Prioritize protection of wildlife and their habitat across government including through:
- Establishing a strategy to manage our wetlands;
- Protecting coastal ecosystems with a Coastal Law and Strategy;
- Ensuring appropriate legislative oversight through creating legislated objectives for fish and wildlife;
- Moving the fish and wildlife branch from FLNRO and the Ministry of Environment;
- Urgently match and exceed historic provincial funding levels for the fish and wildlife branch to match the unprecedented challenges we now face;
- Ensuring that science about the status of our wildlife and environment is independent from political interference and made freely available to the public;
Enhance funding for wildlife conservation, habitat protection and habitat acquisition and dedicate all fishing, hunting, guide-outfitting, and trapping license fees for this purpose.
Create an endangered species law that establishes legal protection of species and their habitat to ensure their recovery and survival.
Take action on fish farms to protect wild salmon:
- Support the full implementation of the Wild Salmon Advisory Council recommendations and Cohen Commission recommendations, working urgently to enforce all measures within provincial jurisdiction;
- Negotiate strongly with DFO to complete the recommendations under federal jurisdiction;
- Working with DFO, First Nations, local communities, and industry, provide stimulus and incentives to create a close-containment land based fish farming industry and cancel open-pen fish farm tenures.
Establish a made-in-BC Environmental Charter that lays out:
- Substantive rights to clean air, clean water, and healthy ecosystems
- Procedural rights that allow everyone to participate in decisions that affect the environment;
- Information rights that ensure we all have the access to all information relevant to decisions that affect the environment;
- Application of the precautionary principle to decisions that affect the environment.
