My weekend column is about our descent into hyper-regulatory tyranny. Speaking of which, from north of the border:
Martin Reid says he’s been forced to buy a fishing licence to remove carp that are swimming in a metre of water on his flooded-out fields.
He says he bought the permit to avoid the problems he faced the last time he was forced to remove fish from his flooded farmland. In 1993, Reid was fined $1,000 for illegal fishing.
“My father and I … were charged by Fisheries and Oceans Canada,” Reid recalled. “We were jointly responsible for having caused the death of fish for reasons other than sport fishing.”
Reid says the fine will jump to $100,000 if he’s cited a second time.
He’s under strict orders to safeguard the lives of the carp once he begins to expel them.
So, if his home had been flooded, he would need a fishing license to remove the carp from his deep-shag broadloom? Hey, relax, say the commissars:
A spokesman for the provincial natural resources department defended Ottawa’s decision.
“The idea is to help farmers,” said Jean-Philippe Detolle. “The licence was issued to reassure them they won’t be fined.”
Where’s that line from? The Bureau of Blackmail and Protection Racket Compliance?
Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed the regulatory bureaucracy for a lifetime.
Way back when I was a young man, I remember reading an article about a reporter in communist Russia. I'm probably telling this story wrong, but the gist was:
In order to cover story, he needed a reporter's license. "Well, how do I get one?" You have to go into this room and apply. "Well, I'll apply, then."
"You can't get into that room unless you have a license."
"But that's where I get the license?"
"Yes."
"Then let me in and I'll apply."
"I can't. You have to have a license to enter this room."
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThis is our future here in the US. As the economy slowly (or rapidly) sinks into the debt induced coma, the only institution left standing and the one that will be portrayed as the savior will be the Federal Government. So we will have a Federal Government and Fed induced fiscal and monetary catastrophe that will be solved by more powerful, bigger and intrusive government.
Everyone will work for the government and ultimate power will be achieved by the progressives, because if you want to eat, you will vote for the ones handing out the food.
The pain we need to endure to prevent this will not be borne by the American people it is sad to say. I hope I am wrong.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhat a load of carp.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSorry.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThis, h/t Drudge:
The city of Charlotte cited the Albemarle Road Presbyterian Church for improperly pruning its trees, $100 per branch, totaling $4000. The church, reports Brittany Penland of the Charlotte Observer, will appeal.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseCanada and Europe are clearly the canaries in America's coal mine. Sadly, America is missing the point. The whole idea is that when the canary starts to gasp for air you do something to save yourself. Get out of the mine, put on a gas mask, whatever. What you don't do is what we are doing--take the canaries' distress as a signal to go deeper into the mine and breathe harder.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"“The idea is to help farmers,” said Jean-Philippe Detolle. “The licence was issued to reassure them they won’t be fined.”"
So...you help farmers by protecting them against fining them? What about simply allowing them to fish the carp without fining them? Wouldn't that help the farmers too?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseOne fish,
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseTwo fish,
Red fish,
Provincially authorized and licensed blue fish.
I have always wondered at stories like this what prevents armed revolt. Many people have pointed out the obvious and stupid nature of this but let look at one possible end result a farmer could be fined $100,000 to removing fish from a flooded field, his own field!!! $100,000. Where is the revolt, armed rebellion the rage of the free person against tyranny? One day it will happen. This is always the outcome when progressive/liberals are in control. To "fix" everything they need all power over your life any level of control is ok as long as they fixing things and protecting fish and all the rest. Sad, sad, sad.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe problem is that we have too many legislators with too much time on their hands and too many real problems that they can't deal with. To seem useful, they pass laws respecting what they think they understand without real world experience to help with unintended consequences. Bureaucrats do their best to interpret the laws in the real world, but they have to "look busy" too. I'm sure that Jean-Philippe Detolle was only trying to help.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse$100,000? That's a lot of fins!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseYou can kill a human being through negligence e.g. drunken driving or starving a child to death and not be fined a hundred thousand dollars. In fact the state will pay for your room, board and education or gym privileges during what's laughably called incarceration to pay your debt to society when all you're doing is incurring a further debt. But end a carp's life swimming on your property and the state confiscates your life's savings. The state is like a big dumb creature with bizarre priorities.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIn the not so distant past, people used to call it the "protection rackets"; now it's called the federal regulartory bureaucracy.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhy don't they simply un-flood the field? Call whatever remains behind 'fertilizer'.
Oh, and you need to tell your CAPTCHA provider that I won't click "play" to watch an ad - no matter how many times I have to hit refresh before posting.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI guess we can say 'fin' to the idea of free societies.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"A spokesman for the provincial natural resources department defended Ottawa’s decision.
“The idea is to help farmers,” said Jean-Philippe Detolle. “The licence was issued to reassure them they won’t be fined.”"
It's stuff like this that really makes me wonder why more and more citizens in Canada and the U.S., etc., are not out in the street with pitchforks and torches.
Were our Founders correct - that we will suffer all kinds of things for a long long time before doing anything about it.
I guess so.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseImagine a politician who's election platform was "I'll Say NO!" - as in, I'll say NO to excessive regulation, NO to Safety Nazi's, NO to the willingly helpless.
I'd vote for that kind of Leadership!
BTW - @BreakerofHorses "What a load of carp" - Hilarious!
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