Little Hawk
Active Member
Fired this off to four newspapers last week. I heard one (on-line) published. Pretty graty stuff I guess and with Campbell controlling the media in BC - like Moscow in the good-ole-days - little wonder it didn't make it very far...
Premier Campbell’s—Duplicity.
Like most Canadian’s after watching our fine young athlete’s epic performance in the Olympics, I was left with great pride in my heart and nary a fingernail on my hands after the men’s Gold Medal hockey game. It was later, while watching the closing ceremonies replete with an animated BC Premier, Gordon Campbell, vigorously waving the Canadian flag, I felt summarily troubled and disgusted as I watched the consummate-hypocrite playing yet another of his deceitful patriot-cards. More aptly, I thought then—considering his now legendary support for the Norwegian owned salmon-farming industry currently laying waste to both our coastline and Pacific Salmon, coupled with his latest scam to cede control of hundreds of British Columbia’s fish-bearing rivers and streams to American owned hydro-power conglomerates—Gord should have been waving Norway’s flag, or the Stars & Stripes.
Never before in the history of this great Province have we seen such complete and utter disregard for BC’s precious wildlife and wilderness as we are now seeing from the Campbell government’s Chernobyl-doctrine environmental-agenda.
For us wild-salmon advocates desperately trying to reconcile the apocalyptically-inept Federal DFO —who, same as Campbell, are in bed with the fish-farmers and seemingly hell-bent on ushering Pacific Salmon the way of the East Coast Cod fishery—it’s a sad day indeed when right here on our home turf we cannot count on our self-anointed Super Natural Premier to ally himself with us in our monumental struggle to revive & rehabilitate the life’s-blood of British Columbia—Pacific Salmon.
In Campbell’s eyes our precious coastline and fish-bearing rivers and streams are mere money-pits to be auctioned away to Norwegian’s and Americans. Indeed, his support of Norway’s net-pen salmon farmers—as they continuously dump innumerable tons of pollution, chemicals, escaping alien-fish, disease & parasites into every pristine waterway they infest—is surely lining his party pocket-book, but it sure as hell is laying a beating on the welfare of Pacific salmon and all of BC’s people’s, bears, Orca’s, eagles and countless other wildlife & ecosystems that depend on these Great Fishes.
While opposition to the open net-pen business continues to grow as word spreads around the globe—led here in BC by the courageous Alexandra Morton and a growing legion of top-tier scientists, environmental groups, tourism operators, First Nations Chief’s, Fish & Game Clubs, Guide/Charter Operators, award-winning film-makers and everyday fishermen like myself.— and as more of the sobering truth about Campbell’s ‘Private Power’ assault on BC’s river’s is uncovered, I can’t help but wonder if Campbell’s at all concerned about his legacy, let alone his job. I can’t help but wonder if the man actually had a conscience, and if he did, at what point—at what price—was it sufficiently assuaged to motivate him to commit environmental-treason?
As an avid outdoorsman who has enjoyed and cherished the great privilege of fishing and hunting much of this magnificent province, I remain both mystified and disgusted at Campbell’s vacancy of vision and comprehension of what is truly important to British Columbian’s. With a simple wave of his all-powerful hand he could vanquish Norway’s salmon-farmers from our waters forever and order them into land-based closed-containment systems. He could also, just as easily, show some pluck and abandon his ‘Rape-of-River’s’ hydro-power sham and have his government direct BC Hydro to simply upgrade existing facilities and continue developing useful conservation initiatives and alternate power sources that will more than meet BC’s energy needs and maintain affordable electricity for decades to come. But Campbell’s agenda won’t let him do that and I’m one fisherman who believes its due time we British Columbian’s find out what his real motivation is; clearly, it’s not about 1000 or so medial-paying fish-farming jobs or for the production of hydro-power we British Columbian’s don’t need. To me—the whole thing wreaks of dead-fish!
While we fishermen & hunters work hard to instill the all important conservation-ethic into our children, how then do we explain to our children the actions of a leader who could care less about fish and wildlife; a leader whose ‘Green’ legacy will be all about ‘Green-backs’. Our wild-things and wild-places are sacred to us and belong to all peoples of British Columbia and Canada. Campbell’s out of control rampage must be and will be stopped!
