Fisheries Committee on May 13th, 2008

[Barry Braun]

Actually there haven't been any.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

There haven't been any.

[Barry Braun]

No. In all cases it has been wharf facilities and boat ramps, and there hasn't been an environmental issue or a circumstance we've had to deal with.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

Any with the Wellington divestiture process?

[Barry Braun]

No.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

So you really never had any heavy industry involved in this area whatsoever?

[Barry Braun]

Well, not where the federal properties have been involved. There was a canning industry, as an example, in Wellington; however, it did not impact on the federal property area. If and when we're able to proceed with some long-term solutions to the dredging, that may be one of the things we will have to deal with, the environmental issue.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

Okay. One final thing before my colleagues ask questions. When it comes to the fishing activity, is it primarily recreational? Do you have any commercial fishing enterprises whatsoever?

[Barry Braun]

We have some small commercial fishing, I believe, primarily out of the Picton Harbour. We have a significant number of charter fishing activities. I think the larger commercial fishing went by the wayside years ago. We still have some small commercial fishing taking place, but I think other than recreational boating and fishing, the chartered fishing would be pretty extensive.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

And how large is that, do you estimate?

[Barry Braun]

I would suggest we probably have 30 to 40 chartered fishing enterprises in the municipality.

[The Chair, Conservative, Fabian Manning]

Mr. Byrne is next.

[Gerry Byrne, Liberal, Humber—St. Barbe—Baie Verte, NL]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Gentlemen, thank you for providing some valuable insight as to the operations here. I think my colleague put it well; it sounds to me like a divestiture success story that's actually occurred here, with the exception of one project. Remind me again of the name of the harbour where you have this--

[Barry Braun]

Wellington.

[Gerry Byrne, Liberal, Humber—St. Barbe—Baie Verte, NL]

Yes, Wellington Harbour.

You noted that in Pickering there's a $7.5 million ask for a proposal that seems to be moving forward. You don't know for sure if it's been authorized or accepted, but it seems--

[Barry Braun]

Very positive, from our indications.

[Gerry Byrne, Liberal, Humber—St. Barbe—Baie Verte, NL]

In terms of Wellington, you reported to us that you have not put in a special request yourselves. If I can read into that--correct me if I'm wrong, I don't want to speak for you--since this is proceeding in Pickering, you didn't think a $7.5 million ask for Wellington would be in the cards until it actually appeared on the radar screen in Pickering. Would that be a correct...?

[Barry Braun]

That's certainly part of it, yes. However, we have been struggling with a solution. For at least four years we have been focusing on it significantly. We have looked at options in the U.S. and all over Canada, wherever we can get information on similar facilities. It's funny, we have one right on our back door in Pickering that we hadn't touched on before. So we believe their solution is also one that would work in our case.

[Gerry Byrne, Liberal, Humber—St. Barbe—Baie Verte, NL]

In terms of an engineering point of view from the administration of the small craft harbours program, especially as overseers of several harbours in this particular region, would you see it as being valuable that some sort of criteria be established, a transparent, accountable criteria, on which these multi-million-dollar decisions should be based, so that you don't feel left out or you don't feel separated from the process?

For example, if an engineering solution were available to Pickering and the circumstances were transferrable to Wellington, obviously under a criteria, an eligibility sort of assessment, would that accommodate or suit your political requirement that there be some accountability to this, so you'd know you would be part of the line, part of the queue, so to speak?

[Leo Finnegan]

Yes, very much so. We would appreciate that. In fact, as Barry has mentioned, he kind of stumbled on it. In looking for a solution all over the lake, he found one not too far away that has already taken place. If there were some way we could be aware of those things, it would be very helpful.

[Gerry Byrne, Liberal, Humber—St. Barbe—Baie Verte, NL]

And that would help guide the department itself in its decision-making.

[Leo Finnegan]

Right.

[Gerry Byrne, Liberal, Humber—St. Barbe—Baie Verte, NL]

For example, the minister has available to him a $5 million discretionary reserve on an annual basis. Sometimes it's actually even greater than that amount, but of course that's discretionary. From the department's point of view, in terms of directing this funding...that way you could feel comfortable that as others negotiate deals around you, there would be some sort of transparency and accountability, that every harbour isn't of and for itself and that you would be part of a process where you could feel comfortable that your best interests are being taken care of, not simply as to whether or not you're aware of the negotiating positions of other harbours.

[Leo Finnegan]

I might add that we have spoken to your provincial counterparts about this. We made a presentation in February to the minister responsible. The comment was that there isn't any money available at this time, but as Barry said, there have been several studies done. And certainly one of them is to angle the jetties in such a way that the prevailing wind doesn't cause the sand to drift in.

As the cost of dredging increases, the problem becomes more prominent. This year we spent $90,000. Two years ago it was $65,000. I might add that a number of years ago, probably 15 years ago, when I was with the cement company here, we donated literally tonnes and tonnes of armour stone to build out along that breakwall.

When you visit there today, I think you'll be surprised at what you see. It is a brand-new dock. The Rotary Club of Wellington, which is a very small club of some 30 people, has taken on a major project to make a boardwalk. They have had help from different funds for that. There seems to be a lot of enthusiasm and new life going into the Wellington Harbour. And it's the only way you can get into West Lake.

I was there last Saturday when the Ontario Provincial Police gave a used police boat to the auxiliary coast guard that has just been organized in Wellington. They were very pleased with that. It's on the north shore of Lake Ontario. It's a big lake out there, and frequently people sailing this way from Toronto find themselves in trouble. So that's going to help us.

We see that the harbour is growing. So we'd be extremely pleased to find a way to solve this problem.

[The Chair, Conservative, Fabian Manning]

Thank you, Mr. Finnegan, and thank you, Mr. Byrne.

Mr. Blais.