International Trade committee  Specifically, I think the negotiators should be mindful of the point that Scott Sinclair is making, which is that we can protect certain policies today by putting them in an annex, but that once they're there, they become targets for attack. How do you resolve that attack? You do that by referring it to some external international organization that will pass judgment on it, and then we will have lost control of a very important industry to Atlantic Canada.

International Trade committee  I've already said that I think that expanding the market is a positive thing. Reducing tariffs is also a good thing. But let's not get carried away by your positiveness; there are dangers out there and let's pay attention to them.

International Trade committee  I'm not aware of the consultations that occurred.

International Trade committee  No one is going to disagree with expanding markets. That's a win-win situation. But it's how you go about it. The devil is in the detail, as we say. From the point of view of the fishery, we can go about it, as I've said before, by shrinking the industry and concentrating it in the hands of a few, or we can think more broadly, think distributive justice, and ensure that all the small players who are out there, who land that $1.8 billion worth of product in Atlantic Canada and Quebec, are protected.

International Trade committee  No, but I have concerns.

International Trade committee  Well, I'm protected, so I'll say, yes, it's a payoff.

International Trade committee  You did.

International Trade committee  Well, that's why you would have the hearings there—to find out what they have to say.

International Trade committee  I don't propose to represent the views of all of Newfoundland. These are my views, and I guess views shared by a small group of people in the Fisheries Community Alliance. I don't know what they would tell you. I think people will certainly be happy to hear about the tariff reductions, because it means that their product will be more marketable, but they will be concerned about the things that Gus and I have talked about.

International Trade committee  You said it.

International Trade committee  Well, you see, the one thing this agreement will not change is the availability of resource. We have destroyed, and continue to destroy, stock after stock of our fish resources. All the agreements in the world are not going to change that: we can't export more than we can harvest.

International Trade committee  Again, looking at the offshore factory freezer trawlers, from a community point of view—and that is the point of view that I bring to this discussion—that's a capital-intensive industry, not labour intensive. The distribution of wealth from the industry is limited if we're going to go down that road, whereas if we continue supporting our communities and policies that support our communities and so on, that is more in line with distributive justice in the fishery.

International Trade committee  Five thousand happy fishermen. Let's focus on making them happy fishermen, and in CETA—

International Trade committee  Yes, if you think that all fishermen are angry....

International Trade committee  Yes. Well, in CETA, I implore the developers of CETA to please look very carefully at everything that might impact that $1.8-billion industry here in Atlantic Canada and Quebec, and let's make it ironclad that we're not going to disrupt them.