Evidence of meeting #13 for Fisheries and Oceans in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was money.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
Scott Andrews Liberal Avalon, NL
Is the money that was announced—$20.3 million for Newfoundland and $12 million for Nova Scotia—actual money that's going to be spent on small craft harbours? Does that work include only small craft harbours?
4:25 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Human Resources and Corporate Services, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Yes, those are the amounts for projects in those particular provinces for small craft harbours.
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
Scott Andrews Liberal Avalon, NL
So we'll see a list that will tally $20.3 million for that particular province.
4:25 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Human Resources and Corporate Services, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Yes.
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
Scott Andrews Liberal Avalon, NL
So there was no planning money put into these announcements as part of a total package in terms of the figure?
4:25 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Human Resources and Corporate Services, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Okay. If I might be clear with respect to what we mean by planning money, when we do a project, there is money required to do the engineering studies and environmental studies, and there is work for construction. All of that will be totalled in a project.
If that's what you mean, the announcements.... Some of those projects will start at the planning phase and some will be in construction. Some will require tenders right away. It varies by project.
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
Scott Andrews Liberal Avalon, NL
So it's not departmental planning money that was put into that figure to come up with $20.3 million?
4:25 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Human Resources and Corporate Services, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Do you mean the work involved in us coming up with determining what the totals would be? No, that would not be included in those amounts.
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
Scott Andrews Liberal Avalon, NL
How quickly can we get a list for what you've announced? How long will it take to provide us with a copy of the list on the announcements that were made last week?
4:25 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Human Resources and Corporate Services, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
I believe the minister's office is working as we speak to roll out the rest of those announcements.
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
Scott Andrews Liberal Avalon, NL
So are you going to re-announce it? I'm a bit confused. How come you can't say “here's your list for $15 million, $12 million, $8.5 million, and $3.2 million”? How come we can't get that list, like, tomorrow?
4:25 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Human Resources and Corporate Services, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
I believe that the government...that our minister's office has determined that it wants to announce these projects and will be doing so in the next few weeks as soon as they are in a position to do that. There is work to be done to prepare the releases, to prepare the detail to get that out there. I believe that's what's under way now.
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
Scott Andrews Liberal Avalon, NL
But you've already made the announcements about the money and you've flipped out names of communities; in all of these cases, there are no specifics in any of them like there were in previous years. Now you're saying, okay, we're announcing it once, and we're going to come and announce it again next week. In your opinion, were these announcements rushed?
4:30 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Human Resources and Corporate Services, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Mr. Chairman, I don't know the discussions; this is discussed between our communications section and our minister's office. I was not involved in those conversations.
4:30 p.m.
Liberal
Scott Andrews Liberal Avalon, NL
I have one other question. Is the small craft harbours divestiture program only for recreational harbours? Has anything changed on that?
4:30 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Human Resources and Corporate Services, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
No. It includes some non-core harbours as well as recreational harbours. The emphasis with the $45 million that we got in budget 2008 or 2009—I forget which year—is mostly on recreational harbours, but there are divestitures of non-core harbours happening as well.
4:30 p.m.
Bloc
Raynald Blais Bloc Gaspésie—Îles-de-la-Madeleine, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
That reminds me of Mr. Andrews' question, and what tends to happen both in Quebec City and Ottawa. It is almost a Liberal trend, or at least, something invented by the Liberal government—announcing funding for a specific project, and then making individual announcements, on a case-by-case basis, when the work is about to begin, then again when a progress report is made on the work that is underway, and then another announcement when the work is over. You can see how many announcements may end up being made about a single project. It can end up being announced ten times.
My question relates to prevention. I suppose the Department does do some planning in anticipation of potential disasters. The one in the Gulf of Mexico has been a shock and has made us realize the kind of thing that can happen.
Has the Department thought about an environmental disaster occurring in the Gulf of St. Lawrence where, rather than being filled with resources, it could be oil spilling from a ship, such as what happened with the Irving Whale off the coast of the Magdalen Islands. We have experienced this kind of thing before. What plan is in place to deal with a disaster such as this? Has this kind of thing been considered?
4:30 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Ecosystems and Fisheries Management, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Of course, there are currently problems with respect to the ground fish population and the productivity of the Gulf of St. Lawrence where ground fish and other species live. We want to examine the situation and see whether major changes are occurring in the ecosystem.
As regards a disaster such as the one in the Gulf of Mexico, there is no similar industry in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Were there to be one, the government would have to make decisions and set standards, in order to avoid the kind of problems that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico.
4:30 p.m.
Bloc
Raynald Blais Bloc Gaspésie—Îles-de-la-Madeleine, QC
Commentators and experts are saying that if a disaster similar to the one in the Gulf of Mexico were to occur in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, it would be even worse because the land is close to the shoreline and the geography is completely different. I suppose that we have an obligation to be even more vigilant now, in case something like that happens.
4:30 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Ecosystems and Fisheries Management, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
It is difficult to answer your question, because we are talking about a hypothetical situation.
4:30 p.m.
Bloc
4:30 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Ecosystems and Fisheries Management, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Yes, that's true.
4:30 p.m.
Bloc
Raynald Blais Bloc Gaspésie—Îles-de-la-Madeleine, QC
This is not a hypothetical situation; it has happened before. Hydrocarbons and PCBs from the Irving Whale were put in bags. They were buried in the subsoil of the Magdalen Islands. Now those bags are emerging from the ground. It is just unacceptable. This has happened before, so we are not talking about a hypothetical situation. How are you responding to this sort of situation?
4:30 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Ecosystems and Fisheries Management, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
We dealt with the Irving Whale. We set up a closed area around the site where the Irving Whale sank. We did respond. The Coast Guard also took a very effective action. Do you need additional information in that regard? If you do, we may have to forward it to you later.
