Dear Prime Minister Trudeau and Team,
In 2016, I was quite impressed with Justin Trudeau’s knowledge of quantum computing and thought “here is a leader that understands the importance of science”. In 2020, you brush aside the findings of your own scientists at DFO and the CSAS (after multitudes of studies) and close down all farms in the Discovery Islands. How wrong I was.
You listened to the activists.
You listened to businessmen and foundations with conflicts of interest in land-based aquaculture.
You listened but brushed off the First Nations.
You listened to voters that have no real stake in this and pandered for votes in cities.
You listened to East Coast salmon farmers and are currently giving them millions for development.
You listened to the NDP who are so cozy with the activists they’ve lost all sense of what’s right.
You couldn’t even listen to your own scientists and the CSAS.
You couldn’t give the time of day to the REAL experts in land-based aquaculture, which are the farmers that also raise livestock in net pens (they DO BOTH).
You couldn’t listen to First Nations who are proud of their work and partnerships in salmon farming.
You couldn’t listen to the towns and cities outside of Victoria and Vancouver because why bother? No votes to pander to.
You couldn’t listen to the BC business community that said decisions like this will destroy confidence in the overall BC economy.
You couldn’t even come up with a transition plan. Let’s not mince words—you don’t have one.
And yet you spend millions prattling on about the “Blue Economy.”
Shame on you, Bernadette Jordan and Terry Beech.
Sincerely,
Dave Porter