FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Feb. 26, 2014
QUEEN’S PARK – Following the introduction of Ontario’s Invasive Species Act, Haldimand-Norfolk MPP Toby Barrett renewed the call for evisceration of all Asian carp entering Ontario for food.
“I commend this government for taking invasive species seriously enough – and taking MNR seriously enough – to introduce this legislation today,” Barrett said during debate.
Passage of the Invasive Species Act will make Ontario the only province with stand-alone legislation against invaders.
“In 2011, I submitted a resolution calling for evisceration, gutting, of any Asian carp brought into Ontario for food,” Barrett said in the Legislature. “MNR made the same call in 2013, but the clock is ticking.”
While on vacation in January, Barrett testified at the Army Corps of Engineers hearings on the Chicago Area Waterways System report and potential methods to keep invasive species from travelling between the Great Lakes and Mississippi River basins. He told this group, and reiterated it in the Legislature today, that a coordinated effort is needed.
“I testified that it makes no difference if a truck full of live Asian carp gets in a collision in Ontario, or Ohio or Michigan, and the fish escape into a ditch that flows into a Lake Erie tributary. Invasive species don’t abide by borders,” Barrett said. “Minister will you commit to work directly with the Great Lakes States and other states on invasive species? And will this Invasive Species Act dovetail with any proposed federal regulations – whether they be Canadian or American?”
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For more information contact
MPP Toby Barrett at 519-428-0446
Note: A copy of the official transcript of Mr. Barrett’s remarks is available.