Dear Editor,
Re: “Port’s mandate is a crock, says MP,” News, Oct. 6.
The recent thoughts of MP Joe Peschisolido on the ongoing issues surrounding unchecked port expansion require a tad more investigation before being blindly accepted as truth.
Vancouver Fraser Port Authority is but one of the interested parties in this recent push to expand along the Fraser estuary.
The shipping community also has the BC Chamber of Shipping, which has become an agency that works with Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) and Port Authority on port security pass matters. It is, in fact, a shipping industry agency that has, in recent years, become dominated at the board level by mostly Asian shipping conglomerate representatives.
This is the agency that gave us Steven Brown (of Kinder Morgan cheerleader fame) and has also, in the recent past, donated to the campaign of Marc Garneau (current Minister of Transportation) when he was seeking the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada.
The Chamber of Shipping is actively lobbying the federal government on all items related to port expansion and growth.
I’ve also written MP Peschisolido on the ongoing issue of open net pen salmon farming and it’s undeniable contribution to the demise of Fraser river salmon stocks. The letter I received back was very supportive of the fish farming industry and offered no real thoughts on wild salmon preservation.
One can only suppose the wild fish workers have not donated enough to the Liberals to be heard or listened to?
The federal Liberals have accepted financial support from many aquaculture entities, many shipping entities and once checked against the recent epiphany of Peschisolido does not pass any real smell test.
I suspect our MP was pressured into the thoughts he expresses in your recent article; I also suspect he is just angling for another election win in a mounting sea of discontent among many B.C. residents over many items the Liberals are now finally being held to account for.
In the honour of recently departed wild fish advocate Rafe Mair, please explain how after accepting financial support from many of the entities that threaten wild salmon, how Peschisolido can now suddenly have an 11th hour epiphany on the industrialization of the Fraser foreshore?
I suspect a groundswell of public opinion has much to do with this recent change in tact.
Randall Isaak
Richmond
