Tory actions on libraries a ‘ war on information’

Re: DFO looking after science and taxpayers, Letter of the Day, Jan. 7

It is beyond belief Canada’s Fisheries and Oceans Minister Gail Shea has the nerve to call the facts about her government slamming shut the doors of seven out of the nine DFO libraries across the country “misinformation” — this information comes from library employees who’ve watched in horror as trucks have been backed up to their doors and filled with the libraries’ precious holdings.

Moreover, a Radio Canada story showed Dumpsters filled with DFO holdings, but apparently this is what the minister claims as “being recycled in a green fashion.”

The closure of these state of the art facilities, such as the Pacific Biological Station library in Nanaimo, and the destruction of their holdings, certainly can’t be a financial measure to protect taxpayers, as the total savings will only equal about $ 400,000. Something far more dangerous and ideological is happening here.

The Conservative government has also slashed funding or eliminated crucial programs such as the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences, the Ocean Contaminants and Marine Toxicology Program, and the world- renowned Experimental Lakes Area. They’ve gutted the Fisheries Act, cut hundreds of jobs at DFO including many chemists, biologists and other important researchers and scientists, and have repeatedly muzzled many other well respected government scientists.

These are dark days for our country and what we are seeing is absolutely heartbreaking. Minister Shea had a chance to turn the tide at DFO when she took over last year. Instead, she has made the decision to continue on the Conservatives’ path of destruction and has made things much worse with this war on information.

LAWRENCE MACAULAY MP for Cardigan, P. E. I. and Fisheries and Oceans critic for the Liberal Party of Canada