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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BRITISH COLUMBIA CONSERVATIONISTS LAUNCH PRE-ELECTION ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CAMPAIGN

VICTORIA, BC, Canada, January 20, 2005 --/WORLD-WIRE/-- The Western Canada Wilderness Committee in Victoria is gearing up to launch its “Pre-Election Environmental Education Campaign”. With less than 4 months until the May 17 BC provincial election, the conservation movement is getting ready for a major grassroots outreach and education effort.

The WCWC will be recruiting and mobilizing two thousand volunteers province-wide for a door to door outreach effort to circulate a petition to defend BC’s public forests against various privatization schemes - Crown land sell-offs, revived Working Forest legislation if the BC Liberals are re-elected - and to hand out information leaflets about the BC government’s track record on the environment. The campaign aims to reach 200 000 households.

“This effort will help raise the environmental awareness among a major portion of BC’s electorate, so that whichever party makes it into power, environmental protection and sustainability will have to be a significant part of their mandate,” states Ken Wu, the WCWC’s Campaign Director in Victoria.

Since the BC Liberals came into power in 2001 they have:
  • Opened provincial parks to commercial logging, mining, and privatization
  • Lifted the moratorium on the expansion of fish farms.
  • Lifted the moratorium on the trophy hunting of grizzly bears.
  • Watered-down pulp mill pollution standards designed to limit the production of cancer-causing dioxins
  • Systematically logged-off the last old-growth forest habitat of Canada’s most endangered species, the Spotted Owl
  • Pushed the federal government to lift the moratorium on coastal oil and gas development.
  • Moved to sell-off $77 million of public (Crown) lands each year to private real estate developers, twice the average rate of sale under the previous NDP government
  • Opposed the ratification of the Kyoto Accord
  • Promoted coal-fired power production. Attempted to implement legally-binding, permanent logging zones (ie. an “anti-parks law”) known as the “Working Forest”, which was defeated by widespread public opposition last July, but will likely to be revived if the BC Liberals are re-elected.
“With their relentless anti-environmental policies, the BC Liberals are making the old Socreds look like Greenpeace”, states Wu. “Their extremist anti-environmental agenda is so far away from the mainstream public’s opinion, by informing the people of BC about their policies we believe they or any other ensuing government will have to adhere more closely to the public’s environmental concerns.”

The official launch of the Pre-Election Environmental Education Campaign will be in Victoria at the St. Anne’s Academy (835 Humboldt St.) on Monday, Jan.24, from 7:30 – 9:30 pm, at the “BC’s Forests and the Coming Provincial Election” forum. There will be several new films and speakers, including the WCWC’s Ken Wu and Matt Price of the newly formed Conservation Voters of BC.

CONTACT:

Ken Wu
(WCWC)
250-514-9910 (cell)

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