In 1995, an agreement was put in place to ensure there was a public referendum if the Vancouver Aquarium put forward plans to expand. In addition, last year, a commitment was made to ensure a public referendum in 2008 on the subject of phasing whales and dolphins out of the Aquarium. Just four members of the Vancouver City Parks Board, voted to remove the rights of the Vancouver City public to this decision, and rescinded both referendums. Two members voted against this removal of public referendums.

To see the letter Marine Connection sent to the Editor, click here

31st May 2006 (Published in Globe and Mail, Canada)

Public won't get vote on aquarium
ROD MICKLEBURGH

VANCOUVER -- The public has lost its right to vote on expansion plans for Vancouver's popular but often controversial aquarium.

After a long, contentious meeting that stretched far into Monday night, members of the city's park board voted 4-2 to overturn a policy deferring any expansion by the Vancouver Aquarium until it is approved in a citywide referendum. The policy had been in place since 1995.

The park board also scrapped, by the same 4-2 margin, a commitment made last year to submit the emotional issue of keeping whales and dolphins at the aquarium to a separate referendum in 2008.

The swing vote on both ballots was cast by veteran park board commissioner Allan De Genova, who said yesterday that his own daughter, who attended the meeting, was so upset by his decisions that she left in tears and would not talk to him in the morning.

The Vancouver Aquarium, 50 years old next month, lies in the heart of the city's beloved Stanley Park, ensuring that any plan to enlarge it arouses intense public debate. The institution wants to revamp and expand its outdoor pools, containing beluga whales, dolphins and endangered sea lions, at a projected cost of $80-million. The move would increase the aquarium's space in the park by about 25 per cent.

Mr. De Genova, a park board commissioner for 13 years, said referendums are imperfect exercises in democracy, too open to manipulation by expensive advertising campaigns. But he vowed the public will still be heard in a series of community meetings, which he hopes will be called in every one of the city's 23 neighbourhoods.

"As a steward of Stanley Park, I have always held the aquarium to account. They are going to be under the microscope," said Mr. De Genova, adding that "a large cut" of the anticipated increase in the aquarium's concession revenue should be returned to the park board.

"They only pay $40,000 for their lease, and we are giving them the equivalent of eight city lots, worth about $8-million. The aquarium is a great tenant, but this is a whole new business."

No one was more upset by the policy change than Janos Mate of Whale Friends, who berated Mr. De Genova after the meeting.

"The public has been slapped in the face," he said in an interview. "Half an acre of public property [is being] handed over to the aquarium, and the public has been robbed of its chance to express their opinion."

The four commissioners in favour of the change belong to the right-of-centre Non-Partisan Association, while the two No votes were cast by members of the leftist municipal party, the Coalition of Progressive Electors.

"Referendums aren't perfect, but they allow people to say what they want," COPE commissioner Spencer Herbert said.

"Now that right has been taken away, and we [the park board] get to decide. I would rather have 70,000 votes on this issue than just the seven votes on the park board."

The aquarium's high-profile executive director, John Nightingale, said he is pleased by the park board's decisions. He said he is looking forward to wide-ranging public hearings on the aquarium's ambitious expansion plans.

"This is not a Yes and No question for a referendum. There are a series of questions and the answers can be reshaped and refined," Mr. Nightingale said.

"A community dialogue is a far better way to do this. If we find that the community is against this, then the park board is not going to give us a green light."

The aquarium stopped acquiring captured wild dolphins and whales in 1997. But those bred in captivity or already on display at the time are permitted. At the moment, there are five beluga whales and four dolphins kept in separate pools at the Vancouver Aquarium. "They are our two primary ambassadors that engage people on issues of conservation," Mr. Nightingale said.

He derided those who campaign incessantly for an end to their captivity as "a small number of very vocal people."

Retorted Mr. Mate: "If that's all we are, then why are they afraid of a referendum? It's because most people do think it's time to end the captivity of such intelligent, social creatures."

For the original article, click here