told provincial Agriculture and Lands Minister Ron Cantelon, whose ministry must issue a water lease for the development to go ahead, that the proposed marina would contravene the public interest, the Land Act and common-law rights....The marina must also pass an environmental assessment by Transport Canada, currently accepting public submissions.
The story also quotes Calvin Sandborn, the director of the environmental law clinic at the University of Victoria. He says that:
under the Land Act, Cantelon cannot legally hand over a water lease unless it's in the public interest. Sandborn said kayakers have a legal right to paddle in waters where the marina is planned.
The marina planners have proposed that a passageway will be built for kayaks and canoes, but the passageway, planned to be only five to eight metres wide, will be too narrow for outrigger canoes. The marina will also add more congestion to an already crowded harbour.
If you want to stop the marina, click here to help. And remember that we're in an election campaign -- ask the candidates in your riding where they stand on this issue!
Good luck with this! You may find that Transport Canada no longer needs to do an environmental assessment thanks to Harper's gutting of the environmental protection sections of the Navigable Waters Act in the recent budget. He's done it so projects such as these can go ahead without anyone able to review them or squawk foul... We've got to be more careful who we vote for if we still want to paddle in this country!
ReplyDeleteTrue enough, Michael! Some politicians (I won't name names but his initials are Stephen Harper) do not care one iota about the environment. Fortunately, the area's MLA Denise Savoie has worked tirelessly against this project.
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