Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I also would like to welcome the members who have travelled to be here from across the EU, and the ambassador. Your Excellency, welcome. I think it's a very stimulating discussion, and I appreciate the opportunity.
I don't know if you had a chance to meet our minister, Loyola Hearn. He's from the island of Newfoundland--and you mentioned being from an island, Mr. Chair. He has written an interesting song, From an Island to an Island, which I gather is carrying some currency and being played in Europe, actually, about the Irish heritage in Newfoundland.
I'm from the far west coast of Canada. Vancouver Island is my riding. This is not a Vancouver Island issue. In fact, some of you, probably those of you who live in Ireland and Scotland, are closer to Newfoundland than I am geographically, but with my colleagues, I feel passionate that this is not an issue that Newfoundland and Labrador and the coastal area of Quebec or Atlantic Canada should have to deal with alone. As Canadians, I feel that we have to stand with them on this issue because it has been so misrepresented, and because this island of Newfoundland was colonized by people from Europe largely because it had one of the most prolific fishing grounds in the world, in the Grand Banks.
We know that the problem in management has been a big one, and NAFO addresses some of those concerns, because our continental shelf goes beyond the 200-mile limit, and so on. Newfoundland has suffered tremendous depopulation. The reason people lived there was largely the abundance of the sea. We have huge problems.
Give me a couple of minutes. I think this has to be said.
The chair wants me to address the specific question. I'm getting there.