To the Editor,
I’d like to encourage News Bulletin readers to write their MPs to protest the Department of Fisheries and Oceans decision to slash its programs that monitor marine pollution.
The decision to axe 75 jobs in the national contaminants program, including nine scientists and staff at the Institute for Ocean Sciences in Saanich, will leave just five junior biologists to monitor the impacts of pollution on Canada’s 243,000 kilometres of coastline – the longest in the world.
I find it difficult to believe the decision is motivated purely by budget constraints.
Instead it seems our federal government is adopting a ‘see no evil, hear no evil’ approach to environmental issues in the mistaken belief that proper environmental monitoring and regulation will stall the engine of economic growth.
Whatever your political background, please contact your Member of Parliament to say this a bad, short-sighted decision which is not in the best interest of Canadians, our national economy, and the rich natural heritage of our marine ecosystems.
Norm Wagenaar
Cedar-by-the-Sea