Fish what fish?

Your eyes are already glazed over right? It's fish and you don't want to hear about it anymore. Well stop! Wipe out your eyes and really start understanding what is taking place here.

Not dealing with the fishery is akin to you having no interest in your ancestry, your culture, your reason for being here. Not much sense in celebrating tourism commercials if you have no interest in who you are and where you come from.

The tourists who visit this province have more interest in our fishery and the strong historical and current attachment to this renewable resource than we do. This is not right - and politicians  - all stripes - both federal and provincial are to blame. They have inundated us with study and commission and study and commission for as long as I can remember - yet all we hear is bad news as it relates to the fishery. The latest now is the culmination of the "passionate" review process started under the fellow who just quit. Now we have a Minister who - for political reasons - is avoiding releasing information. Clyde Jackman knows this information is going to be more bad news for the fishers and more ingratiating of the big corporates' interests.

It is not convenient for an election - and that's what it boils down to. Political expedience. Where will Jackman draw a pension from?

I listened to Siobhan Coady this morning talking about her visit to the Province with Scott Brison and heard her make mention of a meeting where Gus Etchegary spoke of the fishery. After articulating the obvious - that Gus was passionate about the fishery - she claimed the same passion. Excuse me? What exactly is Siobhan Coady going to do about the plight of the fishers, the tens of thousand of people who left Newfoundland and Labrador (after being displaced in the sector), or the communities that are dieing as a result of the fishery disaster? Best I can tell - nothing really - same old same old. I can confirm that Siobhan like those before her are passionate about keeping their job - and keeping the pension that comes with it. Until I see anybody taking seriously the fact that we are losing over 500 million a year from the groundfish destruction - or at least until they fight as hard as the MP's from the Prairies who year over year get relief and funding for farmers - I will not show them any respect or believe a word they say.

Can you guess how many times fishermen have been used during elections to ensure a victory for one party or the other? Held hostage as Ursula suggested is mild language. The rural outports have been battered and battered while the mighty oil and St. John's expects continued growth and a booming real estate market. The fat-cat bankers responsible for gouging you and me on every transaction to pay for the costs of corporate corruption - sit bank in their chairs and declare everything is okay.

What a disgrace we are - as we let these two-bit politicians make a career and "earn" a pension from ineptitude, gutlessness, and political expedience. The fish were supposed to be renewable right?

St. John's as with other regional hubs are booming because people from the outports have to move out of their communities to try and salvage something. But this is an oil economy and it is not forever - in fact at the moment it is pretty defined (in time). So even now the irony is that good old St. John's is utilizing the misery of the outports to force a population base made up of those who travel in leaving their communities, elderly parents, and their devalued possessions behind.

This is a social experiment for some like Dr. Doug House who has been for the past two decades moving us from a "resourced based economy" to an "information based economy".  He under Clyde Wells and right on up through and at the University - remember the "economic recovery plan"? Sitting in an academic ivory tower pontificating "reasoned" thoughts. Hogwash!

The unemployment rate remains at double digits and our population is declining and aging. Politicians answer to that we are growing our Gross Domestic Product.

The federal representatives in Parliament have been useless and their excuse has always been "we get up there and we can't get anywhere". Geez people you figure now they might already know the predictable outcome before they ask for your vote. Okay let's spell it out - 7 seats and 2% of the population in a country where everything from parliament to the senate to federal programs are based per-capita.

Regardless of what I think about Danny Williams - he did have the political support to do something real about it. The people were willing to stand behind whatever moves he had to make. I hoped in deliberate ignorance he may actually use that willingly given power and fix at least the fishery. I can't say I am surprised he quit - I knew he would - but somewhere in me I really wanted him to do what was right.

Your eyes are glazed over because politician after politician from this Province has failed and despite the studies and the commissions - all they have consecutively done is - piece by piece rip away at this tremendous resource. The social experiment - predicted that if you do the demise in chunks - you will limit the people who may protest the demise of our way of life, those idyllic communities, and that significant revenue.

The politicians, senior bureaucrats and union all have been responsible in this giveaway. Make no mistake - Ottawa has bartered away our stocks for the benefit of population rich provinces - the province has bartered away our industry to corporate interests that do not operate to benefit Newfoundland and Labrador - rather to benefit shareholders (most of whom live offshore).



We must stop rewarding failure and not fall into the trap set for us - that eyes glazed over means - we do not care.