MP Gord Johns meets with Stand.earth reps to end maritime pollution

Unceded Snaw-Naw-As First Nation and the Qualicum First Nation [Parksville, B.C.] — Courtenay-Alberni MP Gord Johns met with Stand.earth Canada shipping campaigners to receive a petition signed by more than 150 thousand people demanding an end to ocean dumping which impacts the marine ecology near the MP’s district.

“150 thousand people want to see the remaining 72 Southern Resident Killer Whales protected from industrial tourism and marine pollution,” said Johns. “Ships dumping pollution into the ocean has major impacts to wildlife and coastal communities, including BC’s important shellfish industry. Being a leader for the environment and the people means addressing pollution and banning scrubbers, as many other nations have done.”

MP Johns’ jurisdiction is witness to an endless traffic of cruise ships which, due to federal government regulatory loopholes, are allowed to dump their waste into B.C. coastal waters. Because of this MP Johns is an active supporter towards making sure the federal government is on watch for allowing this to happen. Johns has sponsored a parliamentary e-petition calling on the Minister of Transport to prevent ocean pollution from ship dumping

“The new Transport Minister, Anita Anand, may be four thousand kilometers away, but surely she can hear the voices of 150 thousand people calling for an end to cruise ship dumping,” said Anna Barford, a Shipping Campaigner with Stand.earth. “The last Minister willfully ignored the plight of coastal communities and marine life living in a cruise ship toilet bowl. The new boss has an opportunity to put the lid down on the toilet bowl before the next season re-starts the cruise ship superhighway.”

Stand.earth is calling for better protections for the ocean including no discharge zones in protected areas, cleaner fuel mandates that prevent acidic dumping, and strict treatment requirements in line with our immediate neighbours and protection of endangered species like the Southern Resident Killer Whales.

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Pictures for media can be seen here.

Read the open letter to Transport Canada here

The interim order loopholes can be seen here.

Media contact: 

Arin de Hoog, Communications Specialist, Oil, Gas and Shipping – Stand.earth. +1 (613) 978-7329

arin.dehoog@stand.earth

Anna Barford, Canada Shipping Campaigner, – Stand.earth
+1-604-757-7029
anna@stand.earth