The intended purpose of this letter is to inform all recreational anglers of the Department of Fisheries and Ocean’s Halibut Allocation Policy. The specific injustice of the current DFO’s halibut policy is that it allocates 88 per cent of halibut stocks to 436 commercial halibut licence holders and 12 per cent to the rest of the Canadian population who are potential recreation anglers.
How a grossly unfair distribution of a Canadian common resource exists defies common sense. I cannot believe that the federal Conservative government is allowing the DFO minister to enforce this unfair policy. Furthermore, because of this policy, halibut closed to recreation anglers Oct. 18 in 2010 while the commercial sector fished on. This is not a conservation issue, it is a misallocation of halibut stocks.
The Sport Fishing Institute estimates that if the current DFO Halibut Allocation Policy is not changed halibut will be closed to recreation anglers as early as July 2011.
The Sports Fishing Institute, B.C Wildlife Federation and the Sports Fishing Advisory Board have been negotiating with DFO with no success. The only way that this absurd policy is going to change is for the minister of fisheries and oceans to receive a letter or email from each and every recreational angler and indeed from each and every Canadian who thinks this policy is wrong.
The importance of letters or emails to the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Gail Shea (Shea.G@parl.gc.ca) cannot be emphasized enough.
If everyone does their part by sending a letter or email to the minister, collectively we can make a difference. It seems that our concerns for the recreational fishing of halibut has turned on deaf ears by our fisheries and oceans minister, so please also ensure your direction of letters and emails to our prime minister Stephen Harper.
The economic impact will be negatively felt through out our province with this type of absurd legislation.
The Sports Fishing Institute has just formed an alliance with the B.C. Wildlife Federation, the Southern Vancouver Island Anglers Association and the BC Federation of Driftfishers to right the imbalance of this unfair allocation of Canada’s halibut resource. They are also asking other groups to join this alliance. Please contact Alison Obrecht at SFI if your group wishes to join info@sportfishing.bc.ca. We are hoping every fishing group, rod and gun club, chamber of commerce, labour union and many other groups join this alliance.
SFI is also co-ordinating the efforts of individuals by requesting that copies of letters and emails to the minister be sent to info@sportfishing.bc.ca.
Please also send a copy of your letter or email to your member of Parliament, as well as your MLA.
The voice of everyone who thinks that the DFO Halibut Allocation Policy is wrong needs to be heard in Ottawa. Please send an email or letter to the minister of fisheries and oceans as well as to Prime Minister Stephen Harper (pm@pm.gr.ca). Here are some MP’s emails in the Okanagan area: Mayes.C@parl.gc.ca; Day.S@parl.gc.ca; Cannan.R@parl.gc.ca.
Letters can be directed to Honourable Minister Gail Shea, House of Commons, Ottawa, Ont. K1A 0A6. A letter to the minister does not require a stamp, only an envelope and a few minutes of your time. You will be rewarded with the satisfaction of doing your part to correct a DFO policy that is grossly unfair to the majority of Canadians. If everyone does a small part, collectively we can make a big difference.
Finn Larsen
Penticton
Council can’t dictate taste
This is an open letter to the citizens of Penticton.
I thought censorship was something that Canadian society abhorred. It does appear that the Penticton council considers itself over and above the standards, norms and founding principles of our nation.
They have in their infinite wisdom, with their acute business acumen, decided that they will pick and choose what events are suitable for hosting at the South Okanagan Events Centre. They have done this with no regard for what the citizens of Penticton may want or the tastes of people other than themselves. The events centre was a white elephant when it was proposed, and still is. To further underutilize it makes it a useless white elephant. Perhaps we should just wrap it in a big ribbon, take postcard pictures to send to our friends, bragging about our $100 million facility that will last forever because it is not used.
