Will Canadians see higher levels of pesticide and herbicide residues on our vegetables and fruits as American standards are adopted? Will we see a proliferation of GMO crops which are dangerous to human and animal health? Will more GMO foods begin hitting our dinner plates? Will Canadians see toxic but FDA-approved Gulf Coast seafood, or genetically modified and ISA-contaminated salmon, or GM pigs on our dinner plates soon? Will we see raids on small farmers, organic co-ops and health food stores? Unfortunately, the answer to all these questions seems to be "YES", as regulations are harmonized.

As someone that has spent 42 years of my life protecting the Fraser River Estuary I find the Port Metro Vancouver's latest phase of its upgrading of the Roberts Bank Port facilities including the transportation infrastructure to be of great concern and is again another setback in protecting this globally significant estuary. Continued development in the Roberts Bank area and on the bank itself will reduce options for future generations to benefit from our natural environment and will again degrade the habitats of vast populations of fish, wildlife and harm public recreation and livability.

Damien Gillis on the proposed doubling of Deltaport and conversion of prime farmland, fish and wildlife habitat into an industrialized Foreign Trade Zone.

We’ve known it all along, but at last we hear it out loud. Robin Silvester, the President and CEO of Port Metro Vancouver, has stated that: “Agriculture is emotionally important, but economically [of] relatively low importance to the Lower Mainland. And in terms of food security, [it] is almost meaningless for the Lower Mainland.” So there we have it...finally, honesty from someone in a position of power. Our Premiers and their governments have known it was too political to admit to -- that Delta’s agricultural land will be turned into an industrial park.

On the eve of municipal elections, Delta Council has unanimously voted to begin amending its Official Community Plan, paving the way for a highly controversial housing development by Century Group atop the Southlands (aka Spetifore Farm). The October 17 decision could override a recent lengthy public consultation process that rejected changes to the Tsawwassen Area Plan (one of three communities that constitute Delta) to rezone the property for development...“The public has clearly indicated their wishes to keep this land agricultural," said Dana Maslovat of Southlands the Facts.

I recently returned from Peace River Country, filming for a forthcoming short documentary on the Campbell/Clark Government's proposed Site C Dam. My family were early settlers in the Valley. Some fifty years ago we lost our ranch to the province's first big hydroelectric project, WAC Bennett Dam. Today, there are many good reasons why the final of three dams long planned for the Valley - Site C Dam, near Fort St. John - isn't in the public or environmental interest, despite what our government has been telling us to the contrary.

Read this op-ed in the Vancouver Sun by Profs. Tim Jackson and Peter Victor on the need to rethink our dogmatic pursuit of growth at all costs.

"Fixing the economy is only part of the battle. We also have to confront the convoluted social logic of consumerism. The days of spending money we don't have on things we don't need to impress people we don't know are over. Living well is about good nutrition, decent homes, good quality services, stable communities, decent, secure employment and healthy environments. The ability to participate in society, in less materialistic - and more meaningful - ways, is not the bitter pill of eco-fascism as Enchin would have it, but our single best hope for social progress." (Sept. 19, 2011)

http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Prosperity+without+growth+possible/5423370/story.html

Grounded TV presents a short video on the battle to save an organic farm on Vancouver Island from municipal zoning issues.

Read this story from the Globe and Mail about a new plan for national parks to allow farming within their bounds to boost food security in neighbouring urban centres. (July 15, 2011)

Wildly inflated container volume projections, sweetheart deals for Liberal-friendly speculators, secretive land purchases by BC Rail as recently as 2009...Tsawwassen resident Susan Jones blows apart the mythical need for massive port expansion in Delta - atop prime orca, salmon and bird habitat - part of $16 Billion in new taxpayer-funded infrastructure facilitated by sham environmental reviews at every level. "Further port expansion at Deltaport is a bogus deal that will be lucrative for a few and expensive for taxpayers."