Since winning a provincial
government majority in the last election, Darrell Dexter
wasted no time putting the wheels in motion on an
elaborate and unprecedented NDP plan to spend a
very large amount of taxpayer money promoting the Fur
Farming and Fish Farming
Industries.
Who actually would have voted for a majority NDP
government if they had known what this bunch of
birds were about to do?
Dexter’ actions soon revealed his intentions. And his
politicians spouted the rhetoric of ' jobs, jobs, jobs'
as if it wouldn't be possible to have those jobs if the
government insisted that they clean up their mess.
The tories and the liberals joined in on the NDP program
as if there had never been an Opposition, and the Green
Party had little to offer.
Naive people like myself from western Nova Scotia
were sure that departmental biologists and
environmentalists would simply make a quick trip to this
end of the province, take a look at the green slime
growing in floating 'rafts' along our waterways , and
immediately shut down the polluters.
As a group, we asked Minister of Agriculture John
McDonell for a moratorium on any mink farm expansion
until scientific studies had been done to explain what
was going on.
He told us in no uncertain terms that our water
was perfectly OK and that regardless of our
stories,pictures and proof many new mink farms
were coming to the area soon .
They treated us like MUSHROOMS, so we had to waste
months of hard 'digging' and valuable time doing the
Department of Environment's work............ the
information , one piece at a time, that they had been
hiding from us.
But our group contained environmentalists, an
agriculturalist, a medical Doctor, a geologist
,woodsmen, and a number of science-oriented
professionals ... and the truth came out.
My hat is off to that original group of concerned
citizens who pooled their resources , did the hard work
and dug out the facts. Thousands of
dollars were donated by one concerned couple for
legal help producing Freedom of Information (FOIPOP)
documents that turned the tide on the 'information
wall'.
We were up against a very clever conspiracy to pull off
a cleverly managed secret coup that had been in planning
stages before Dexter's NDP finally provided a majority
government that could ram it through the legislature.
Political moves had already been made that would help
them maintain secrecy and control of various political
interests. Fisherman Sterling Belliveau was chosen for
the Environment portfolio, and he now holds three
provincial Ministerial titles with Energy and Fisheries
and Aquaculture.
The legislation they would use was said to be
incomplete, but our whistleblower showed us that
work on the act had begun under another government in
2006...the Minority Conservative Government under which
Argyle MLA Chris d"Entrement had served as Minister of
Agriculture.
The Fur Farm Act
We didn't see it coming, but woke up one morning to an
announcement that in a timeframe of six days, a
brand new Department of Agriculture Fur Farm Act
had been quietly passed through the legislature .
It became obvious that day that the mink farm lobby was
prepared, organized, financed , and armed with a
serious bank of lawyers. It became obvious that these
birds had already been planning one of the most
smoothly operated government/industry scams Nova
Scotia's environment has ever been exposed to.
Instead of helpfully offering information to the public
,we got jerked around in what amounted to MAXIMUM
ADMINISTRATIVE DELAY. There is a lot of anecdotal
evidence to prove that our government was scamming
us... concealing, denying, and manipulating ....
Instead of helping to stop illegal pollution , these
birds were actually defying 90% of their voters
and working
for the mink farm and fish farm
speculators.
Mink farmers. vested interests , and party
faithful knew in advance what was coming, and
shared their insider information with party
friends .
Two undisputable consecutive departmental scientific
studies concluded that the most probable cause of
the excessive nutrient buildup in the Tusket River was
mink farms, yet they did not release that info until
public outcry forced them to.
Many thanks to conscientious civil servants who
supplied valuable information ,sources, names ,
sources of scientific data..... the pertinent
information we needed.....to get through the"
information wall'.
Now that an election looms in 2013 , the FUR FARM ACT is
a crucial key to NDP success. If the public finds it to
be credible it will no doubt help their soiled
reputation. If not, we can expect more slippery deals to
keep the truth out of sight from the public.
No date has been set for public release as yet, and we
can expect that it will become public only whenever it
best suits the NDP Election Schedule.
The public is still being silently kept in the dark and
told nothing......like mushrooms!
The politicians and political hacks of all stripes
knew , the Nova Scotia Mink Breeders Association
knew ,connected business investors knew ,
municipal politicians knew, even opposition politicians
knew but the general voting public was being kept in the
dark , and a lot of money was about to come down the
pipe.
Many connected locals had lined up at the trough for
contracts, deals, subsidies, and a chance to get at
those free and easy political dollars. So it was no
surprise when people like Yarmouth's mayor Phil Mooney,
an active liberal party member, were out actively
stumping public support for the mink farm plan long
before it was announced to the public.
