Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Ministers, for appearing.
Let me start by thanking you for your work on behalf of Canadians. I know it's not an easy job.
Minister Oliver and Minister Kent, you can relax for the next seven minutes or so because I'll be directing my questions to Minister Ashfield.
Let's start with what we do know, and that is that Canada's constitutional documents provide that the jurisdiction for seacoast and inland fisheries falls under the federal government. By way of your appointment as Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, it's your job to manage those seacoast and inland fisheries.
We've had a Fisheries Act for most of the time since Confederation. I think the bulk of it was written in 1868. The obvious question that occurs to me is, why change that? Or, to ask it another way, what frustrations have you and your officials experienced in your obligations to manage seacoast and inland fisheries, and how do the amendments that are proposed in Bill C-38 help you to better manage fisheries in Canada?