Mr. Speaker, the fruit growing town of Oliver has endured attacks by weather, insects and U.S. apple dumping policies with little help from the federal government. Now it is under attack by the government itself.
Oliver provides farm irrigation through the operation of a canal. It has been in use since the 1920s. Now the Department of Fisheries and Oceans has decided to enhance the salmon fishery in the Okanagan River by having an elaborate fish screen placed over the mouth of the canal and is demanding that Oliver pay the $400,000 cost, this despite the fact that the canal has operated and presumably the fishery has survived for over 80 years without one. The cost may not be much for a government that squanders more than that per day on subsidizing VIA Rail, but it is devastating to a small community.
When I spoke to the minister about this, I mentioned that it was not fair that DFO decided to enhance the salmon fishery and stick the town of Oliver for the cost. His response was “DFO makes lots of decisions. Obviously we cannot be expected to pay for all those decisions, we would be broke”.
If DFO wants it, it should be prepared to pay for it instead of downloading it on a small British Columbia town.