org/p/restore-wild-salmon-ban-salmon-feedlots-in-bc. But Stephen Harper and the Conservatives will not do what we want.

Instead, Harper has thrown $15Million in the BC pot for habitat restoration. You will know from many posts in the past few months that with the environmental laws weakened and scientists fired, DFO isn’t doing much on other fronts, either.

Now, there is some good news and some bad news about the $15Million. The good news is that it was given to the Pacific Salmon Foundation in BC. The PSF leverages such money between 4 to 7 times with contributions from BC residents and businesses.

The bad news is that it is a drop in the bucket. My estimate of money needed for habitat is $500 Million, and, by comparison, last year’s money spent on Vancouver Island was a measly $200,000.

If you look at the cost of a recent project, the Clay Bank on the Cowichan River, for instance, that 400 yards of earth removal cost $1.5 Million. When you consider that there are 70,000 culverts, and this is only one kind of damage that prevents fish passage for feeding or spawning in BC, it is easy to see that $500 Million will get used up pretty quickly.

Just so you know, my figure for pre-fishery, in-ocean BC salmon is 73 Million in an average year. But there are only 170,000 in-ocean adult Atlantic Salmon in more than half the country, some six provinces.

In other words, BC has 99.8% of the salmon in Canada. Harper doesn’t seem to get this. So much for John Duncan on Van Isle.

Key Document: BC Conservative Members Who Voted Against Wild BC Salmon

Here are the federal Conservative members elected in BC to take our views to Ottawa: Don Albas, John Duncan, Nina Grewal, Richard Harris, Russ Heibert, Randy Kamp, James Lunney, Colin Mayes, Cathy McLeod, James Moore, Andrew Saxton, Mark Strahl, Mark Warawa, John Weston, David Wilks, Alice Wong, Wai Young, and Bob Zimmer.

You want to remember these names for the next election. It is unlikely that many of them will be re-elected because of the environmental damage that the Omnibus Budget Bill, some 420 pages, will cause with their votes.

Stephen Harper's government has gutted the Fisheries Act of its salmon habitat protection clauses, 36 and 38. The Environmental Assessment Act has been rendered impotent. See a previous post to read what the Royal Society said in their report earlier this year on the government's handling of the environment on our three ocean borders.. It was, as the expression goes, a stinging indictment of environmental policy of Harper's Conservative government. See: http://fishfarmnews.blogspot.ca/2012/02/key-document-royal-society-of-canada.html.


Gutting the Fisheries Act also favours farmed salmon that BC residents overwhelmingly want on land in closed containers. You simply have to Google: fish farm diseases, to read for days. And Google: fish farm environmental damage, and read for days on damage to the environment.


And, there is the Enbridge pipeline, Run of River Power that no one in BC wants, and so on.