I have not made a decision yet whether to run for the federal NDP nomination. It would be a huge change in my life, I love wilderness and quiet, but last year I met hundreds of people on Vancouver Island in the North Island riding who are suffering from the same policies as the salmon.
It is my perception that government is doing deals over our heads no longer considering us. I hear bureaucrats say we are not worth the paperwork. I spent 26 years in Echo Bay, a town so small it was possible to see exactly what went wrong. We were 100% employed, virtually no crime, happily generating economic activity through tourism, commercial fishing, logging, building our own homes and raising our children into responsible citizens.
Logs that were hazards to marine navigation were salvaged, milled and turned into houses. Government received taxes from stumpage on the logs, sale of the lumber, purchase of building supplies, the houses themselves and the tourism many of these houses attracted. We bought thousands in groceries and supplies every two weeks year round from Port McNeill. We were thriving and contributed to the economy. But government was not interested in us, nor the money we brought to neighbouring communities or even our taxes.
with no consultation, government abolished foreshore leases for residential use and ended 100 years of this floathouse community, while granting leases to the industrial salmon feedlots all around us. Today the town is gone, the feedlots do not hire local people, provide very little income to Port McNeill and are operating with government’s sanction on expired leases. The local people were turned into squatters with no rights and First Nation’s ignored.
This has hurt the people, the whales, the bears, the local economy and the salmon. People in the North Vancouver Island towns are telling me the same story. The politics that are killing our salmon are also killing our communities. All I want to do is see my home come back to life ecologically and socially. I have raised my children with the First Nation families and I am horrified at how their wishes for their territories are ignored.
The only decision for me is whether I can do more to achieve my goal from the inside of government or the outside. To date I have given my life to this issue yet my community has vanished. I have to consider this extraordinary opportunity and the note of confidence from one of Canada’s leading parties and the voice of the hundreds of people contacting me in the past 24 hours.
Comments
7 responses to “Politics that are killing our salmon are killing our towns”
I understand the difficulty of your decision on this. You have done and are doing incredible work on behalf of the people, not only of the northern island but of all of BC (and further if we consider all the environmental issues). If you decide to run as an MP, and succeed, you will have limited time to continue this work on the ground. Unfortunately I also think that as an MP you will have limited opportunity to make an impact in Ottawa. The government asking you to run is an indication that you are a thorn in their side. That is a good thing. It means you are having an impact. Unless they promise you the post of Fisheries Minister, they are hoping that by getting you on a back bench, they will silence your voice and squash your efforts. While I would love to have you represent me, I have to say I think it would be a mistake.
The process of becoming an MP and being an MP are time consuming. On a much smaller scale I became a municipal councillor in a suburb of Montreal in 1990 on a green platform, and I did accomplish something, but I had to attend endless meetings with people on a completely different wavelength and I had serve my constituents on issues that had to be addressed though I wasn’t that interested, and this diluted the process considerably for me. In the process, I was criticized by people who had no idea who I was, and took little time to inform themselves about anything, and were not even willing to be civilized at times. It was a great education for me, as I learned about the democratic process (or not democratic process) as it is really practiced, but I often think that I could have accomplished more from the outside.
As a Green Party supporter, I am curious if running for Green MP nomination is something you would consider.
There are personal values and commerical values.
In the personal sphere (between people) there are obligations, love and loyalty to people close to us. We do things to support each other for love and friendship. Many cultures have a tradition of gift exchanges when meeting new people to establish these bonds and obligations.
In the commercial sphere, money takes the place of obligations, love and loyalty. Money is a representation and measure of obligation to people you don’t know and love.
Corporations and governments are fictitious people. Because they are not real people they can only function from commercial values. Accumulating more money (obligations from strangers)is the main goal of the fictitious person.
In the case you describe above, people with money have gifted the politicians to create bonds, so the politicians will help these new friends do what they want.
Commerical values allow the individuals that make up the corporation to do things that they would not do if it affected people with whom they share personal values and bonds.
Can one person make a difference in this system? I don’t know. Perhaps if you were elected to one of the parties that formed the government you could effect change.
Keep in mind there will be people in that same government and the civil service who benefited from the current situation who will fight to see it keep benefiting themselves. It doesn’t seem likely that that the NDP will be the governing party.
Thats my two cents.
The question you must ask yourself is “How can I reach the most people to affect change?” Is the answer “as an unaffiliated biologist” or is the answer “as an NDP MP?” You know what the life of an unaffiliated biologist is.
As an MP, you will be able to reach far more people, but you will also have to become familiar with a whole new range of topics such as the ones you mention in your blog. It will also be a sacrifice, since you will be away from home.
Having said that, Alexandra, I urge you to run for office. You are respected, you are articulate, you are passionate and you are talented. You will be sickened I am sure by the puerile behaviour of some the MP’s on the other side of the floor, but that is the other thing about you. You are tough.
I also encourage you to talk to Jean Crowder MP for Cowichan, for some first hand advice.
Best wishes and I expect you will win!
Please consider running as an independent. The party system is becoming increasingly repellent. Thoughtful people like you are stifled by coercive
requirements for caucus “solidarity”. I don’t know what the federal NDP is like from an insider view – Jack seems quite admirable. But the system eating you alive is what worries me. If you run as an independent you will need assistants, and an office – people who care can pay for that, or people can volunteer. We can all pay something monthly to make it possible for you to function as an independent if the rules of the game allow that.
I believe people who would vote for you vote for YOU not necessarily for the NDP, though you could be an asset for the Federal party and maybe get more voters on board.Still, the independent option seems worth considering.
I was listening to your conversation on the CBC tonight (monday 10th) and was really proud of you and what you had to say. It’s good to see someone actually saying what we would all like to say, but don’t have the guts to do it. Keep doing what you’re doing and you will make change one day.
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