cmh: Minister? Axe-Man would be more apt.

Well, it has been months since my last letter was posted here, and let me tell you that the delay is not due to the lack of worthy causes. However, this article¹ woke me up this morning to the fact that the new environment minister has effectively decided to kill off the remaining population of two small salmon species in BC. That seems odd to me.

Yes, I know there is an argument to be made on the other side of this issue, and there is a half-decent presentation of that argument here. However, I think this is not a good precedent, and it fails to address the real issue that most pacific salmon should not be caught at this point anyway. The west coast fishery is on the same path as the east coast one, and it is this kind of decision that will hasten its demise.

Anyway, this preamble is getting tedious, so we should get to the letter. Which is actually more of a rant this time than a letter because I am so pissed.

Dear Mr. Dion,

It is with great surprise, frustration and anger that I learned today of your decision to sacrifice the Sakinaw and Cultus lake salmon populations on the altar of the almighty loonie. This preposterous decision must be reversed immediately.

Your decision is troubling because you are denying an emergency plea from your own scientific advisory board — the board whose exclusive function is to advise you on this topic.

Most troubling, however, is that this is your first decision as minister of the environment. If the extinction of a species is the course of action you select on the occasion of your first decision, then I shudder to imagine the consequences to the environment of your reign.

Mr. Dion, you are the minister of the environment. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the purpose of the minister of the environment is to prevent extinctions of natural organisms in Canada. It is not your function to act as some sort of political judge to overrule your science board and rule in favour of extinguishing these fish populations.

Mr. Dion, Canadians demand that you reverse your decision and immediately list these fish.

¹ Sorry for the link to a registration required site. I have a whole other rant about these registration required newspapers, but I’ll leave that for another time. Suffice it to say that that article is the best one I found on the topic.