Fish and Dips II - Oh, Those Sneaky Dippers!

Our palatial BC Poly Blog office in the heart of Seattle, WA received dozens of phone calls, faxes and emails from angry Port McNeill, BC residents during the past week. It appears our favourite BC NDP MLAs Claire "Ducks and Fish Are Funny" Trevana and Gregor "Hey! Jesus Liked Fish - Maybe He'll Now Like Me!" Robertson are at it again and the Port McNeill-ites - or Rita MacNeils as our research department told me they are often referred to as - are not gonna take it...NO! They ain't gonna take it. They're not gonna take it anymore.

The Special Committee on Sustainable Aquaculture - Chaired by NDPer Robin "I'm Like a Bird" Austin and featuring six NDP and four BC Liberal MLAs - were scheduled to hold a series of public hearings and site visits throughout the North Island. Just hours before the June 27th public meeting in Port McNeill at the Community Hall (book your 2007 wedding NOW!) Claire privately requested of the Committee - well, just the NDP majority on the committee - that they do NOT visit the Englewood Packing facility scheduled for the next day. This is a plant with over 140 employees where they are running at a very high capacity processing "...in excess of 30 million pounds whole fish and 3.5 million pounds of fillets annually." The "committee" opted to visit the Pan Fish Alpha plant in Port Hardy - a plant 60 kilometres away and not in operation. One angry caller opined, "This is bullshit, they could have visited both plants easily."

So did the usually mild mannered Rita MacNeil-ites take this lying down? NO! Did these folks believe they were getting proper representation from their fashion Diva MLA Claire Trevana? NO! Does anyone in North America really understand the offside rule in World Cup soccer? NO!

When the Englewood people heard that their long scheduled meeting with the Committee was canceled, one on-looker described employees as "they were some pissed".

The floor production people organized themselves and when their shift was over at 5pm, more than sixty "some pissed", yet proud, Englewood employees traveled to the Port McNeill Community Hall and arranged a reception for Claire and company. The Englewood-ites wore their production smocks and aprons and had a large banner which read, "You wouldn't come to us so we came to you!" (see photo). The employees along with other angry folks surrounded the building and, as one on-looker wrote to this intrepid Poly, "...blocked the entrance to the community hall and confronted the committee members as they arrived." These mighty, mighty Rita McNeill-ites - much like their namesake - could not be moved.

When the Liberal representatives of the Committee arrived they were informed by the protestors that they would not be visiting the Englewood Plant the next morning. Upon hearing this news, the Liberal MLAs agreed to keep their promise and visit the plant. There was much elation as these MLAs entered the hall. Perhaps someone in the crowd yelled, "Hey! Thanks BC Liberal MLAs. Now I have a better understanding of how you were able to settle all the public service contracts before the deadlines including a fair agreement for our beloved teachers while making sure our economy is one of the best in Canada. Hey! Your reasoned approach to our problem today shows me how your Party - the BC Liberals - are way up in the polls and how your Government is like so totally awesome!" Yes, perhaps someone indeed yelled this out.

But now, the fun began.

Gregor "Hey! Is Aquaman Gonna Be On This Aquaculture Committee?" Robertson (admittedly, if Aquaman were on the Committee, that would be cool) tried to blend in the with crowd and sneak in the back door of the hall. When the protestors saw him and asked him why he was not going through the front door - where more protesters with signs and camera were stationed - he at first denied he was Gregor Robertson the MLA! Well, this makes sense. I mean, would YOU admit to being Gregor?

Claire then arrived late and it appeared she was going to run away as she and NDP "Leader" [sic.] Carole "I'm Against Farmed Fish Unless It Is Served At An NDP Fundraiser" James did at another fish related event in 2005. A source close to Claire shared that she arrived late in the hopes of avoiding the protesters - especially the ones holding anti-Claire signs (see photo). However, much like hoping the NDP would ask original questions during question period, this was not to be. When asked on the steps of the hall why she was not visiting the Englewood plant Claire mumbled something about scheduling problems. When the protestors suggested she was giving them the verbal equivalent of a falsified Adrian Dix memo, she stormed away into the hall where she was met with a chorus of boos from the crowd of 130.

But the protesters were to be victorious.

At the start of the meeting the pressure from the protestors forced the Chair, Robin Austin to say, "I would just like to begin by letting everybody know there has been a little controversy here in regards to us and our schedule tomorrow and our attempts to try and get to two sites that are very close to each other...what we will do tomorrow is that half our committee will come to see your operations and where you work, and the other half will go to the alpha plants...I want to put that out in the beginning so you know that we will be there to visit you tomorrow morning."

Victory for Englewood and the Rita MacNeil-ites as they cheered in delight.

Up, on the stage Claire looked pissed that she was caught shirking her responsibilities and busted for trying to sidetrack the Committee. A confused Gregor tried to consol her by saying, "Don't be sad, maybe Aquaman will be at the next meeting."