Danny William's legacy

Published on March 10, 2010

Published on June 28, 2010

Staff ~ The Pilot

Dear Editor,

As a fisherman and outport person, listening to the words of our National Anthem marking the end of the Vancouver Winter Olympics, I couldn't help but be saddened that the references to freedom must not apply to us here in Newfoundland.

Across this province, in every crick and cranny fisherpeople are now preparing for a fishery that may not happen, simply because in 2010 there is less democracy in the selling of fish that was enjoyed by our fisher forefathers a hundred years ago.

The sad reality is that the Association of Seafood Producers enjoy a government backed monopoly which gives them the luxury to deny fisherpeople the ability to sell their fish products with no fear of outside buyers being allowed into the province.

The processors, in effect, controls not only the lives of the fisherpeople, but the government as well. As a matter of fact, unless I'm greatly mistaken, the former president of the processor's association is now the provincial deputy minister of fisheries. Every fisherman in this province wonders where his loyalities lie!

As a fisherman and a person acutely aware of the dire situation fisherpeople and their communities face, I appeal to Danny Williams, just returning from the greatest bastion of free enterprise in this world, to find it in his heart to tear down the communistic walls of protectionism that is killing our coastal people, and allow the winds of free enterprise and democracy to blow across this province.

History tells us that the fisherpeople of this province have never enjoyed the just rewards of their labour, and whether or not Danny William's government sees fit to support the status quo, will be a history question for our grandchildren to ponder.

David Boyd Twillingate