Copy of my column in the Independent this week

The following is a copy of my column in the Independent this week.
Please click the title to visit the Independent's site.

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians: a gutted people?

Seals reportedly eat the stomachs of cod and allow the remains to float
down for the bottom feeders. Our rural communities have sunk and are
now being devoured by fish merchants.
Government has announced a further delay of the much-anticipated
results of the fisheries summit — because of scheduling conflicts. The
premier is convinced that Bill Barry, the man who just finished a
herring survey off the south coast, knows what he’s doing and will have
the answers. Turns out they found very few herring in three months —
nowhere near enough for the Harbour Breton plant to be viable.
Nothing concrete is being done to save the communities of the families
that are leaving in droves from rural Newfoundland and Labrador.
What can be done?
First, sue the feds for gross negligence of a renewable resource — the
groundfish fishery — that’s been under Ottawa’s management since 1955.
The next order of business should be to stabilize the communities by
whatever means until the fish come back or Ottawa pays the price. Our
federal minister needs to shake up the quota allocations to ensure they
benefit Newfoundland and Labrador — or Canada even.
What are the politicians up to? The premier says people may have to
move away while the fishery or province recovers.
He adds: “We have not given up on Harbour Breton.” Danny doesn’t have
to give up — the people have and are moving. Federal Fisheries Minister
Loyola Hearn suggests that joint management of the nose and tail
between Ottawa and the European Union should do the trick. OK Loyola,
I’m willing to take the bait if you can deliver 5,000 federal
government jobs for fishing communities until the stocks come back.
FPI is more arrogant now than it ever was. The company’s execs won’t
even sit and talk to the union until salaries are reduced by over $2 an
hour. The company that enjoys the benefit of our common fish resources
is now holding that license over the heads of the people who own them.
The union is “necessarily” quiet while communities fold. The much-hyped
Barry or Penney takeover of various processing assets of FPI is gone by
the wayside and what do we have to show for it? Another six months
wasted and another rural area decimated.
The truth is we have given up and we lack leadership to protect this
valuable renewable asset. The strong backbone shown when negotiating
with big oil and Abitibi is not evident with fish merchants. This
so-called Confederation that has cost us so much was achieved by votes
of rural Newfoundlanders that suffered under the merchants of Water
Street. They picked the lesser of two evils.

Here we are over 50 years later again deciding between merchants and
Confederation. The trading-fish-for flour that our fishermen endured
has been replaced by Ottawa bartering our resources to oblivion. We are
told there are too few fish for too many fishermen. It is easier to
believe this rhetoric than make the politicians do what is responsible.
Our collective guts have been removed by federal and provincial
politicians, union reps, and regional leaders who lack the ability or
desire to fix the problem. You’re not a true Newfoundlander and
Labradorian if you fail to protect and defend our reason for being
here. Simple questions: Why is the province refusing to take legal
action against the Government of Canada for mismanaging the stocks? Why
is the federal government refusing to take custodial control and work
toward joint management?
We will be the only people to voluntarily give up our sovereignty and
then go about eradicating ourselves. All for the price of a question or
two.