Gary Schneider, Co-Chair of the Environmental Coalition of Prince Edward Island and Past Member of the Round Table on Resource Land Use and Stewardship, presented to the Environmental Advisory Council on October 8th. One of his first recommendations:

“We must face up to the serious environmental problems in this province. This year’s Speech from the Throne stated that one reason people love to come to Prince Edward Island was our “pristine” water. And when I take the Marine Atlantic ferry there is always an announcement about our “pristine” Island waters. Pristine is a lovely word, but when you have dead fish floating in rivers and shellfish dying in our estuaries, attracting national and international attention in a variety of media outlets, you’d have to have a pretty low opinion of visitors’ intelligence to think they would believe that. Studies are being carried out at UPEI to look at the significant amounts of nitrates and pesticides that are flowing into the Strait. We really need to start making the same progress on water that we are finally making on mental health, child abuse, drug addiction or other societal issues. We need to honestly admit there are problems and address them with seriousness and immediacy.”

Read Gary’s full text here.