Who are they to dictate to others what they consider appropriate for others to watch. I have not been told what I was permitted to do or not do, watch or not watch, since I was a child under the authority of my parents. I am not a child, I am a parent and I am truly insulted when some self-important authority dictates to me what is appropriate entertainment for me. Our country’s philosophy is predicated upon freedoms such as expression, beliefs, religion, ideas, the individuals’s right choose for themselves. To apply rampant censorship upon the population of an entire city runs contrary to our guaranteed rights and freedoms.
Penticton council is totally lacking in vision, they have no idea what they do want, but are very good at imposing on others what they do not want. They put a company in charge of running the South Okanagan Events Centre, knowing full well it would be much more expensive to operate on their own, then they tie that company’s hands behind its back. I am sure this will ensure a greater possibility that city council can complain about the poor quality of management at the events centre, in case they need to make themselves look good in the future. It is always easier to interfere with the success of others than it is to rise to their level.
I personally do not agree with or support all the events and entertainment available to us, but if it is legal, it is none of my business what others consider entertainment. If I have an issue with it, I would make my opinion known, but it would remain that — my opinion. Who am I to judge, and just who is? What is next, determining what books are available in the public library, what movies may be shown at the local theatre, what artists are suitable for public purview? Give them enough time and leeway; they will be organizing book-burnings and witch-hunts.
Jukka Laurio
Penticton
Reason to take heart
We invite people from across Penticton area to recognize and become involved in the Heart and Stroke Foundation’s Heart Month this February. Heart disease and stroke are two of the three leading causes of death for Canadians, cutting the lives of Canadians short.
But you can save lives this Heart Month by: Donating online to heartandstroke.bc.ca; calling 1-866-432-7833 now to register as a canvasser in your neighbourhood; giving generously when a canvasser comes to your door, or contacts you online; or learning about the preventable risk factors for heart disease and stroke. Visit heartandstroke.bc.ca for more information.
Since 1955, donations to the Heart and Stroke Foundation have facilitated: research behind the development and use of the implantable pacemaker; clot-busting drugs that can erase the effects of a stroke after it’s happened; pioneering the artificial heart for transplant patients; developing and updating guidelines for resuscitation (CPR); and public awareness of stroke signs and heart attack warning signals:
The signs of a heart attack are: chest pain or discomfort; pain in arm, neck, jaw or back; sweating; nausea; and difficult breathing. The signs of a stroke are: weakness, numbness; trouble speaking; vision problems; severe headache; and dizziness.
To date, the Heart and Stroke Foundation has funded $1 billion in support of Canadian research, with more than $100 million going to B.C. researchers. The results of many years of diligence, determination and perseverance on the part of world-class researchers and scientists are coming back to our communities.
With your help, we are continuing to learn more about heart disease and stroke, move closer to a future with generations free of heart disease and stroke.
Suzanne Pugh, Okanagan/Kootenay area manager
B.C. Heart and Stroke Foundation
Prison plan a pipe dream
It’s fairly obvious by now that this new slammer project and its location has stolen the act as far as media popularity goes. I personally believe you don’t have to be a psychic to predict that it’s not going to happen any time soon, or in a tourist town like Penticton of all places.
I really don’t want to be a kill joy or dash any of our local’s dreams, but if by some remote chance Penticton did win the bid for this new prison, come time for the ribbon cutting ceremony, Mr. Pearce and myself included would be in the process of squabbling over who would get the room with the view at some retirement centre. We will probably at the time be playing bumper cars with our electric scooters in the hallways, not to mention chasing the nurses and terrorizing them.
Should I lose out on the room with a view, chances are I can have one facing south, and I won’t mind that, in the fact that those bloody power poles would have lost their razzle dazzle shine and be practically invisible. Just like FortisBC promised us they would be, over time.
So now all you folks out there that are contemplating this tourist town being transformed into a prison town, close your eyes while you’re dreaming. When you wake, I hope you see your shadow. Go back to bed for eight weeks longer.
As for the 300 jobs, for those of you that understand nepotism, the politicians, family and friends will fill the vast majority of those high-paying jobs. Trust me.
Andy Homan
Penticton