Submission:
Over the past 6 weeks I have commuted (3 hrs each time )to SFU Harbourside to attend a series of lectures by Dr. Ted Cohn on Foreign Debt and Financial Crisis. So what has that to do with the Cohen inquiry? Well to start with, the lectures provided a history on what has happened and is happening in our world economy, where politics has interferred with economics. One of the topics mentions was Moral Hazard, where corporations take unnecessary risks in the market place, when they know that the government is there to bail them out. (Profits belong to the directors and losses are shared with the taxpayer)
This past weekend I listened to CBC as the President of Iceland explained that when they were left out to dry by the IMF, they managed to turn their economy around with out bailing out the privately owned banks. All those people who were laid off from the banking industry - were snapped up by other corporations who had been, in vain, competing against the outrageous salaries and bonuses promised by the banking sector. The Icelandic economy has in 3 short years more than recovered to stand on its own feet. The President explained that from day one his belief was that Democracy was more important than Commerce!
There are several points here;
1)For a public enquiry, why should the public have to commute into Vancouver from wherever they live in BC - when, I understand a web broadcast has been offered to the Commission at no cost?
2) The health of our oceans must take precedence over the fiscal health of a foreign owned company!
3) While the fish farming industry can advertise that they are creating a strong economy in BC, I would rather take my chances for the long run by relying on the wild salmon fisheries, the growth of sport fishing and tourism
4) I fail to understand how it can be quicker for the government to do the requisite environmental studies for a fish farm than it is to approve a conservation permit for a similar area of land or water. Past experience in this area suggests that information that is said to be available to the public had inadvertantly been loaded onto the wrong server, and the Ministry was unable to indicate how long it would take to remedy the problem.
I ask that you make the hearings public on the web for all to follow.
Good luck with this task - we are relying on your integrity and independence.
Peter McLaren
Langley BC |
