Clean Environment Commission wants park logging stopped
The first environmental review of logging operations in Manitoba came to the conclusion that we needed to end park logging. Now we need to make that happen.
Three decades ago we experienced a green wave, an understanding that we needed to tread lightly on nature. In 1988 Manitoba signed The Environment Act into law. On Earth Day 1990, 141 countries voiced their support for environmental action. The federal and provincial governments signed an agreement in 1992, committing to jointly complete Canada’s network of protected areas. Canada ratified the international Convention on Biological Diversity that year.
The Manitoba Clean Environment Commission (CEC) did something spectacular in 1992: they said stop park logging.
The Environment Act was new. The CEC itself was new, as it was born from the Environment Act. No logging operation in Manitoba had ever been reviewed by an environmental agency. This was a first look at logging through the lens of caring for our ecosystems. What did they say?
The highest environmental review in the land said end park logging.
So what are we doing still logging Duck Mountain Provincial Park in 2021? Do we know it’s wrong? Yes. Do scientists tell us we have a biological diversity crisis? Yes. Do we need more nature? Yes. Do we need to grow parks and protected areas? Yes. Is even considering logging a park shameful? Yes.
The CEC report was rejected without explanation by former Progressive Conservative then-Premier Gary Filmon’s government. We failed to act.
Evil codgers in power — wielding their influence against science and for the almighty dollar in their neighborhood — is still the reason we’re failing our forests. But valuing the economy over the environment is not an argument that holds up in the real world, we’ll act now or pay huge consequences later.
As you may know, the contract to log Duck Mountain Provincial Park expires on Dec. 31, 2021. It‘s time to listen to the CEC. Premier Brian Pallister needs to fix the failure of former premier Filmon, and end park logging in Manitoba.
Write your letter today.