Few taxpayers knew that the wheels had been
rolling for some time on two ongoing "projects" that had
been started and maintained by less powerful preceeding
governments under the Liberals and Conservatives.
Clever politicians were already quietly at work laying
the groundwork and "manufacturing consent " among those
who had never smelled a working mink farm or gone
swimming in the nasty green water downstream. In 2009,
few had any idea or would have believed that water
pollution could be so bad that it could cause
devastation 40 miles downstream.
It was the beginning of a serious downturn in the
economy, and Dexter's government was selling the idea
that these two under-developed industries would be good
for everybody. At the same time Steven Harper was
itching to give away billions of federal stimulus
dollars to politically promising money-making ventures..
Who cared anyway? Only the people who knew.
Nova Scotians didn't get to see it coming, because the
movement was carefully concealed behind a
wall of secrecy.
Mink Farms business was categorized 'secret' and
protected from scrutiny as 'vulnerable to eco- terrorist
attacks' , and in the case of fish farms we were told
that private business operations like Cooke Aquaculture
had to be protected from public scrutiny as a matter of
business ethics.
Civil servannts were warned not to deal with but to send
all correspondence on pollution matters through the
Department of Agriculture, where it was "handled" by
designated personnel so as to avoid information leaks or
errors. Emails were prioritized the same way .
Professionally written press releases were distributed
to editors of local newspapers and unashamedly accepted
and published under the names of local authors and
editors.
It was the beginning of a serious downturn in the
economy, and Dexter's government was selling the idea
that these two under-developed industries had to be
promoted to perk up our economy .What was surprising is
that through heavy promotion and simple outright
manipulation of the truth they were able to drown out
the public outcry from those few who actually knew what
was going on.
Equally surprising was the lack of Opposition response
;both the tories and liberals supported Mr
Dexter's program ..they all wanted their share of
the huge political pork pie and the huge
pool of borrowed public dollars that was being
distributed amongst friends in an industry that
just happens to be extremely profitable at this time in
the world marketplace.
Mink farming is messy as hell, and industry efforts to
keep this information out of the public eye have been
quite succesful. Mind you, the industry gets a lot
of help at taxpayer expense. Ask your MLA how much, and
be sure to request your answer in writing.
That's where your query will come up against a
formidable government information wall. A lot of
my colleagues can tell you about games of deception from
those with something to lose.
I make no bones about it. They deceive, they hide the
truth, they delay, they avoid, they obstruct, and if
they need to they will tell you boldface lies.
So who is "they"?
Out of curiosity I googled the following MLAs :
Barrington's Environment Minister Sterling
Belliveau, Argyle's former Minister of Agriculture
Chris d'Entrement , Yarmouth's Zach Churchill, Clare's
Wayne Gaudet, Digby's Harold Theriault, Federal MP
Greg Kerr (West Nova)and Gerald Keddy (South Shore).
You can check it out for yourself......and I think you
will agree that Mr Dexter has the full support of the
Legislature, regardless of which party. All of
these dudes have been complicit through their silence,
but MP Greg Kerr stands out in the crowd with his
attitude about those seeking a moratorium on
new mink farms until the whole industry can be openly
debated in public . He has "no time for them".
Conservative MLA Chris d'Entrement was Minister of
Agriculture in charge of operations during the previous
minority government but has never publicly taken issue
with mink farms. His silence is disappointing because he
could have been a real asset to his constituents .
Liberal MLA Wayne Gaudet has not spoken publicly about
mink farms, to my knowledge. Yet his Clare municipality
has been the biggest beneficiary of government
'assistance', the largest beneficiary of cash flow in
the fur farm industry,they are also the biggest
polluter.
MLA Harold Theriault Digby Municipality represents the
second largest fur farm income in the province, but
seems to have nothing public to say about mink farms.
Last spring he published the official government spring
budget , without a comment. One might have expected this
Opposition member to have noticed and commented about
the drastic 50% cut to Department of Environment's
budget .
Yarmouth's Zach Churchill has been there and seen some
very filthy mink farm pollution .But he does not speak
out about the injustice to the people miles down the
Tusket river watershed who are watching scenes like in
the attached photo -----right in their backyard.
He's a party man, and he speaks the official
party line in public: "JOBS ,JOBS ,JOBS". No loud
complaints about mink farms causing
pollution for his constituents...This liberal is not
making any big waves.
Sterling Belliveau had his DoE buget cut from 50 to 25
million , watched massive personnel layoffs and
transfers degrading environmental services without
comment.
Oh well, he happens to be Minister of Fisheries and
Aquaculture , as well as Minister of Energy.
