» SIGN our ONLINE PETITION to the new Prime Minister, Stephen Harper

***ALSO, if you live in SIDNEY, SAANICH, or the SOUTHERN GULF ISLANDS:

There is a new petition to Conservative MP Gary Lunn, who is the federal Minister of Natural Resources and represents the Saanich-Gulf Islands riding where you live. Along with signing the petition to Harper, please sign the "Petition to Gary Lunn":

» Petition to Gary Lunn

It would also be great if you could collect a few signatures (2 or 2000 signatures - they all add up!) on the hardcopy petitions (download from the above website) from your friends, family, co-workers, classmates, and neighbors, and get them to our office (651 Johnson St., Victoria, BC V8W 1M7). If you live anywhere in Canada you should circulate the general petition to Prime Minister Stephen Harper UNLESS you live in the Saanich-Gulf Islands riding, you should circulate the petition to Gary Lunn.

Also, please write a letter to the federal government letting them know if you want them to enact a legislated, permanent ban on coastal oil and gas development in BC's. BE SURE TO INCLUDE YOUR HOME MAILING ADDRESS so they know that you're real and which riding you're in.

Write to:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper: pm@pm.gc.ca
Gary Lunn, Minister of Natural Resources: Lunn.G@parl.gc.ca
Maxime Bernier, Minister of Industry: Bernier.M@parl.gc.ca
Rona Ambrose, Minister of Environment: Ambrose.R@parl.gc.ca
Loyola Hearn, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans: Hearn.L@parl.gc.ca

All at Parliament Buildings, Ottawa, ONT K1A 0A7 (no postage needed if mailed in Canada)

Let them know whether you believe the federal government:

• Must adhere to the results of the federal public input process held in the spring of 2004 where 75% of the people opposed lifting the moratorium in BC.
• Should enact a legislated, permanent ban on coastal oil and gas development off BC's coast.
• Should support sustainable energy projects, such as wind power and tidal power, instead of coastal oil drilling.

More Information:

See new media articles on our websites: www.bcoilslick.org or www.wcwcvictoria.org

For 35 years, a federal-provincial moratorium on coastal oil and gas exploration, drilling, and transportation has protected BC's wild Pacific coast. However, the BC Liberal government is exerting huge pressure on the new federal Conservative government to lift the moratorium and allow for seismic testing and oil drilling to occur.

The Conservatives appear to have recently softened their public messaging on the issue, where their pre-election policy resolution (Conservative Policy Convention in Montreal, April 2005) favoured oil exploration off BC's coast - which would require lifting the moratorium. However, with their delicate minority government status, the Conservative government appears to be making more cautious public statements now, in which Lunn stated last week on the Shaw TV's "Voice of BC" that there will be no decision anytime soon about the moratorium - although he then stated that "people are asking why they can do it on the East Coast, but not over here on the West Coast?"

In the spring of 2004, the federal government's public input process (the Priddle Process) on the moratorium on coastal oil and gas development in BC resulted in 75% of the 3700 respondents opposed to lifting the moratorium, while only 23% supported lifting the moratorium.

The WCWC believes the federal government should be obligated to adhere to the results of the federal public input process and publicly announce that they will maintain the moratorium, or better yet, simply ban oil and gas development from Canada's Pacific waters.

Concerns about offshore oil and gas development off Canada's Pacific coast include:

• Daily chronic pollution, including toxic drilling fluids and drill cuttings, toxic waste waters, oil leakages, and small spills that contaminate the marine life.
• Catastrophic oil spills in Canada's most earthquake-prone region, which would hit the sensitive coastlines of the Queen Charlotte Islands and the mainland coast. In Newfoundland, the Hibernia project is 300 km offshore, whereas in BC the rigs would be as close as 20 km to shore. Currents in Newfoundland take oil spills away from shore, currents in BC would take the spills onto the sensitive shores.
• Seismic testing, where underwater sonic blasts are used to locate potential oil deposits, kills and harms fish, crabs, and invertebrates, and drives fish and whales long distances away from their feeding and migration areas.
• Substantial greenhouse gas emissions, which contravenes Canada's commitment to Kyoto.
• Jobs would go in large part to foreigners. Oil companies are not looking for unemployed loggers and fishermen in rural BC as their main labour source, but rather already trained and experienced workers with the specialized skills, generally to be hired from abroad.

THANK YOU for taking the 10 minutes to do this - the fate of BC's spectacular, world-class marine ecosystems depends on your voice right now!

- Ken Wu, WCWC Victoria