Mel Arnold is looking to continue his work on invasive species in the area after being re-elected to Ottawa in the North Okanagan – Shuswap riding.

Arnold says believes there should be more money coming out west to combat the issue. He says at this time, over $7 million a year goes into aquatic invasive species across Canada. “But currently over 80% of that is spent on just two species in the Great Lakes. We need to see a bigger portion of that spending coming to the North Okanagan-Shuswap coming to protect our waterways here.”

“If those zebra a quagga mussels were ever introduced here or other aquatic invasive species, it could seriously impact the ecology of the area perhaps larger greater than any other ecological disaster that we can even imagine.” He says there is currently there is no treatment available if they were to find their way here. “The only treatment would be to drain the entire water system and that’s simply not possible. So, we need to prevent them in any way we can.”

Arnold says it has something he has worked for the past four years and will now continue to work on during his second term. He was reelected to a second term with nearly 50% of the votes in last week’s federal election.