Feds Condemn Town to Economic Death

The Federal Government announced today that it will provide $2 million in aid to Harbour Breton Newfoundland. The town was devastated by the closure of its main industry, a local fish plant, and is currently in jeopardy of collapse.

The owners of the now empty fish plant have agreed to provide $3 million in interim funding and sell the town the plant, including all equipment, for $1. The Provincial Government has chipped in by offering financial assistance to the town and has been seeking Federal assistance in the form of interim funding and the issuing of a fish species quota for the area.

The federal “gift” of $2 million, with no promise of a fish quota, was made today, although the Federal Government says the issue is entirely within provincial jurisdiction.

“…entirely within provincial jurisdiction”?

The reason the plant owners, FPI, pulled out of Harbour Breton, as uncaring and backhanded as they may have been in the way it was done, is a matter of simple business requirements and economics. Simply put, there is not enough fish to keep all of FPI’s plants working to capacity so one of them was closed.

Who is to blame for this lack of raw material? The Federal Government, through the Department of Fisheries and Oceans is responsible, Period.

It’s a simple thing to understand so let me walk you through it.

Fish stocks, especially cod, are in short supply.

Overfishing of these stocks is what caused the current supply situation.

It is the Federal Government that determines who gets a fish quota and how much that quota will be;

It is the Federal Government that continues to look the other way while foreign vessels trawl the nose and tail of the Grand Banks, (a key breeding ground for Atlantic species);

It is the Federal Government who, through bad science, the issuing of unplanned quotas and allowing foreign overfishing, caused the collapse of the fish stocks.

It was, and is, the Federal Government who mismanaged the fishery to the point of collapse; and

It is the Federal Government that made the decision to close the cod fishery in the 90s after they had mismanaged it to the point of no return.

If the situation in Harbour Breton is an entirely provincial issue then I’m Angelina Jolie, (I’m not by the way, my beard is too thick and where her endowment is closer to her upper torso, mine is just above my belt line. Other than that we could be twins.)

The Federal argument has always been that they provided billions in aid through make work projects, retraining programs and the like after closing the cod fishery. This is true, but it isn’t the full story.

The aid provided in the 1990’s was intended to assist in the survival of people and towns during the 10 year period the Federal Government estimated it would take for stocks to rebound. The cod stocks haven’t rebound due primarily to the fact that DFO estimates were overly optimistic and as already mentioned, the Feds insist on looking the other way while foreign vessels continue to deplete existing stocks.

Another argument Ottawa likes to use is that the fishing industry in the province is now as lucrative as it was when cod was the main resource. The new life in the industry is due to the utilization of other species like crab and shrimp. This as well is only a part of the story. While these species are indeed a mainstay of today’s industry, does it not occur to anyone that these stocks would eventually have been developed anyway?

Imagine what the provincial economy would look like today if there was a viable cod industry in place right along side the current diversified fishing industry. There would be a fishing boom! We would not be in jeopardy of overfishing the crab and shrimp stocks as we are now in danger of doing and towns like Harbour Breton would not be dying before our very eyes.

An entire peninsula in our province is dying. (The town of Harbour Breton is the hub of the entire Conagra Peninsula on the island portion of the province.) Families are being uprooted and people are losing everything they have spent their lives working for. While parents worry, children cry themselves to sleep at night and families are ripped apart.

In the face of this desperation the Feds see fit to throw the province a bone of $2 million. This on the very same day they announce a commitment of $5.2 million to help ensure salmon stocks on British Columbia’s Fraser River because two reports blamed government mismanagement, poaching and high water temperatures for the loss of 1.6 million salmon on the river last year.

I don’t doubt that the salmon industry in BC needs that assistance and more, but if the Feds can accept responsibility for the mismanagement of these salmon stocks, what argument can they possibly bring forward to say they are not responsible for the situation in the Atlantic fishing industry and in Harbour Breton itself?

The $2 million and the comment, “…entirely within provincial jurisdiction”, is a slap in the face to the people of Newfoundland and Labrador and a nail in the coffin for a once vibrant community and the entire surrounding area.

What Harbour Breton needs is a major cash infusion and a fish quota, of any under utilized species, to get back on their feet.

Ottawa has no problem bailing out publicly traded and private companies like Bombardier, Air Canada, GM and the like. They argue that it ensures jobs will not be lost. The fact is, the situation in Harbour Breton means hundreds of jobs will be lost and a vital part of rural Newfoundland and Labrador will die. Why doesn’t this rate a large cash infusion and the kind of support from Ottawa that major Ontario and Quebec based corporations often receive?

When jobs are lost in an auto plant in Ontario or at an aircraft manufacturer in Quebec it is no doubt painful to those involved, but they can move on. There are other industries in the area where one can go to find meaningful work and this provides hope.

When jobs are lost in rural Newfoundland and Labrador, the only real option is to move away and start over from scratch. The people displaced must leave their homes and community, towns that their families have lived in for generations. They must leave to physically survive, but what does this mean for their mental and spiritual survival?

The impact of the first scenario is indeed sad but the impact of the second is nothing short of devastating.

What kind of Country are we living in when major corporations, in vote rich areas, can utilize billions of dollars in tax payer’s money while towns and citizens in smaller centers must fend for themselves or die?

Something to think about this weekend.