Thank you.
Evidence of meeting #15 for Fisheries and Oceans in the 39th Parliament, 2nd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was wto.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #15 for Fisheries and Oceans in the 39th Parliament, 2nd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was wto.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Professor, University of British Columbia, As an Individual
If what Marc says is true...and I believe conservation is a strong reason, but whether trade is not part of the game at all is another issue altogether. But if conservation is a strong thing--and Canada really stands for conservation, at least in the acts and all that we read--then this is the big challenge for our representatives and politicians sitting here. The ability to deal with the pressure, social and economic, that will come from doing something for conservation is not easy, I know, honourable members, but this is something that needs to be done, not only for the fish but also for the fishing communities in the long term.
At my WTO presentation, the last point I made was that we have two groups, it seems, in Geneva. We have the friends of fish and the friends of fishers. And really, when I look at these two groups, I wonder whether you can truly be a friend of the fishers without first being a friend of the fish, because they depend on this resource.
This is the point we need to make, and make clearly: to be a true friend of fishing communities, we have to protect the resource. Otherwise it will hit us in the face, as it has done before. We all know the story about Newfoundland cod.
I'll leave you with that one.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Fabian Manning
Thank you, once again, to our witnesses, and thank you for accepting our invitation to be here.
We'll take a break before we resume. We have a little bit of committee business to take care of before we adjourn.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Fabian Manning
Sorry to rush along, but there's another committee en route here, and we have a few things to discuss.
First of all, I want to advise the committee--
NDP
Peter Stoffer NDP Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS
It could be one of theirs.
Sorry, I thought it was theirs.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Fabian Manning
We had a motion made a couple of meetings ago to send a letter off to Mr. Sean O'Neachtain, who is the person in the European Parliament--that's my understanding--who we believed was supporting our cause in relation to the seal hunt. Someone made the suggestion that we send him off a letter. Anyway, before we sent off the letter, we inquired a bit, and somebody was speaking to--
February 28th, 2008 / 10:45 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Fabian Manning
--Allison Saunders, who is the first secretary, fisheries and environment, Canadian mission to the European Union, and she was speaking to Mr. O'Neachtain, and he advised her that he was misreported. He was speaking favourably of a level playing field of information on this topic, but he did not actually express support for the hunt itself. So I don't think we'll be sending a letter off to congratulate him or thank him for his support at the present time.
Conservative
Liberal
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Fabian Manning
On Mr. MacAulay's motion.... Is Mr. MacAulay still here? No.
Anyway, on Mr. MacAulay's motion, we understand that DFO and the finance department are in discussions on his motion, and they will get back to us. So I told him I'd advise him as soon as we're advised on that. We hope to have something by our next meeting, but it doesn't look like we'll get an answer today.
On March 10, Ambassador Sullivan will be here in the afternoon for the in camera session we discussed earlier, so put that in your calendars. So everybody's aware of that.
On March 11, Minister Hearn has agreed to come again for another hour with a group of his officials from his department. This will include the assistant associate....
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Fabian Manning
Associate Deputy Minister Claire Dansereau will be here with him. We had made a request for this lady to appear on her own. I just wanted to let you know that she's going to be here with him. So do we still follow with the request for her to appear on her own?
Go ahead, Mr. Blais.
Bloc
Raynald Blais Bloc Gaspésie—Îles-de-la-Madeleine, QC
I am trying to cast my mind back to what was said before. Are we talking about the associate deputy minister? I thought that we had adopted a motion to have her appear before us for a period of two hours. That was the intention of the motion adopted by the committee, not something else.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Fabian Manning
You are correct, Mr. Blais. There was a motion passed to have her here for two hours.
Bloc
Raynald Blais Bloc Gaspésie—Îles-de-la-Madeleine, QC
I have nothing against her accompanying the minister when he appears before the committee, but I also want to meet with her as an independent witness. Furthermore, this is also what the committee asked for in its motion. If she wants to be accompanied by the minister, we can discuss it, but a motion that has been adopted by the committee in the appropriate manner cannot simply be set aside or reworded.
Conservative
Liberal
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Fabian Manning
Okay, we'll get back to you in a second.
We'll go to Mr. Keddy.
Conservative
Gerald Keddy Conservative South Shore—St. Margaret's, NS
I appreciate what Mr. Blais is saying. However, I think there have been some new developments that we've been hearing about for the last couple of meetings. My suggestion would be that if Claire Dansereau wants to come with the minister, we have the option of not asking the minister any questions and taking all the time to ask her the questions. If the committee decides we need another hour in excess of the first meeting, we can take it. But frankly, I would like to follow up on some of this WTO stuff.
