Skaana host Mark Leiren-Young Runs for Saanich Council & CRD
Now with orcas vs. pipelines speech included...
Hi. So if this email looks familiar… I had several people reach out to let me know that the YouTube link to my speech about orcas vs. pipelines was broken - so that link is now fixed and leads to the text of the speech - which was published in The National Observer. I’ve also embedded the speech that I gave at the National Energy Board Hearings on the proposed Kinder Morgan pipeline in August, 2016.
Hi all,
So this’d be a plot twist.
I’ve decided to run for Saanich Council and the CRD.
For those of you who aren’t in BC - or Canada - Saanich is home, it’s next to Victoria (in my case Victoria is right across the street) - and it’s the largest municipality on Vancouver Island.
It’s a fascinating mix of urban and rural and I love it here, so I want to do what I can to make a place that I think is pretty great even better.
If you’re in Saanich and game to host an event, introduce me to friends, put up a sign, knock on doors or wave signs with me that would be awesome. Here’s the volunteer link.
Also… voting for me… that’d be the single most helpful thing you can do :)
If you’re in BC, but not in Saanich, you can still donate to the campaign.
The CRD is the political organization that steers regional issues for the Greater Victoria area like watershed protection, sewage, transportation, regional planning… the eco-issues you already know I’m passionate about.
On the donation front I did something most campaigns don’t in 2022. I included a $5 button because my dream for this is to have as many donors as possible.
Wherever you are… even if you’re not in BC - I can use help with research, social media, calls and emails.
And even liking my stuff on social media - Twitter, Facebook and Instagram - helps amplify it.
I’m gonna be doing a separate campaign newsletter that will, hopefully, be a fun read. I’m going to try to share my adventures on the campaign trail as they happen. And they should be fun. You can sign up for that here.
So what does this have to do with orcas?
It's all because of the orcas...
In 2016, I set out to interview all the orca experts I knew about the impact Canada's proposed Transmountain pipeline expansion project could have on the endangered southern residents.
The experts I spoke with all told me two things.
1. It would likely mean the end of the southern residents.
2. They would not be able to share this opinion at the public hearings because of who they worked for, where they were located and/or because they had been consulted in preparing the government report on the potential impact.
Almost all of them ended our conversations by saying, "so you'll be speaking out, right?"
And I'd explain: "journalists don't do that."
A few days before the public hearing in Victoria I reached out to Kai Nagata from the Dogwood Institute to ask how many times the orcas had been mentioned in the public hearings. He told me there was one passing reference. That was it.
No one had made them the focus of their presentation. He asked if I would be speaking..
I would have said again: "journalists don't do that."
But... as everyone I spoke with said... somebody had to...
So I did. Here's the speech I delivered.
I was right.
Journalists don't do that.
From the moment I delivered the speech I found myself referred to in the media as "an orca advocate" and publications I wrote for decided my work - which was as thoroughly researched and reported as ever - now qualified as "opinion" because I had publicly spoken out on behalf of the southern residents.
And I thought... I can live with that.
I was now, officially, political.
And now I'm officially political on another level.
During the panic phase of the pandemic I realized how grateful I was to be living where I was living. I was volunteering on the municipality's arts, culture and heritage advisory board and thought... I want to do more for my home.
And I know I'm in the perfect place - not just because it's beautiful and the community is terrific - but because this is BC's only municipality with its own sea monster!
Yep, Saanich - home to the Cadborosaurus.
Thank you, as always, for your support!
Mark
We now return you to our regularly scheduled work to support orcas, oceans and the environment…