That's correct.
Evidence of meeting #27 for Fisheries and Oceans in the 39th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was little.
Evidence of meeting #27 for Fisheries and Oceans in the 39th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was little.
10:45 a.m.
NDP
10:45 a.m.
Chairman, North Rustico Harbour Authority
I would imagine, because they wanted the harbours to become harbour authorities.
10:45 a.m.
Chairman, North Rustico Harbour Authority
We said we're taking a pile of broken-down wharves. What are we going to do with that?
10:45 a.m.
NDP
Peter Stoffer NDP Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS
I just want to be very clear. Was that in writing to you, or just told to you at a meeting?
10:45 a.m.
Chairman, North Rustico Harbour Authority
Pretty well verbally, I would say.
10:45 a.m.
NDP
Peter Stoffer NDP Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS
Okay.
On the second point I have, I'm concerned with what you just said about the possibility of an accident. Who is responsible for insurance, for the liability of those wharves?
10:45 a.m.
Chairman, North Rustico Harbour Authority
Right now the government, small craft harbours, are looking at us as being the custodians of the wharves, but again we have to practise due diligence. If there is a little hole and you don't see it, and somebody breaks a leg, who are they going to sue?
10:45 a.m.
NDP
Peter Stoffer NDP Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS
Right. If somebody walks on your wharf in North Rustico, breaks a leg, falls in, or has serious injuries to themselves, their family, or whoever, who do they sue? Do they sue the harbour authority, or would they sue the federal government? Who pays the insurance?
10:45 a.m.
Chairman, North Rustico Harbour Authority
If the harbour authority is practising due diligence and keeping a watch, keeping an eye, and there's a hole, put a stick in it, because the tourists are crawling all over the place. They're even going under the pipes, where they are not supposed to go.
10:45 a.m.
NDP
Peter Stoffer NDP Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS
We have heard evidence in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland that there are some very proactive, well-formed harbour authorities. People from outside the fishing community are active here. They're very gung ho and they're very proud of what they've done. One gentleman from Bay Bulls is extremely proud of the work that he and his group have done, including getting a petroleum company to pay for a breakwater, I believe, if I'm not mistaken. They're very proactive in that regard.
Obviously, with different harbour authorities across the country in various regions, there are different aptitudes and different levels of initiative on their part.
I guess my major concern is that if something happens under these authorities--as you said, if some people get killed on a tour boat, what then happens? Who is ultimately responsible for the so-called safety of those wharves and harbours? Is it you?
10:45 a.m.
Chairman, North Rustico Harbour Authority
Well, the federal government owns the wharves right now. We're the custodians. We're to make sure that they're the best they can be. That's hard to do when there are holes all over them and you're trying to plug them up. You know what I mean?
10:45 a.m.
NDP
Peter Stoffer NDP Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS
For your lobster boats, is there an offloading charge to the authority? In Newfoundland we heard that when they offload their product on the wharf, they get a quarter cent a pound in some areas.
When the lobsters come out, are they offloaded in your harbour?
10:45 a.m.
NDP
Peter Stoffer NDP Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS
Does the buyer or the fisherman pay so much per pound to the authority?
10:45 a.m.
NDP
10:45 a.m.
NDP
Peter Stoffer NDP Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS
What is the charge for you to have your boat at your harbour per year?
10:45 a.m.
Chairman, North Rustico Harbour Authority
For me it's about $1,500 because I run that little deep sea fishing building.
10:45 a.m.
NDP
10:45 a.m.
Chairman, North Rustico Harbour Authority
A normal lobster boat is around $650, because we hire a night watchman and we've got to put in an extra couple of hundred dollars for a night watchman.