A better way forward

The pandemic is showing us that not only is our individual health at risk, but also our collective financial health.

Our province has now been pushed to the brink of bankruptcy and we need to get a strategy and act sooner rather than later.

I am hoping that new Leader of the Liberal party will be more progressive in his thinking than the current premier about transformative ways to rebuild our economy.

In weekly emails for the past five years, I brought the premier and his government up to speed on what was happening in the salmon aquaculture industry across the globe — and the speed with which salmon farming technology is changing.

But the current administration seems stuck on a 1970s model, using our taxpayer money on approaches and projects that threaten not just our bank account, but the environment and wild species in our beautiful province.

While the premier was busy burying his head in the sand the past five years, our U.S. markets are now completely overrun with landbased salmon projects. This week, it was revealed that a Maryland company has three massive land-based factories of 15,000 metric tonnes of salmon planned! This adds to the many thousands of metric tonnes already in in various stages of development.

Many will recall the infamous line from our minister of aquaculture in 2018 when he stated publicly that closed containment aquaculture was not a trend. Where is the minister and this government getting their advice? Where is the evidence base for their decisions? What happened to the Fishery Advisory Council since it was formed in 2016?

So, now there are enough land-based salmon factories in development to supply the entire U.S. market. And our government remains in a loyalty program with the antiquated open-net pen aquaculture industry — while committing millions in taxpayer dollars to a production model for Newfoundland and Labrador’s “Way Forward.”

But hey, that’s just dandy, rerouting money from our poor taxpayers to the billionaire foreigners behind our open-net pen aquaculture companies, as Granny can afford a higher power bill this winter, right? Why make them build tanks for the salmon and help pay for Muskrat Falls?

Bill Bryden Lumsden