Fisheries Committee on March 9th, 2026

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

Good morning, everybody.

I call this meeting to order.

Welcome to meeting number 26 of the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans.

I want to start by acknowledging that we are gathered on the ancestral and unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people and by expressing gratitude that we're doing the important work of this committee on lands they have stewarded since time immemorial.

[Ernie Klassen, Liberal, South Surrey—White Rock, BC]

Excuse me, Mr. Chair. Before we start with opening statements and before you proceed, I'd like to ask for unanimous consent to move the following motion:

That, pursuant to the order of reference from the House dated Thursday, February 26, 2026, the committee invite the Minister of Fisheries for one hour and the department officials to appear for the second hour of the meeting regarding the Main Estimates 2026-27, and that this meeting take place no later than March 31, 2026.

This is also being sent to the clerk in both official languages.

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

Thank you, Mr. Klassen. Just for future reference, please make sure I recognize you by name before speaking.

[Ernie Klassen, Liberal, South Surrey—White Rock, BC]

My apologies.

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

I understand that a hard copy of the motion has been circulated to members who are here and that the clerk will be circulating it by email in short order as well. It seems fairly self-evident.

With that, I'm happy to open it up to any debate.

We'll start with Mr. Small.

[Clifford Small, Conservative, Central Newfoundland, NL]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I think we should amend the motion to have the minister for two hours. She can have her officials by her side, but I think the minister is quite comfortable sitting in that chair answering our questions. It would be nice to have her for a couple of hours.

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

Thank you, Mr. Small.

I'm sorry. I forgot to mention that this will be put on notice, unless there's unanimous consent that we forgo that and debate it right now.

Is there unanimous consent?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

I'm not seeing any disagreement, so we can continue with it.

Would anybody else like to speak to it?

Just to clarify, Mr. Klassen, are you putting this on notice, or would you like to move it at this point?

[Ernie Klassen, Liberal, South Surrey—White Rock, BC]

I'd like to move it, if possible.

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

Okay.

Mr. Blanchette‑Joncas, you have the floor.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I would just like to understand my colleague's reasoning. When did he decide to invite the minister, specifically? Was it just this morning? Why not table a notice of motion before the committee meeting so that we could review it?

I am a little surprised at how we are operating this morning. I would like my colleague to tell me when he actually decided he wanted to invite the minister.

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

Would anyone like to speak to that?

Mr. Klassen.

[Ernie Klassen, Liberal, South Surrey—White Rock, BC]

Chair, we've requested to invite the minister on several occasions. We have invited her, and we officially invited her again, so I just decided over the weekend to put this motion forward.

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

Before giving the floor to Mr. Blanchette‑Joncas, I would like to remind you that on Thursday, February 26, the main estimates were referred to our committee for consideration and report.

Mr. Blanchette‑Joncas, you have the floor.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC]

Thank you very much for these clarifications, Mr. Chair.

I will repeat my question to my colleague: When did he decide to invite the minister?

At the opening of the meeting, when we already had an agenda, he tabled a notice of motion. We were not aware of this. You have now clarified the situation. However, I would like to understand my colleague's reasoning. If it is important to invite the minister, why did he not table the motion earlier? That is what I want to understand. Why is he doing this at the beginning of the committee meeting, when we have a pre-established agenda?

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

Would anyone like to speak to that?

[An hon. member]

[Inaudible—Editor]

[Bobby Morrissey, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

We know we did what we did. It's self-explanatory.

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

Unless there's anybody else who'd like to speak to it, Monsieur Blanchette-Joncas, go ahead.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

No response is a response. Right now, the government doesn't really know how to steer its ship.

My colleague is submitting a motion to the committee. I just want to know when he thought about this and decided he wanted to invite the minister. The three people representing the government here are looking at us and are unable to answer this simple question.

You know, I took improvisation classes in high school. This morning, I took a very good one, but with people who are paid more. So I'm not really impressed. I would say that I am very disappointed to see that the member of the governing party is unable to tell us when he wanted to invite the minister. When asked the question, he has no answer. As you can see, this morning we are witnessing a class in improvisation 101 given by the members of the governing party.

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

Mr. Cormier, you have the floor.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I would just like to provide my colleague with some information. I know that he is not a permanent member of this committee and that he is replacing his colleague today.

If I am not mistaken, motions can be moved and notices of motion can be submitted at any time during a committee meeting. That is what my colleague has just done today: he has just moved a motion to invite the minister to appear before the committee by March 31. That is what we do, just as his colleague, whom he is replacing, sometimes does; he proposes certain motions or studies when it is his turn to speak. That is exactly what my colleague did today.

I don't see what's wrong with that. If there is something wrong, the clerk or you, Mr. Chair, can tell us. To my knowledge, my colleague was fully entitled to move this motion today. Our committee has discussed inviting the minister several times. I think we have invited her three or four times. We want her to appear before our committee. To add to that, I would say that since taking office, the minister has already appeared before our committee three or four times, unlike other ministers in other governments, who have repeatedly declined invitations to appear before this committee.

So, we are inviting the minister. My colleague has the right to move this motion. Whether it is adopted or rejected, we must move forward by following the established process.

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

Thank you very much, Mr. Cormier.

Next we're going to Mr. Arnold.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I want to provide some clarity. We've invited the minister multiple times to appear before the committee on the marine protections study we're doing. Now that she can appear on the estimates, don't confuse that with asking the minister three or four times to appear and consider that covered off. We still want the minister to appear before this committee on the coastal marine protections study that this committee has been doing.