Cummins expressed concerns about the weakening of fisheries habitat provisions and warned that commercial and sports fishing communities across Canada could be squeezed out by first nations fisheries due to new wording in Bill C-38.
Cummins, a former federal Tory MP and commercial fisherman, also suggested that British Columbians view the amendments as a way to help remove regulatory burdens on projects like Calgary-based Enbridge Inc.'s $5.5 billion Northern Gate-way oilsands pipeline.
"Public perception is that this amendment is being proposed to ease the passage of certain mega-projects through the environmental review process," Cummins, a supporter of the Enbridge project, wrote in a letter provided to The Vancouver Sun.
He said there is a "consensus" in B.C. fishing communities that a conviction under the Fisheries Act, considered by some organizations to be Canada's most powerful environmental legislative tool, would be "difficult if not impossible" if Harper's amendments are passed.
Cummins' intervention adds to public concerns on the West Coast that extend beyond environmentalists, scientists and left-of-centre parties. Former federal Tory fisheries ministers John Fraser and Tom Siddon have also condemned Harper's amendments.
In an interview Cummins said he shares concerns about the environmental implications of the budget's provisions.
The current law prohibits Canadians from engaging in any activity "that results in the harmful alteration, disruption or destruction of fish habitat." The pro-posed new wording is far more narrow and focuses on economic fisheries, banning "serious harm to fish that are part of a commercial, recreational or aboriginal fishery, or to fish that support such a fishery."
The government defines "serious harm" as "the death of fish or any permanent alteration to, or destruction of, fish habitat."
The Cummins critique includes a broad denunciation of several components of the legislation that have received little or no public attention:
. The legislation adds a new component to the federal law's description of the aboriginal fisheries, which has tradition-ally been confided to fishing for "food, social and ceremonial" purposes but not for commercial sales. Bill C-38 says fishing for "subsistence" will also be included in the definition of the aboriginal fishery.
"Inserting 'subsistence' into the list will mean that aboriginal fisheries include enough fish to sell for a moderate livelihood; there would be no natural limit," Cummins wrote. "In most fisheries there would no fish left for public recreational or commercial fisheries. Almost all Canadians would be excluded from the fishery."
. Cummins also went after C-38's provisions allowing the fisheries department to use the sale of fish by licence-holders to fund the government's own scientific and management requirements.
The government has lost several court decisions over its attempt in the past to use proceeds from sales of fish caught by licence-holders to fund scientific work and even a make-work project in Atlantic Canada.
"The purpose of these amendments is to subvert the public fishery for the benefit of the department and its friends," Cummins wrote. "I expect that there will be justly deserved widespread criticism as the effect of these amendments becomes known ...."
Original Article
Source: vancouver sun
Author: Peter O'Neil
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