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MP credits grassroots momentum for changing federal government’s mind to cut funding to salmonid enhancement

Todd Doherty is crediting a grassroots movement of teachers, parents and conservationists who wrote in and put pressure on the government to reverse a “terrible” decision to cut funding to the salmonid enhancement program announced in May.
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Monica Lamb-Yorski photo A federal government announced Thursday it has reversed its decision to cut funding to the salmonid enhancement program that sees children such as Mountview Elementary School students Cloe Thorsteinson (left) and Jenelle Casavant raise and release fry into local streams.

Todd Doherty is crediting a grassroots movement of teachers, parents and conservationists who wrote in and put pressure on the government to reverse a “terrible” decision to cut funding to the salmonid enhancement program announced in May.

“Today, the Parliamentary Secretary for Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard announced that all cuts to the salmonid enhancement program and the cancellation of the B.C. dive program would be reversed,” the member of parliament for Cariboo-Prince George and official opposition critic for Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard said Thursday. “It is programs like salmonid enhancement that keep our Canadians safe, and ensure that our oceans, rivers, lakes and streams remain healthy for the next generation.”

Sue Hemphill, who co-ordinates the program in the Williams Lake area, was very happy to hear the news.

“Of course, I am very pleased with this decision to reverse the cuts to the Salmon Enhancement Program, ” Hemphill said Thursday. “This means not only that the Stream to Sea program will continue and our students will have the joy of watching salmon grow from egg to fry. It also means that the high school Salmon Trip can continue.”

Equally important, she added, is that all of the Salmon Enhancement Programs will continue and give the salmon a fighting chance to survive into the future.

“I also think this is the first time in my memory that I remember a government listening to citizen protest, admitting the government’s mistake and reversing the decision,” Hemphill said. “I compliment them for doing that.”

Doherty said the Liberal government must always remember that it is Canadians who elected them, and that bureaucratic decisions made from office towers in Ottawa can have significant, negative impacts on communities.

“I am so pleased that this decision was reversed today, but I am concerned that this government is not taking into consideration the needs of everyday Canadians, before blindly making cuts to critical programs,” Doherty said.



Monica Lamb-Yorski

About the Author: Monica Lamb-Yorski

A B.C. gal, I was born in Alert Bay, raised in Nelson, graduated from the University of Winnipeg, and wrote my first-ever article for the Prince Rupert Daily News.
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