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Ernie Fedoruk is Vice President of the
Outdoor Writers of Canada and former B.C. Director with
the Northwest Outdoor Writers Association. Winner of
26 awards in the last 16 years, the sports/outdoors
columnist retired from a 48-year newspaper career in
1996.
Messages can be faxed to him at (250) 592-7090, or emailed
to efedoruk@islandnet.com
"A man's passion for fishing should not allow it
to interfere with his love of family. But if the glue
binds, then please consider the angler's passion also
a love for family." |
An open letter to Jean Chretien, enthusiastic golfer
(and also Prime Minister in Canada).
Jean,
You and I are strangers but I have some problems to lay at
your feet. Take a seat and hear me out. Pacific Coast fishermen,
both of the recreational and commercial variety, are upset
-- justifiably -- and were just swinging into high gear with
a letter-writing assault on David Anderson when you, you rascal,
took him out of the Fisheries Ministry chair and transferred
him to the Environment portfolio.
This was going to be a letter for Dave. Two problems: (1)
you hauled Anderson off the firing line and, (2) the lady
who writes my horoscope said Scorpio is on a plane that conflicts
with my animal so she told all us Tauruses not to be wasteful.
I don’t know how she found out, but I did spend time to research
and get a report on the State of Salmon for Anderson.
Je ne parle pas Francais tres bien so let me give it to
you in simple English: your Fisheries Ministry’s decision
to allow eight million pink salmon scoot past Victoria, without
challenge from seniors, youngsters and all citizens who take
this opportunity to put up some canned fish for personal use
during the next 10-12 months, is truly idiotic. Good help
is hard to get and I noticed even you have displayed frustration
in that area. Ottawa’s dipsticks are a good reason why Canada
should re-institute the death penalty once again, and quickly.
Before you send Herb Dhaliwal, Anderson’s successor, in for
serious action, give him some help. This is why I relay my
best advice to you, Jean. Fisheries’ decision was made not
to save only 14 coho from the Thompson River run, as Anderson
has insisted, but to appease Fraser River aboriginals who
threaten and extort because they discovered that is the best
way to manipulate your government. And your government condescends.
Anderson also fell for a line from amateurs. West Coast fishing
problem’s are compounded not only by amateurs and bureaucratic
incompetence, but by your Justice Department. Why does your
government hire law-school losers? Fisheries enforcement is
too often shelved because of senseless directives from the
Justice Department.
This summer we suffered a level of Fisheries mismanagement
that hasn’t been as low since the days Minister Tom Siddon
and Deputy Bruce Rawson played Mr. Fumble and Mr. Bumble for
the Conservatives. Sport fishing contributes mightily to Canada’s
economy; commercial fishing is a negative industry, but your
cellmates have trouble understanding that.
While he negotiated a bad treaty (for Canada) with the U.S.,
Anderson did get it signed and continued reasonably well as
Fisheries Minister before suddenly taking a strange course.
He made a glaring mistake. Dave accepted advice from amateurs
and double-crossed the Sport Fishing Advisory Board. Trust
me when I say the issue of salmon conservation is uppermost
in the minds of all SFAB members when it makes recommendations
for each season. Your Department of Fisheries Canada scientists
accepted SFAB’s 1999 proposals. Anderson also accepted SFAB’s
advice in April, then changed his mind in June.
I find the Liberal cabinet an embarrassment. It has Alan
Rock, who, on a visit to Victoria several years ago, told
me his gun control legislation would cost only $86 million.
Rock is an intelligent man, but not a wise one, and even the
morons around him knew gun control could not possibly be achieved
with that sum. Your government, it almost seems, forgets it
represents and thus works for the people. Your Ottawa bean-counters,
long incapable of managing fisheries, could not organize a
one-man race to a two-hole toilet.
Now we have Dhaliwal sitting in the saddle. If Herb heeds
my best piece of advice, he may enjoy surprising success as
Fisheries Minister. Tell him to listen to the good professionals
and SFAB, and NOT the amateurs that Anderson recruited. Disappointment
pains me, Mr. Chretien, because I informed all who asked,
at the start, Anderson was heading in the right direction.
I was on David’s side. So were many of the conservation-minded
300,000 sports anglers in BC. What happened?
Yours Truly,
The old curmudgeon
(Ernie Fedoruk)
Copyright ©
Ernie Fedoruk retired in 1996 after a 47-year journalism career as an outdoors and sports columnist, has just completed
14 years as director/officer of the Outdoor Writers of Canada,
also was director of the Northwest Outdoor Writers Association
for 11 years. His passion is fishing – to find and to
protect – and insists his greatest contribution as a
conservationist is incompetence.
Ernie Fedoruk Freelance Journalist
1867 Neil Street Victoria, BC, V8R 3C6, Canada
phone:(250)592-4438 fax:(250)592-7090
e-mail: efedoruk@islandnet.com
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contact efedoruk@islandnet.com
For previous articles by Ernie Fedoruk, click on the links
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