The bureaucratic way is to delay!
To the Expositor:
Readers of your July 10 edition will probably make a connection between the nuisance Canada geese problem which local farmers are facing and the dangers of Asian carp gaining access to the Great Lakes; a very serious concern to commercial fishermen. The problem is the refusal of authorities, when faced with an obvious threat or problem, to take decisive action before it is too late.
With respect to Asian carp the only sure-fire way to prevent their access to the lakes is to, as the chair of the Sierra Club Ontario has noted, ensure the complete separation of the two water bodies concerned.
The way to deal with the geese problem is probably to allow an appropriate cull when numbers become overwhelming. The geese, by the way, are also a significant problem in urban areas; as just one example, there is a popular park in Guelph where families cannot sit on the grass and children cannot play freely due to the constant and unremitting droppings from big flocks of Canada geese which settle in the park by the river.
All too often it seems that, whenever possible, authority takes the easy way out–delay! When dealing with the Asian carp call for another study; when you don’t want to act on the goose problem–charge the farmer! Such tactics take time and you don’t have to make a clear decision!
Sincerely,
Eric Balkind
Gore Bay
