I appreciate the question about how this relates to the amendment posed by MP Blaikie, which is about ministerial accountability. That's really what we're talking about here.
I think it is pertinent, when you talk about ministerial accountability, to talk about the mandate letter of accountability that the Prime Minister gave the ministers upon their being sworn into cabinet.
I read only the first two lines of the Minister of Finance's, but I think I understand the question about how the Minister of Fisheries relates to this, and it's a fair question. The fair question is that the minister, as well as others, has the same accountability—just to make sure we understand how she works—because Minister Freeland's letter says she must work closely with her opposition critics.
In fact, it says, “I expect you to maintain constructive relationships with your Opposition Critics....” That does, I think, mean having conversations with them. Minister Champagne is a very talkative fellow. I generally talk to him almost every day. He reaches out—he's a fine fellow—but with Minister Murray, in my role as critic—her letter says the same thing. It says, “I expect you to maintain constructive relationships with your Opposition Critics.”
In that spirit, I asked her if she would consider solving this problem, because where growing lawlessness happens, you have a problem of accountability, which is what this is all about. Without accountability, without the law being followed, you have anarchy.
I gave the minister her chances to do that. I gave her months and months and months and months and, ultimately, after I wrote letters and made inquiries and tried to do it in as collegial a way possible—as the Prime Minister's letter says we should all do—she said no, and the result of that, of course, is growing and growing lawlessness and poaching throughout this.
It's gotten really sad and difficult for people who work in the fishing community, who can no longer earn a living while others, who are essentially committing crimes under the law, are allowed to get away with it.
I got a letter today—actually it's dated yesterday, May 2—from a constituent of mine who lives just outside of the largest town in my riding. The largest town in my riding is Bridgewater, but she lives outside of it, and she writes:
“Dear MP Rick Perkins, I am writing to express my grave concern regarding the recent past and present state of the elver fishery in my local area.”
This goes to accountability, which is what we're trying to get at. I certainly hope that when the Minister of Finance accepts our invitation, I can ask her why the government continues to finance, in this budget bill, the department to the level it does—it has grown 63% in budget and grown by 5,000 people—and how that's improved it.
I'll tell you what: Listen to what this says. It's what I'd like to ask her about and the reason Mr. Blaikie's amendment is so important. She goes on to say:
“I am writing to express my grave concern regarding the recent past and present state of the elver fishery in my local area and throughout the province. Too often, government decisions are made without adequate forethought of the effect on ordinary citizens.”
It's really important that we listen more to what our constituents say, because this right here captures the whole essence of what we're dealing with on so many issues with regard to this budget. She continues as follows:
“Too often, government decisions are made without adequate forethought of the effect on ordinary citizens. I have lived at my residence since 1990 and purchased the property next to my residence along” —I won't say the road in the community— “early in 2002. There was no evidence of any fishery taking place in my community other than occasional recreational fishing by various local residents for trout until late March of 2014 when I spotted people with flashlights on my property by the brook late at night and discovered trap nets in the brook the next morning. Since that time, every spring, my sleep has been disrupted by the lights of those fishing, the noise of their vehicles departing and the feeling that my privacy has truly been invaded by strangers.”
I would add that they're not strangers; they're criminals because they don't have a licence to fish.
I ask you to think—she's asking me, so on her behalf I'm asking all committee members in considering this budget and accountability to think—about how you would feel about strangers on your property at night. I cannot imagine that you would be comfortable with it.
The letter continues: "I have spoken with many property owners about it, and all have said they would be upset by such activity. My ex-spouse and I did ask the fishers not to use our property and not to put a trap-net in the area which we use as a place to launch our small watercraft. Our request was not respected. After my spouse and I separated, I was living alone. I feel increasingly vulnerable with strangers using the property and upset that I could not freely launch a small watercraft from my property as I had done over the decade prior. I contacted DFO and was told—"
This is important, because this budget allocates money to DFO. It claims, as the minister has in the House of Commons on the issue of accountability, that they've doubled the patrols during this period. But this is what people on the ground are saying who are living it, not people from Vancouver Quadra.
She continued, "I contacted DFO and was told that those fishing did not have a legal licence to do so. I was warned by DFO that the fishers were potentially dangerous individuals and that I should not confront them myself."
So DFO has known this for a long time. I raised this as an accountability issue with the minister in November 2021. Again, I would like to ask the Minister of Finance why she has allowed this to happen with her colleague the Minister of Fisheries. That is what the mandate letter says: They are collectively responsible as a cabinet for the decisions that each other makes. That means the Minister of Finance is as responsible for this situation as any other minister, including the Prime Minister.
Her letter continued, "I contacted the RCMP to find out what my rights were as a property owner. I was told that it was within my right to put up fencing and a No Trespassing sign and that I was not required to allow the fishers to tie nets to trees on my property. I did put up a fence and signs and put a boat in my boat-watch area, but my boat was moved and a net was put in, which blocked my ability to access the water from my own property. On April 15, 2023, a few short days ago, I learned that DFO shut down the elver fishery for 45 days, and a notice to this effect was placed on the power pole by the spot on the shoulder of the road which the elver fishers have been using for parking."
I've seen this in many spots in my riding. It's not even plasticized. It's just a—