Good News Friday

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Governments have developed the unfortunate habit of releasing controversial or distressing news on Friday afternoon when the media are basically packing their bags for the weekend. But last Friday the 4th of September was exceptional because two pieces of extraordinarily good news came sailing through the Ethernet.

One was the summary from Will Horter of the Dogwood Initiative about the multitude of ways Enbridge investors ought to count the trouble the company's proposed northern pipeline is in. A poll in Terrace BC shows 63% against opening up the cost to oil tanker traffic and the pipeline. The Haisla, First Nation at the Kitimat end, object. The Carrier Sekani Tribal Council in the interior where the pipeline must travel, objects, and the Haida's big leader, Guujaaw, and the Hereditary Chiefs , told Enbridge that project would put the entire Haida way of life at risk for nothing more than the chance for investors and company officials to make money. This opposition is growing across the north despite what Horter labels Enbridge's  "$100 million dollar slush fund" to get the project to regulatory approval.

The other joyful news was the happy announcement from Alexandra Morton that pink salmon were teeming in the waters of the northern half of Vancouver Island: "... fat and sassy little pink salmon are leaping and wriggling everywhere. I thought I would never see this again. These fish are a powerhouse - feeding watersheds throughout the south coast..." Morton too thankfully cites powerful First Nation opposition to fish farms as well as public support that resulted in lower the sea lice infection on out-migrating pinks in previous years for these fish survival.

Two solid pieces of good news, both of them the result of years of seemingly ceaseless struggle and work by these leaders and people from all over BC. Sometimes, just sometimes, you get what you need.