LETTER: Politicians need to shape up when it comes to cattle industry, GMOs
By Contributor
How we come to these moments in local political history…
On the one hand we have a member of our honourable Grand Forks city council declaring in a public forum on the night of Dec. 5th: “If glyphosate shows up in your urine, it is certainly an indication your body is processing it adequately.” Absolutely brilliant on the part of Coun. Gary Smith! Be it said glyphosate is the active ingredient in the Monsanto antibiotic Round-Up.
On the other hand we have our local MLA Ms Linda Larson as per an Oliver Chronicle article of Dec. 11th declaring to the Osoyoos tourist town Mayor Stu Wells: “I’m a firm believer in the BC beef industry. I think the value of a ranch with a whole bunch of cattle is greater that that of four tourists.” She did not specify if that was four tourists for every cow however.
In the case of the former, we need remind ourselves Mr Smith votes on any manner of public health concern at city hall. As per his own affirmation he has a pecuniary interest in the application of antibiotic herbicides and pesticides in and around this community. Some of these are closely related or tied into Monsanto et al. genetic engineering programs.
As a long-time and very interested member of this community in such matters I recommend Mr Smith recluse himself forthwith from any further discussion or vote at City Hall pertaining to genetic engineering (GE) or antibiotic applications (herbicide/pesticide) to the landscape.
Ms Larson on the other hand needs be reminded her constituency goes beyond the few South-Okanagan ranchers opposing a National Park in our region where the unemployment rate tops eight per cent. She is not serving the interests of the constituency by stonewalling the land-use negotiations required to resolve the rancher issues with Parks Canada and the Okanagan First Nations. She has overlooked the fact a South-Okanagan National Park would be an undreamt of attention and economic generator for the Boundary Region…or does she not consider us part of her riding?
Donald Pharand Grand Forks
