Two issues have become co-mingled in my brain: the Enbridge pipeline and shark fin soup. Enbridge hearings are underway to determine the fate of our western Canadian coastline. This is no light matter, and too often the forces of giant business seem to hold sway.
While this will enrich many already enormously wealthy large companies and shareholders around the world, the possible destruction that such a project could bring to our coast is unthinkable.
I have written to Central Saanich, as have many others, to challenge council to join the other nearby municipalities of Esquimalt, Saanich, Victoria and View Royal in taking a stand against oil tankers on our coast.
Now for the shark fin soup. At a recent meeting in Central Saanich our council voted down a resolution to support the federal government’s ban on the importation of shark fins. Procuring shark fins is a wasteful and depleting practice that takes the fins and throws away the rest of the shark.
One councillor voted against it on the basis that this would encourage other such resolutions over which the council may have an opinion, but no jurisdiction.
Hmmm. Should I be heartened? If a councillor is willing to vote against supporting the federal government on shark fins maybe he will do the same on Enbridge?
Lois Theaker
Central Saanich