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Whale referendum misses poll deadline

Jack Keating
The Province

Thursday, October 06, 2005

An animal-rights group missed the deadline to have a whale referendum placed on the ballot for the Nov. 19 civic election -- and it's blaming the Vancouver parks board.

"It's the park board's fault," Annelise Sorg, director of the Coalition for No Whales in Captivity, said last night.

"They've been screwing around with us. And they haven't allowed us to speak at a park board meeting until [last night]."

Commissioner Loretta Woodcock said the group was "misinformed" about the board's deadline.

The group appeared last night before the board's culture and recreation committee meeting, which is not a forum where votes are taken, meaning the board could not vote on the whale referendum.

The next parks board meeting is Oct. 17.

City clerk Syd Baxter said the referendum deadline is today.

The proposed referendum question was: "Are you in favour of phasing out whale and dolphin exhibits in Stanley Park?"

Aquarium president John Nightingale is opposed to a referendum: "A referendum is a poor way to sample public opinion," he said.

Sorg, noting that 24 to 26 whales and dolphins have died in the Vancouver Aquarium, said: "We're against whales and dolphins in captivity because it's cruel. Its been scientifically proven that these animals are highly intelligent.

"It's like a human being spending their whole life in a bathtub. For them it's a puddle in the park."

jkeating@png.canwest.com
© The Vancouver Province 2005