Brian Tobin

[Fisheries, February 3rd, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. member for her question and congratulate her on her first question in the House of Commons.

I am pleased to reply to the hon. member that due to the efforts of the Minister of Trade, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and officials of my department I can announce today that the European Community, after examining Canada's fish inspection program, has agreed to exempt all Canadian fish products from EC mandatory inspections.

This means that more than half a billion dollars worth of Canadian fish products will now have completely unfettered access to the European Community marketplace.

[Kemano River Project, February 1st, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, the member in his first question said: "Will the minister agree to stop if-". In his second question the member said: "Will the minister and government agree to compensation if-".

The previous government negotiated an agreement behind closed doors and then locked the doors. This government has opened the doors, opened the process and made officials and tens of thousands of pages of documents available to an open review process. We are not going to pre-judge the process. We are not going to say hypothetically what we would do if we are going to allow the facts to speak for themselves in an open process as committed by the Prime Minister during the course of the last election campaign.

[Kemano River Project, February 1st, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the hon. member for his question. I know he has a genuine interest in matters regarding fish habitat.

The member asks why is this not like the EH-101 and Pearson. The EH-101 was a $5.8 billion project that was not yet under way. The Pearson proposal was a $750 million airport expansion that was not yet under way. The Kemano project is a $1.5 billion project in current dollars and those dollars have already been spent.

Given the Reform Party's well-known and often expressed interest in the deficit, I think the member would want me to acknowledge that the terms of the 1987 settlement agreement are such that the Government of Canada, the Government of British Columbia together with Alcan entered into an agreement where any move to slow or stop the project could potentially see the two governments liable for that delay or stoppage.

I am saying to the hon. member what I am sure he would expect. The government's intention is to allow all evidence by all officials to be put forward before a B.C. review panel, to allow the panel to speak for itself and to not pre-judge the results.

[Atlantic Fishery, February 1st, 1994]

Somewhere John is chuckling.

I want to assure my colleague it is with the greatest of reluctance the Government of Canada has come to the conclusion that it is necessary to stop the food or recreational fishery along the northeast coast and south coast of Newfoundland. The decision was taken only after the latest scientific evidence indicated a drop in spawning biomass since 1989 of almost 99 per cent in some areas and an indication of some black market in cod.

We have taken the decision. I think it is understood and supported by the vast majority of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador. We are going to look at the area zone 4RS which affects the west coast of Newfoundland and the north shore of Quebec. The scientific survey vessel came back to port this past weekend. The analysis will be available in another four or five days. I will take a look at the analysis.

If similar action is warranted, I will take it. If similar action is not warranted, we will continue with the recreation and food fishery in those areas.

[Atlantic Fishery, February 1st, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate the hon. member for St. John's West on an excellent first question in this place. May I say that my predecessor as minister of fisheries would agree that that is the best question a member for St. John's West has asked in this place in many years.

[Kemano Project, January 27th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for the question. Indeed her question gives me an opportunity to announce on behalf of the government that today the government has decided to participate in the British Columbia Utilities Commission review of the Kemano completion project.

The government will make documents, evidence, officials and scientists available to testify in these provincial hearings in accordance with the Prime Minister's commitment given to the people of British Columbia, to aboriginal groups and to environment groups during the course of the election campaign.

It is in this government's interest to ensure a full airing of opinion on the contentious technical issues involved. We shall comply in every way, shape and form to keep the commitment given by the Prime Minister.

[International Maritime Organization, January 27th, 1994]

Ray Speaker.

[International Maritime Organization, January 27th, 1994]

Shame on the Tories.

[Fisheries, January 26th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his excellent question.

In light of the survey results released in the last few days showing a further decline in Atlantic cod stock biomass this information which the member is seeking is indeed critical.

With respect to gathering more information about the appropriate use of gear to conserve our cod stocks, I in conjunction with the Minister of Human Resources Development announced a pilot project just before Christmas.

We have hired and we have trained a number of fishermen who have been displaced from the fishery, who are currently carrying out a survey of their peers. Initially the pilot project, up to 70 of them, was to call upon the experience and knowledge of the fishermen themselves about gear, gear selectivity, and their experience in the Atlantic.

That pilot project is now being assessed. In the middle of February the Minister of Human Resources Development and I will meet and assess it fully. If the process seems worthwhile, and at this point it does, we may expand it beyond southwest Nova Scotia and Cape Breton and look at further projects in New Brunswick, P.E.I., Quebec, the province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

We think it is time to draw upon the knowledge, the experience, and the data base of the fishermen themselves in making these kinds of conservation decisions.

[Kemano Project, January 25th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member will know that the settlement agreement was signed in 1987 and that the current circumstance with respect to the terms and conditions attached to the Kemano completion project were negotiated by a previous administration.

It is reasonable that a new government on assuming office would want to review fully this very complex matter involving hundreds of millions of dollars worth of expenditure-$600 million on phase II, over $1 billion on phase I-and would want to fully undertake all of its responsibilities to explore this matter before proceeding.

I have thrown as broad a hint as I can without risking cabinet solidarity. Members will find that the government always strives mightily and consistently to ensure that the commitments given are kept in as full and as complete a manner as possible. Cabinet is now seized with this question.