When MHA Eddie Joyce became minister of environment in July 2017, he took a solemn pledge to protect the environment.
Since then, he has offered nothing but a cold shoulder approach to the environmental issues under his watch.
With respect to the questionable Grieg’s fish farm proposal for Placentia Bay (one of the biggest salmon farm proposals in the country), the minister has been the company’s cheerleader, saying “the province has to find a way forward to get the Grieg NL salmon project in Placentia Bay up and running.”
He continues to champion this project without any other considerations besides short-term jobs in an outdated practice.
Instead of upholding his responsibilities to our environment and natural resources, he supported the previous minister in his decision to allow the troublesome project to go ahead without a full environmental impact statement.
The minister then took on the role of minister of job creation ahead of his responsibilities to ensure our environment is safeguarded.
He continues to champion this project without any other considerations besides short-term jobs in an outdated practice. Has his boss or anyone in government reminded the minister that the role of the environment minister is not to create jobs?
The public and several groups have been so concerned with this project, and government breaking its own environmental legislation, that they took the government to court and won the case.
Instead of accepting the judge’s decision, the “environment” minister used up more taxpayers’ dollars to challenge this appeal. If the law demands an environmental impact statement, why would an environment minister challenge a ruling which goes against his own mandate?
Earlier this month, a flip-flop on this project was announced by the minister. He ordered a full environmental impact statement with the message that the government was taking a “balanced approach” to ensure the environment is cared for. Finally, it seemed the environment minister was warming up to his role as the gatekeeper of the environment. In reality, the announcement was all about speeding up the project in case they lost the appeal.
Within a day or so, the minister was back to his cold shoulder approach to environment issues, stating the environmental impact statement would be dropped if Grieg and government won its appeal. Even the minister of fisheries had publicly stated that a full environmental impact statement was “the right thing to do.”
Let’s not forget that the anti-environment minister also dismissed an appeal of a government’s decision this year to allow the Barry Group fish meal plant in Harbour Breton to go ahead without a full environmental assessment or adequate project description and monitoring.
The big question is who in this government is defending the environment if the minister of the environment has released himself from his mandated ministerial duties to safeguard our environment, and his boss fails to appeal this dereliction of duty to the people of Newfoundland and Labrador and future generations?
Bill Bryden
Lumsden