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Opposition to lakes sale grows

Heavy hitters urge Tories to keep ELA

By: Mia Rabson

Posted: 06/16/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

Work at the ELA in Ontario is world-renowned. (WINNIPEG FREE PRESS ARCHIVES ) Photo Store

OTTAWA -- Two former prime ministers and a former Tory fisheries minister have added their names to the growing list of people trying to save the world-renowned Experimental Lakes Area.

Former Liberal PMs John Turner and Paul Martin, and Mulroney-era cabinet minister Tom Siddon, are among 70 signatories on a full-page ad in support of the ELA that will run today in the Free Press and the Globe and Mail.

Siddon, an MP from near Vancouver, was the fisheries minister under Brian Mulroney from 1985 until 1990. He oversaw major changes to fisheries-habitat protection and last month he railed against changes to the Fisheries Act contained in the Harper Conservatives' omnibus budget bill.

"This is the voice of people outside the scientific community," said Diane Orihel, founder of Save ELA. "We are sending a strong message to the government that we're serious and we will continue to fight to save ELA."

The trio joins those calling on the government not to sell the valuable research facilities near Kenora, Ont., that allow for one-of-a-kind experiments on entire lakes. There are 58 lakes used for the research, which is done under an agreement between Ottawa and the Ontario government.

The government announced May 17 it was pulling the $2-million annual funding to operate the ELA and pay salaries of 17 scientists and administrative staff as of next April. It is attempting to transfer ownership of the ELA to a university or provincial government. The asking price is a dollar, in return for 40,000 square feet of space in 19 buildings. The government has invested $3.5 million into the facilities at the ELA in the last 10 years.

The advertisement also says "ELA is closing just when the planet needs it most" and calls ELA "unique and irreplaceable."

A spokeswoman for Fisheries Minister Keith Ashfield has repeatedly said the government believes ELA research is no longer aligned with its mandate and research the government needs can be completed by other programs.

However, ELA proponents say the research being done at ELA fits with the mandate to conduct research on fish habitat and climate change, and the work there cannot be replicated anywhere else.

John Smol, a biologist from Queen's University, said Friday even the kind of research needed to look at the impact of the oilsands on aquatic life is underway at the ELA.

Smol said $2 million is so paltry, it's akin to "a rounding on the defence budget" and that the decision is not about money.

"For $2 million, every Canadian pays a penny every couple of months and in return we don't have algae blooms or acid rain," said Smol. "But if you don't have that pesky scientific data, you don't have to do anything about it."

Scientists from around the world have written to Ashfield asking him to reconsider the decision, noting the global impact ELA research has had over the last 40 years is immeasurable.

It has affected policies on everything from mercury and acid rain to estrogen, phosphorus additives in soap and hydroelectric dams.

At the very least, ELA proponents want the government to allow more time to find programs willing to take over the ELA.

They say it is going to be next to impossible to find a new funder in nine months.

mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 16, 2012 A12

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