Is it just me or is anyone else concerned that more and more of our natural resources are being controlled by a few very wealthy individuals?
Our trees are owned by just a few mega-forest magnates. Our herring are owned mainly by a few multi-millionaires. Now I find out that our halibut are owned by a handful of quota holders. The native people have first dibs, rightfully so, to large portions of B.C.’s resources.
What about the majority of us? What has happened to our piece of the pie? I was under the impression that a democracy functions when the larger number of people vote for how things are going to be. How can it be then that 400 or so halibut quota holders trump tens of thousands of sports license holders? The individuals who fish the stocks are mostly not the ones who own the quotas. The quota owners are mostly fat cats who only touch a fish when it is served to them in a fancy restaraunt.
People the world over are voicing their rage at dictators and it seems to me that it’s time we all start raging against the monopolies who are buying up our resources. I want my grandchildren to be able to take their own kids out fishing in this province like I was able to do as a kid. My relatives on the east coast, who were cod fishers, ruined their fishery by being too greedy. They admit it now that it’s gone so let’s not go down that road here in the last place on earth where wild fish still stand a chance.
Mike Morry,
Central Saanich