Fisheries Committee on June 17th, 2025

[The Clerk of the Committee, Maxime Ricard]

Honourable members of the committee, I see a quorum.

Pursuant to Standing Order 106(3)(a), as clerk of the committee, I will preside over the election of the chair and vice-chairs.

I must inform members that the clerk of the committee can only receive motions for the election of the chair. The clerk cannot receive other types of motions, cannot entertain points of order and cannot participate in debate.

I'll now call the election of the chair. Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), the chair must be a member of the government party.

I am ready to receive motions for the chair.

Mr. Morrissey, go ahead.

[Bobby Morrissey, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

Mr. Clerk, I would move the nomination of Patrick Weiler to serve as chair of FOPO.

[The Clerk]

Thank you.

Are there any other motions?

I will now put the motion to the committee. It's been moved by Mr. Morrissey that Mr. Weiler be elected as chair of the committee. Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?

(Motion agreed to)

I declare the motion carried and Mr. Weiler duly elected chair of the committee. I invite Mr. Weiler to take the chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

First, I just want to say thank you very much to the members of the committee for putting their trust in me to chair this committee. It was a great pleasure to be part of this committee in the last Parliament. I thought we were very effective as a committee. We were able to do some important studies and produce some reports that the government had to respond to. I'm really looking forward to working with everybody on this committee to follow in that legacy and to do some important work with everybody on the committee.

Welcome back to Mr. Morrissey and Mr. Cormier from the last Parliament's committee, and welcome, Mr. Connors and Parliamentary Secretary Klassen. Welcome back, MP Small and MP Arnold—I really enjoyed working with you in the last Parliament—and welcome, MP Gunn and MP d'Entremont.

I'd also like to welcome Alexis Deschênes, a new member.

Before we continue, I would like to ask all in-person participants to consult the guidelines written on the cards on the table. These measures are in place to help prevent audio and feedback incidents and to protect the health and safety of all participants, including the interpreters. You will notice a QR code on the card that links to a short awareness video.

I would like to make a few comments for the benefit of the members. Please wait until I recognize you by name before speaking, and I remind you that all comments should be directed through the chair. For members in the room, if you wish to speak, please raise your hand. The clerk and I will manage the speaking order as best we can, and we appreciate your patience and understanding in this regard.

With that, if the committee is in agreement, I would like to invite the clerk to proceed with the election of the vice-chairs.

Mr. Clerk, please go ahead.

[The Clerk]

Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), the first vice-chair must be a member of the official opposition.

I'm now ready to receive motions for the first vice-chair.

Mr. Small, you have the floor.

[Clifford Small, Conservative, Central Newfoundland, NL]

I nominate MP Mel Arnold.

[The Clerk]

Are there any further motions?

The motion proposed by Mr. Small is that Mr. Arnold be elected as first vice-chair of the committee. Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?

(Motion agreed to)

Thank you.

Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), the second vice-chair must be a member of an opposition party other than the official opposition.

I'm now ready to receive motions for the second vice-chair.

[Serge Cormier, Liberal, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

I nominate Mr. Deschênes.

[The Clerk]

Thank you.

Are there any other motions?

It has been moved by Mr. Cormier that Mr. Deschênes be elected second vice-chair of the committee.

Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?

(Motion agreed to)

Thank you.

I declare the motion carried and Mr. Deschênes duly elected second vice-chair of the committee.

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

Congratulations, Mr. Deschênes.

Congratulations to Mr. Arnold as well.

With that, as is the usual practice, if the committee is in agreement, we will proceed with the routine motions.

You all have received the package of generic motions that the whips have agreed to distribute. Is it the pleasure of the committee to look at these motions separately or to adopt them all at once?

[Paul Connors, Liberal, Avalon, NL]

I suggest that we adopt them all at once.

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

That's great.

Given that they've all been put forward as a group, is it the will of the committee to adopt the routine motions?

(Motions agreed to [See Minutes of Proceedings])

The motions have been adopted.

I'd like to invite our analyst, Natacha, to join us here at the front as well.

Are there any motions that someone would like to move before we adjourn for the day here?

Go ahead, Mr. Arnold.

[Mel Arnold, Conservative, Kamloops—Shuswap—Central Rockies, BC]

If I could, Mr. Chair, I'd like to move that the committee deem that it has undertaken and completed the study “Challenges to the Sustainability of the Yukon Salmon Stocks” pursuant to Standing Order 108, and that it adopt that report as a report from this committee pursuant to Standing Order 109; that the committee request the government to table a comprehensive response to the report; that supplementary or dissenting reports that accompanied the report in the previous session of Parliament be tabled with the main report; and that the chair present the report to the House.

This is a study that we completed in the last Parliament. All members of the committee worked through the whole process. It was submitted, but because of prorogation, there was no government response received. This is simply to resubmit the report in this Parliament so that we can get a government response.

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

Thank you very much, Mr. Arnold.

We're keeping a speaking list here. Next I will turn the floor over to Mr. Morrissey.

[Bobby Morrissey, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

Chair, could we just suspend for a moment while we...? We're okay, but could we suspend for a few moments? We can come back to this.

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

We're going to briefly suspend, as Mr. Morrissey said.

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

Colleagues, I'm going to resume the meeting.

When we left off, Mr. Morrissey, you had the floor, so I'm going to turn the floor back over to you.

[Bobby Morrissey, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

Chair, we're okay. We support the motion put forward by Mr. Arnold, or the request by Mr. Arnold.

[Alexis Deschênes, Bloc, Gaspésie—Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine—Listuguj, QC]

Mr. Chair, could we get my Conservative Party colleagues' motion on the Yukon? I didn't receive it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

Okay.

Mr. Arnold, do you have the text of the motion that you could share with Monsieur Deschênes?

[Mel Arnold, Conservative, Kamloops—Shuswap—Central Rockies, BC]

I think we have it translated. Let me check with staff.

It is being sent to the clerk so that it can be provided.

[Alexis Deschênes, Bloc, Gaspésie—Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine—Listuguj, QC]

I don't know if this is the right time to do so, but I'd like to propose an amendment to this motion.

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

I want to clarify one thing: We're not in committee business right now, so if you bring forward motions, they will be notices of motion, because you do need to provide notice for them.

As soon as I receive the text of the motion, I will send that to you.

[Alexis Deschênes, Bloc, Gaspésie—Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine—Listuguj, QC]

I propose that we move on to committee business and that we vote on my colleagues' motion. Our side is ready.

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

That's a dilatory motion.