Reform MP Leon Benoit issued a useful reminder last week for farmers and ranchers: the federal government’s proposed endangered-species legislation is still a looming threat.
Under a bill introduced in the last parliament, but not passed before the election was called, land owners would have been subject to harsh penalties if any of their activities harmed any creatures that bureaucrats designate as an endangered species.
In a news release, Benoit gave this example: “A farmer whose cattle disrupted a migratory species or its home could, in theory, face lawsuits or fines of up to $1 million.
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“He could even face a jail term of up to five years.”
That might sound excessively alarmist, but Benoit noted some outrageous incidents involving equally extremist U.S. environmental legislation. In one case, government officials banned people from plowing firebreaks around their homes that were threatened by a forest fire.
Why the ban? The plowing would have disrupted the habitat of some Stevens Kangaroo Rats.
What was the result? Some 28 houses were destroyed by fire, as well as the bureaucrats’ beloved rat colony.
Given such examples, farmers and ranchers have good reason to be concerned about whether the Liberal government will revive its proposed legislation in unchanged form.
But there is an alternative approach, Benoit emphasized.
Instead of “rigid, insensitive and coercive” regulations and penalties, he said, there could be co-operative projects involving producers, environmental groups and governments, with compensation for landowners.
“In case after case, from Florida to the Arctic Circle, voluntary and co-operative conservation projects are winning accolades.”
Among other projects, he cited efforts to preserve burrowing owls on the Prairies.
Land owners who protect the owls’ nesting sites and keep records on the numbers of owls receive official recognition, technical aid in building nest boxes, and some financial assistance.
Such programs work because the vast majority of farmers and ranchers are responsible people who want to preserve the environment and wildlife, provided that their livelihoods are not destroyed in the process.
If officials and environmental groups recognize and respect that fact, and do not try to make producers bear the cost of preservation programs, all parties can work well together.
That philosophy should be the foundation of any endangered-species law.