That's not a conflict., is it ? No, that's no more of a
conflict of interest than being Minister -in -charge of
all Aquaculture Operations while your wife runs an
aquaculture business.
Not one of these men has had anything more than token
words for the public against the horrible pollution
caused by nearly all of Nova Scotia's 150 mink
farms.
Not one of them has recommended agressive government
action to clean up the industry.not one of them has
admitted that Nova Scotians are being screwed out of
their clean water.
And not one of them will stand up and acknowledge the
public outrage.
"They " are all devoted to the idea that
millions and millions get passed down the political
ladder and spent on industry expansion .
Pollution? What pollution?
So if there is no effective government opposition , how
do you stop an NDP freight train that would
obviously pollute their own grandmother to win an
election. We tried , but we found ourselves outgunned by
a well funded government campaign which
whitewashed the industry and played serious
hardball to get this program "down the pipe."*(google
mink stink for a compilation of citizen complaints and
examples of direct interference in the justice process
).
Hell, private citizens have presented a long list of
industry violations that were reported, denied and
ignored by all the government agencies .Example: If you
ask the Department of Health to investigate and deal
with existing health and safety iaws( actual
department of health legislation to prevent waterborne
diseases) around filthy public watersheds or , you will
be ignored and sent directly to the Department of
Agriculture for 'help'.
It seems that under Dexter's regime, the Department of
Health "doesn't do mink farms"...., even where they are
openly polluting public infrastructure .
Cyanobacteria is now rampant in the Tusket and Meteghan
rivers and to a lesser extent the Sissiboo. Every summer
these waters turn green.
Unknown changes to Municipal bylaws .
Nobody knew that a mink farmer can now apply for
and receive permission to build a mink farm right in
your community -in secret- without local taxpayers being
aware until the construction begins.
Not exactly democracy !
We've got good stories to tell about people waking up to
the sound of excavators next door, being told that it
was too late to complain and being told that there would
be no opportunity to express concerns about odors or any
of the usual 'benefits' of having a mink farm upwind
from your house.
There are presently 5 Mink Farms in Annapolis County,
but the good folks of Tupperville can tell you all about
what is coming 'down the pipe" in their municipality; 20
new large mink farms have been approved and are now
'unstoppable' , and double that amount have applications
pending . Even those 40 "applications pending" are
likely to be rammed through all the red tape .
FISH FEEDLOTS seem to be unstoppable as well. It's an
industry that brags about a 54% return on investment,
without serious waste management or cleanup costs. Do
Fish Farmers have any obligation to clean up after they
leave an area?
Nope.
Unlike most mink farms , however, Aquaculture operations
are right there in public view and soon become a topic
of conversation after their first outbreak of ISA.
Commercial Fishers in our Communities have a lot
to say ,are better informed about the
subject, and get a lot more media attention ......but
they are losing their battle too.
So what's coming in the future? Stay tuned, because in
the next year we will be treated to millions of dollar’s
worth of election party propaganda painting these
industries and our provincial NDP a very rosy
color.If they can't manufacture consent, they will
probably buy it through expensive slick election-quality
advertisements and glossy government publications .
But pollution won't be visible on the agenda for any of
the parties.
Ask your MP and MLA for straight detailed answers
to these important questions:
How many federal and provincial
taxpayers' dollars have been spent or commited on
" assistance" to these two industries since
the NDP took power? (capital grants, loans,
'forgiveable' loans, Department of Agriculture loans and
"forgiveable loans." ),Federal assistance like the
recently -announced ACOA Bio-generator deal in Weaver
Settlement ), federal dollars(including Harper's
'stimulus money') spent or commited to growing
this industry?( Total monies for industry expansion)
How many federal and provincial taxpayer dollars
have been spent or commited to dealing with
pollution created by these two industries? (Total monies
devoted to pollution mitigation)
What now?
The powers-that -be don't want to let this scandal
affect their "program" and frankly they're
having very little to say because of the controversial
nature of these two industries. What we can expect is a
carefully -worded list of 'achievements ', glossy full
-color political advertisements touting great advances
in technology and environmental advocacy , a lot of
manufactured government media hype and the
usual election rhetoric.
But no mention of TAINTED WATER , SAFETY ISSUES, MEDICAL
NOTIFICATIONS , and PERTINENT SCIENCE.
Believe me, the issue is a large can of worms that
the political planners will work diligently to
avoid.
Don't expect the truth from them.
For a very opposite view from the official Government
"party line" , google "mink stink" .
Devoted to CLEAN WATER for all Nova Scotians:
John Halley Horton
Forest Glen
Your comments and criticisms will be appreciated at
halleyhort@hotmail.com
Below are some relevant web resources
