Rowe has fun jigging for blushes in House of Commons
By Ivan Morgan
There’s an old expression that goes, “All politics is local,” meaning politicians need to be mindful of the people who voted for them. Or else.
I thought of that quote recently when out-of-touch federal regulations made the news. Regulations (a necessary evil) make sense when they are developed locally and are more or less supported by the populace. They make less sense when they are imposed from on high and from afar.
Recently there was a minor flap because St. John’s, buried in snow, wanted to dump snow into the harbour to save time and money. The problem was the federal government banned that practice for environmental reasons.
Don’t get me wrong. I am a passionate environmentalist, but I am also a lover of simple common sense.
Banning the dumping of excess snow in the harbour is nonsensical. The City, overwhelmed with the white stuff, was forced to truck it to Robin Hood Bay because of a silly regulation. How does that regulation protect the environment? How much diesel is burned trucking all that snow to Robin Hood Bay? Isn’t burning fossil fuel bad for the environment? What’s the cost of that extra fuel? What’s the environmental cost of all those emissions? And Robin Hood Bay? Doesn’t the snow we truck there melt and flow into the ocean anyway?
Why did we ever agree to this? How does trucking snow to the dump make sense financially or environmentally? It doesn’t.
I am all about cleaning up St. John’s harbor. For hundreds of years raw sewage was pumped into it. When I worked on Water Street, my office was over a harbour sewer outlet called “the morning flush.” Not pretty. Putting in a treatment plant was a huge step in the right direction. The feds ponied up half the funds. Good show.
Not allowing the City to dump excess snow in the harbour? Silly.
Calm heads prevailed, this issue was sorted out, and the City started dumping snow in the harbour.
This nonsense should never have happened. Why did we ever agree to this? It was and is a silly regulation. The City needs a permanent exemption from it.
More federal regulations tomfoolery? The food fishery.
The regulation in question refers to the three days a week rule for those wanting to get some fish during the federally regulated “season.” Many are saying it should be seven days a week, as limiting it to weekends could force people out in poor weather. People say this regulation is a safety issue.
The federal government, which oversaw that fishery when it tanked, has imposed many rules and regulations controlling how local folks can do what they have been doing for literally over 400 years – catching cod to feed themselves and their families. The feds aren’t doing anything about soaring food prices. They could do something about this.
Local Conservative MP Johnathan “Landslide” Rowe had political fun in the House of Commons forcing his Liberal counterparts in government to vote against his motion to get rid of that regulation and expand the food fishery from the current three days a week to seven for safety reasons – like in the other Atlantic provinces. The game is to make local Liberal MPs look like they don’t care about the safety of their constituents.
Great fun in Ottawa but not so much on the open North Atlantic. Local Liberal MP Joanne Thompson, the federal minister of Fisheries and Oceans, and Liberal MP Tom Osborne, are in the unenviable position of defending the unpopular regulation. Something about it would cost too much to enforce.
Oh please. I am not blaming the government MPs. I know what they face. I’ve dealt with the federal government. I was once in the federal Minister of Fisheries and Oceans office in Ottawa to meet with the minister and officials. How were we treated? Newfoundland has seven of the 343 seats in the Canadian parliament. That’s how we were treated.
I would suggest that Liberal MPs from this place remember all politics is local. We send them to tell Ottawa what we want, not for them to tell us what Ottawa wants.
Ivan Morgan can be reached at ivan.morgan@gmail.com