Hello fellow list members:
This is the third press release which has just been put out in the 
Nova Scotia "Central Nova" federal election campaign.
Peter MacKay, the deputy leader of the federal conservative party in 
Canada is the incumbent. I am trying to bring a deep
ecology perspective into my campaign.

Best, David
********

	Green Party candidate calls for marine protected areas
	and a ban on seismic testing

Press Release

December 16, 2005, Saltsprings, Pictou County

David Orton, Green Party candidate for Central Nova, says that "to 
make peace with nature,
we must adapt to and not fundamentally change the marine ecosystem. 
The oceans off Canada's East
Coast have been commercially exploited since the late fifteenth 
century, without paying
attention to the rhythms and tolerances of the oceanic ecosystem."

Many rural Canadians have come to learn first-hand that there is no 
permanent unspoilt space
for one's family which cannot be fundamentally disrupted by 
capitalist economic activity. In his
campaign, Orton will try to reflect the views of this human 
constituency and oppose all seismic
testing in inshore waters. He said "We can expect to see drilling 
rigs as part of a new landscape
for coastal residents, if the oil and gas boosters get their way, 
plus all the toxic releases which can
be expected from leaks, pipeline breakages, well blow-outs, release 
of drilling muds, human errors, etc."

Orton strongly opposes the activities of oil and gas industry in the 
region, in its offshore and onshore
gas pipeline phases, because: "when we know the destructive role of 
increasing climate change gases,
promoting rising fossil fuel consumption should rightly be regarded 
as a major criminal activity."

Many groups and individuals, including fishers, aboriginals, 
environmentalists, tourism operators and area
residents, have banded together in the organization Save Our Seas and 
Shores Coalition to oppose seismic
testing in the inshore waters around Nova Scotia. The firing of air 
guns along the floor of the ocean bottom,
in search of oil and gas is deafening for marine life. As one 
Dalhousie University scientist has written, "seismic
blasts from exploration can be heard half-way across the Atlantic."

Orton recently pointed out that "The Canada-Nova Scotia Off-Shore 
Board, which hands out
exploration licenses to oil and gas companies, supposedly oversees 
seismic testing. Yet there is no
real public consultation. The way this board operates is a perfect 
example of what environmentalists
have come to call 'regulatory capture.' That is, a body which is 
supposed to regulate and oversee the
oil and gas industry, becomes another promotional and public 
relations arm for the industry."

As a supporter of the deep ecology environmental philosophy, Orton 
will also try to represent the non-
human marine constituency in this discussion, by being a voice for 
ALL marine species who will be
directly impacted by oil and gas activity including seals, seabirds, 
whales, cormorants and bluefin tuna.
Orton calls for extensive "no-take" marine protected areas in these 
inshore waters, closed to all commercial
fishing and extractive activities. Many commercially targeted fish 
species, whether
groundfish or pelagics like herring, mackerel and capelin, have an 
observed weight-at-age which is
decreasing because of intense fishing pressures and this is reflected 
throughout the ocean food web.
He said "The overall intensity of the commercial fishery has to be 
drastically scaled back. Sea birds,
marine mammals and other species must have their own 'allocations' of 
food sufficient for their needs.
Humans must share the ocean bounty and not try to appropriate all of it."

Orton concluded, "We cannot continue treating the oceans as a 'sea of 
slaughter' as Farley Mowat has
documented. Gone forever are the Sea Mink, the Great Auk and the 
Labrador Duck. The Atlantic
populations of the Walrus and the Grey Whale have been wiped out. We 
humans have to learn
before it is too late, to extend our circle of concern to the oceans 
and the Earth. All life is
ultimately one."

                                                             -30-


Authorized by the Official Agent for David Orton
Contacts:
Mark A. Brennan
Campaign Manager for The Green Party Candidate for Central Nova, David Orton
GREEN PARTY OF CANADA www.greenparty.ca
Phone Central Nova Campaign Manager (902) 396 4397
Green Party Candidate, David Orton (902) 925 2514
Email David Orton; [log in to unmask]
"Make Peace With Nature, Vote Green"

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