The Same Old Sellout
 
Once again a small community gets "played" by a global corporation into approving an environmentally destructive project. For all the talk of "strategy" and "bold vision", the approval of a giant new fish farm at Gunner Point follows the typical old script of selling out the environment for short-term profit.
 
Here's the drill. GloboX has a biz model that makes a profit by not paying the full environmental costs of their operations. Think Big Oil, Big Coal, Big Ag and yes Big Meat's Concentrated Animal Feedlot Operations (CAFOs)...like Grieg Seafood's fish pens.
 
GloboX identifies a high-profit location to expand into, but the locals have environmental concerns. Time to trot out the old "balance" trick. The key element is that GloboX gets immediate biz-as-usual, eco-trashing expansion. To "balance" this there is always a promise of a "solution" a few years out. It's called "plausible deniability of harm". It gives the politicians a way to vote for jobs first. It gives corporations a veneer of "green", even if mythical and in a distant future. It makes people feel good while doing harm.
 
A "few" years becomes several years. Eventually a day comes when the "solution" can't be avoided any longer. At this point GloboX throws up its hands and threatens to pull out if forced to implement a clearly "economically unviable" biz plan. Now the jobs at stake belong to real people...real voters. What to do?
 
Fortunately, GloboX has a new "solution" just around the corner. A couple more years and with luck the transformation will be green and lovely. Time for a bold strike for "balance". The cycle repeats. The "balance" shifts again. Things fall apart.
 
The fish farm multi-nationals have "played" a host of federal and provincial governments around the world. Now we are to believe this time our tiny regional government has cornered them in their own game and will force them into a radical change of biz-strategy. This "solution" that the "bold" gamble rests upon is that Grieg Seafood will, some years into the future, raise fish at Gunner Point in a manner that causes them to lose money compared to the competition. Uh...I don't think that is even remotely likely to happen. Do you?
 
Actual "balance" between more profit, new jobs and the environment would be to say to Big Meat: "if you want a giant new Atlantic salmon CAFO in our area you need to figure out how to do it in an environmentally sustainable manner."
 
In the end I can see why some Quadra Islanders are cheerleading the vote for expanded jobs now, even if it is at the expense of everyone else's wild salmon. But from Cortes it sure looks like a raw deal. Our wild salmon will suffer. Our wild salmon jobs, food fisheries, spiritual connections and sense of place will be hurt.
 
Quadra got the jobs. Cortes got the shaft. Wild salmon got another kick towards extinction.
 
Barry Saxifrage
Cortes Island

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