June 16, 2012 – Four good men with extensive government experience tried to stop the Harper government. Predictably, they failed – predictably, because this government listens to almost no one who actually knows about given policy fields.
In this instance, four former ministers of Fisheries and Oceans from previous Progressive Conservative and Liberal governments pleaded with the Harperites not to water down environmental protection for fish habitats.
“A competent science establishment and vigorous enforcement programs are essential to protect fish stocks and the habitat on which they depend,” wrote former ministers Thomas Siddon, Herb Dhaliwal, John Fraser and David Anderson.
Too late. The government monster budget bill that assaulted the traditions of parliamentary oversight by lumping together all sorts of unrelated measures was already steamrollering through the Commons when the former ministers’ letter arrived. Part of the bill they deplored gutted protection for certain fish habitats, since this government is much more interested in clearing paths for pipelines, roads, bridges and other pieces of infrastructure than worrying about fish.
Neither the brave four, nor any other experts in the field of fisheries (or other scientific fields for that matter), can deter this government once its mind is made up. And this government, as is repeatedly seen, cares little for environmental protection.
Read the full story at the Globe and Mail.