Wayne Easter

[Coastal Fisheries Protection Act, March 25th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, I wish to clarify something for the member opposite. He asked me a question that I would love to answer, but under the rules I do not think I can.

[Coastal Fisheries Protection Act, March 25th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, while I want to deal specifically with Group No. 2, the member for Delta—South Richmond mentioned a couple of points earlier in his general comments. He said he did not think this bill was worthy of discussion. Nothing could be further from the truth. I do not know where the member comes from in terms of making that point. He has expressed endless times that we need better management plans, that we need to conserve fish stocks. That is what this agreement is all about.

It is a very important international agreement through which Canada has provided leadership to the world in terms of getting to this stage. Now we are at the stage within our country where we need Bill C-27 in order to ratify the UNFA agreement as a whole.

Although the member for Bonaventure—Gaspé—Îles-de-la-Madeleine—Pabok seems quite supportive of the bill he kind of inferred that the bill is somewhat about motherhood. It is much more than that. The bill does provide guiding principles of conservation and management which we all in the House want to move forward on. We want to ensure we do a better job of managing the fishery, that stocks are conserved and that it becomes an industry of the future both in this country close to our shore and globally around the world for other countries.

The bill provides strong measures such that we will have an enforcement regime in place. That will be in a number of areas. The bill provides a compulsory binding mechanism for the settlement of disputes. All those points are important. As a country we are showing leadership to the world on the whole area. As I mentioned earlier today in question period, we set the tone of discussions at the FAO, in which we are moving forward, on stock conservation and management measures.

I will speak on the Group No. 2 amendments, Motions Nos. 3, 5, 6, 9, 11 and 17, tabled by the hon. member for Bonaventure—Gaspé—Îles-de-la-Madeleine—Pabok with regard to the French text of the bill. The concerns raised by these amendments, with respect to the use of the word “délimité” in the French text of Bill C-27, where the English text uses the word “designated”, were raised by the hon. member and his colleague during discussions at the standing committee. We discussed it at quite some length.

The government fully appreciates the strong need for precision and clarity in both official languages. However, after careful consideration by expert legal and linguistic advisers, we have determined that the best term to be used in the circumstances is the term “délimité”, which is currently used in Bill C-27. We are certainly standing with that word because it provides, in our opinion and based on legal and linguistic advice, the best clarity to the bill.

Further to the other motions, the governor in council's authority to make regulations designating areas of the high seas subject to the UNFA regime is not open ended. The designation must be for the implementation of UNFA or other fisheries treaties. Only those areas of the sea regulated by the relevant regional fisheries organizations can and will be designated, neither more nor less.

I would therefore urge the House to vote against the second group of amendments proposed by the member opposite for the reasons I have outlined.

[Coastal Fisheries Protection Act, March 25th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, my remarks will be very short. At this point I want to make a couple of comments on the last two speakers.

I have no choice but to oppose the amendment put forward by the member for St. John's West in that it is not needed. We do not need to ask permission within our 200 mile limit to board and take actions against vessels. The member is certainly wrong on that point, but we do welcome his support and the support of his party on Bill C-27.

With regard to the comments made earlier by the member for Sackville—Musquodoboit Valley—Eastern Shore, Bill C-27 does in fact deal with stateless vessels. If the member looks closely, the three government motions are for the purpose of ensuring that Bill C-27 effectively covers stateless vessels.

I will talk on those amendments when we get to that point a little later. We would certainly welcome the member's support in that regard.

My colleagues who spoke earlier outlined in detail why we cannot support Motions Nos. 1 and 2.

[Fisheries And Oceans, March 25th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, there is no question that the world's oceans are under threat from overfishing capacity and pollution. We have to put international pressures on those areas.

In Rome, Canada pressed all nations to enact the UNFA agreement by the year 2000 to protect global high seas and migratory fish stocks. Canada set the tone at the FAO. We have led the debate in terms of conservation of the fisheries.

Our Minister of Fisheries and Oceans will continue to provide leadership not only domestically, but globally and internationally around the world.

[Fisheries, March 25th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, the member should know that our objective is to Canadianize the fishery.

The current quotas that Cubans are fishing are Canadian quotas. Foreign participation by Cuba this year, 1999, in the silver hake fishery is low. The catch has been reduced from 55,000 to 30,000.

In terms of the ships that the Cubans are building, the Cubans have been made fully aware that there is a three year program in place setting quotas that will end in the year 2000 and it is uncertain if those quotas will be renewed after that date.

[East Wiltshire Intermediate School, March 25th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to congratulate the grade seven students of East Wiltshire Intermediate School who recently won a national anti-racism award sponsored by Heritage Canada and Much Music.

The anti-racism video produced by these students was one of 10 award winners chosen from almost 300 entries. The students used their own time to write scripts and construct props for the one minute video.

On March 21, the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, five of these students, Erika Weeks, April Walker, Elysse Roberts, Emilie Michellod and Meghan Harris, took part in the awards program at Much Music studios in Toronto.

Once again, congratulations to all East Wiltshire students and faculty involved. Their efforts and actions speak well to the future as we attempt to eliminate racism from our society and around the globe.

[Coastal Fisheries Protection Act, March 25th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, we have no problem with that, as long as that includes the critic for each party and the parliamentary secretary on this side.

[Coastal Fisheries Protection Act, March 25th, 1999]

moved:

Motion No. 18

That Bill C-27, in Clause 12, be amended

(a) by replacing line 16 on page 9 with the following:

“of a fishing vessel of a participating state or of a fishing vessel without nationality;”

(b) by replacing line 21 on page 9 with the following:

“subparagraph or of a fishing vessel without nationality; or”

[Coastal Fisheries Protection Act, March 25th, 1999]

moved:

Motion No. 15

That Bill C-27, in Clause 11, be amended by replacing line 30 on page 8 with the following:

“paragraph 6(f) or of a fishing vessel without nationality for an offence under this Act, it”

Motion No. 16

That Bill C-27, in Clause 11, be amended by replacing line 4 on page 9 with the following:

“described in paragraph 6 (f) or on a fishing vessel without nationality that is convicted of”

[Coastal Fisheries Protection Act, March 25th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, on Group No. 4, I do not believe you mentioned Motions Nos. 14 and 15. I believe it is supposed to be Motions Nos. 8, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 18.