Terry Anderson
Wild Salmon Alliance Society
Victoria, BC
silversaw@telus.net
"Some could care less if there's any fish left for our kids!"
Premier Campbell’s—Duplicity.
Like most Canadian’s after watching our fine young athlete’s epic performance in the Olympics, I was left with great pride in my heart and nary a fingernail on my hands after the men’s Gold Medal hockey game. It was later, while watching the closing ceremonies replete with an animated BC Premier, Gordon Campbell, vigorously waving the Canadian flag, I felt summarily troubled and disgusted as I watched the consummate-hypocrite playing yet another of his deceitful patriot-cards. More aptly, I thought then—considering his now legendary support for the Norwegian owned salmon-farming industry currently laying waste to both our coastline and Pacific Salmon, coupled with his latest scam to cede control of hundreds of British Columbia’s fish-bearing rivers and streams to American owned hydro-power conglomerates—Gord should have been waving Norway’s flag, or the Stars & Stripes.
Never before in the history of this great Province have we seen such complete and utter disregard for BC’s precious wildlife and wilderness as we are now seeing from the Campbell government’s Chernobyl-doctrine environmental-agenda.
For us wild-salmon advocates desperately trying to reconcile the apocalyptically-inept Federal DFO —who, same as Campbell, are in bed with the fish-farmers and seemingly hell-bent on ushering Pacific Salmon the way of the East Coast Cod fishery—it’s a sad day indeed when right here on our home turf we cannot count on our self-anointed Super Natural Premier to ally himself with us in our monumental struggle to revive & rehabilitate the life’s-blood of British Columbia—Pacific Salmon.
In Campbell’s eyes our precious coastline and fish-bearing rivers and streams are mere money-pits to be auctioned away to Norwegian’s and Americans. Indeed, his support of Norway’s net-pen salmon farmers—as they continuously dump innumerable tons of pollution, chemicals, escaping alien-fish, disease & parasites into every pristine waterway they infest—is surely lining his party pocket-book, but it sure as hell is laying a beating on the welfare of Pacific salmon and all of BC’s people’s, bears, Orca’s, eagles and countless other wildlife & ecosystems that depend on these Great Fishes.
While opposition to the open net-pen business continues to grow as word spreads around the globe—led here in BC by the courageous Alexandra Morton and a growing legion of top-tier scientists, environmental groups, tourism operators, First Nations Chief’s, Fish & Game Clubs, Guide/Charter Operators, award-winning film-makers and everyday fishermen like myself.— and as more of the sobering truth about Campbell’s ‘Private Power’ assault on BC’s river’s is uncovered, I can’t help but wonder if Campbell’s at all concerned about his legacy, let alone his job. I can’t help but wonder if the man actually had a conscience, and if he did, at what point—at what price—was it sufficiently assuaged to motivate him to commit environmental-treason?
As an avid outdoorsman who has enjoyed and cherished the great privilege of fishing and hunting much of this magnificent province, I remain both mystified and disgusted at Campbell’s vacancy of vision and comprehension of what is truly important to British Columbian’s. With a simple wave of his all-powerful hand he could vanquish Norway’s salmon-farmers from our waters forever and order them into land-based closed-containment systems. He could also, just as easily, show some pluck and abandon his ‘Rape-of-River’s’ hydro-power sham and have his government direct BC Hydro to simply upgrade existing facilities and continue developing useful conservation initiatives and alternate power sources that will more than meet BC’s energy needs and maintain affordable electricity for decades to come. But Campbell’s agenda won’t let him do that and I’m one fisherman who believes its due time we British Columbian’s find out what his real motivation is; clearly, it’s not about 1000 or so medial-paying fish-farming jobs or for the production of hydro-power we British Columbian’s don’t need. To me—the whole thing wreaks of dead-fish!
While we fishermen & hunters work hard to instill the all important conservation-ethic into our children, how then do we explain to our children the actions of a leader who could care less about fish and wildlife; a leader whose ‘Green’ legacy will be all about ‘Green-backs’. Our wild-things and wild-places are sacred to us and belong to all peoples of British Columbia and Canada. Campbell’s out of control rampage must be and will be stopped!
Terry Anderson
Wild Salmon Alliance Society
Victoria, BC
silversaw@telus.net
"Some could care less if there's any fish left for our kids!"
