Beware the NDP's beastly policy on salmon farming!
Thanks to yesterday's blog, the NDP have finally been flushed out on the salmon farming issue – and what a load of crap it is! Here's the rotten statement posted last night (22 April) on Facebook by Claire Trevena, the NDP's incumbent MLA for North Island.
So absolutely zero commitment from Claire to removing disease-ridden salmon feedlots. Blah blah blah. Is Claire Trevena really Liberal leader Christy Clark in disguise?
Here's Claire Trevena posing for a Christy Clark-style photo shoot promoting Marine Harvest's salmon farm in Sayward.
So the NDP, far from being the champion of wild salmon, are effectively endorsing the status quo. The NDP talk the talk on salmon but leader Adrian Dix refuses to walk on the wild side.
The NDP leadership have clearly not heeded the warnings of deadly viruses in the film 'Salmon Confidential'. In fact, Claire Trevena MLA did not even bother to turn up to last night's screening in Campbell River – the 'Salmon Capital of the World'.
In Sidney on Saturday (20 April), however, the Green Party's federal leader Elizabeth May made a very public and very powerful pledge to remove salmon feedlots immediately. That same evening the local NDP candidate spouted the same old NDP
nonsense about the need for more research and study to see if salmon
farms are spreading infectious diseases.
The NDP's watered down statement is essentially no different from the Liberal Party's weak position on salmon farms. If Dix is crowned the Premier of BC on 14th May he will be the new Emperor with no clothes!
The only true vote for wild salmon is the Green Party who have come out strongly and unequivocally against disease-ridden salmon farms.
Read the Green Party's position on fisheries and salmon farming in full online here
On Facebook's 'Salmon Are Sacred' page the debate is turning from the NDP's orange to Green:
In the Chilliwack Progress yesterday (22 April), First Nation elder and wild salmon advocate Eddie Gardner endorsed the Green Party candidate. "Kim Reimer and the Green Party of B.C. are in harmony. They have a strong support in having the open-net salmon feedlots removed from their coastal waters. No other party has really come out and stated anything like that," said Gardner.
Sadly, the Green Party do not even have a candidate running in North Island – although Green Party leader Jane Sterk says there's still time for somebody to stand up for wild salmon:
In the absence of a Green Party candidate in North Island, voters are now left with a posse of pro-salmon farming candidates who refuse to stand up to filthy feedlots.
So whilst the Green Party and even the Liberal Party issue clear statements on salmon, the NDP's leader Adrian Dix stays silent.
Even the Liberal Party issued a statement last month supporting eight recommendations of the Cohen Commission's final report including a cap on the open-net farms.
Read more via "Liberals Vow to Cap Salmon Farms in Discovery Islands; NDP Says Too Little, Too Late"
So whilst the NDP procrastinate and the Liberals prevaricate on the salmon issue, the Green Party's position is crystal clear. In a press release issued on Saturday (20 April), Green Party leader Jane Sterk said:
"The dramatic decline of BC’s wild salmon began when fish farms were introduced. Wild salmon cannot be saved until open net fish farms are removed from migration routes, because of their deadly role in spreading disease and parasites"
In contrast, the NDP leadership staunchly refuses to issue a public statement against salmon farms. The best the NDP can come up with is a Facebook post (since deleted) on 9 April from the NDP's Lana Popham (who also mistakenly says the election is on 14 April – not 14 May!).
The silence on salmon from NDP leader Adrian Dix speaks volumes and begs questions of their commitment to removing salmon feedlots. The NDP's lip service to wild salmon is a slap in the face to voters who desperately want to believe that the NDP will change for the better.
However, no amount of wishful thinking will alter the fact that the NDP's policy on salmon has gone to the dogs.
Sadly, the only thing you can count on is for NDP leader Adrian Dix to stay silent on salmon.
Read more via "Message to the NDP – Cut the Crap on Salmon Farming!"
Read my lips Adrian Dix – please nix disease-ridden salmon feedlots now!
Join the Facebook discussion via "Will Dix Nix Salmon Feedlots?"