Evidence of meeting #27 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 little.
Chair, Annandale Harbour Authority
I'll come back and comment on that, Peter, and then Gregory or one of the other lads may want to further it here.
They have to work within a budget, and we realize that. They're trying to satisfy an awful lot of people with a certain amount of money. It's been our experience, or my experience in particular, down through the years that they've done the best they could with what they had to work with.
NDP
Peter Stoffer NDP Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS
Does your organization share information at all with other harbour authorities, say, in Nova Scotia or New Brunswick?
Chair, Annandale Harbour Authority
Well, we move around quite a bit during the season, and it's just talking to other fishermen. But as far as being directly involved with other harbour authorities goes, not really.
NDP
Peter Stoffer NDP Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS
We did an interim report, as the chair said, and we issued it in December. Have you had a chance to look at that interim report, or were you aware of it?
Chair, Annandale Harbour Authority
No, I haven't had a chance to look at it yet.
NDP
Peter Stoffer NDP Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS
If it's possible at the end, give your name to our analyst, and he'll tell you where to get copies of that. It would be interesting to have your comments on that report to see how we're doing. You can always send those comments to us.
One of the concerns we've heard--and I understand it, because you're all volunteers, and fishing itself is a very difficult thing to do--is that the reality is that if government or any political party doesn't pay more attention to this particular issue, there is a possibility you might just say frig it and give it up, right? Yesterday in Newfoundland one woman asked what would happen if all the authorities said “That's it, we're done; we're not looking after this any more” and walked away from it? What would government then be faced with?
That's a very serious problem. I'd like to get your comment on that.
Chair, Annandale Harbour Authority
Well, I've thought about it. I've been doing it for 25 years, and it gets tiring. Bob has too. We've been chugging away down there for 25 years at that harbour authority. I was 18 or 19 years old when I started doing it, and I don't think we've taken five cents out of it for anything we've ever done.
NDP
Peter Stoffer NDP Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS
I know the goal was to allow local management of those small craft harbours. That was the goal of this entire program, and in many cases we've heard great success stories about it. But there is an element of possible burnout, of trying to do too much with very little.
I want to thank you very much for your comments, and if you have any further comments down the road, please don't hesitate to forward them through Lawrence or to the committee.
I thank you for your presentation.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Fabian Manning
Thank you, Peter.
Before going to Mr. Kamp's questions, I will mention that our committee is represented by the four political parties in the House of Commons, and most of our members are representatives of fishing communities. So we're one of the few committees in the House of Commons that usually get along fairly well, because we have like-minded interests in what we're doing and discussing. That makes it a little easier for us to operate.
I have a quick question. I know that in Newfoundland and Labrador all the harbour authorities get together every fall throughout the province and have an annual general meeting to discuss ongoing concerns. As you said earlier, Bobby, when you spoke about one wharf and one community and one harbour infrastructure, the same concerns are pretty well everywhere. Do you guys get together here on an annual basis at an AGM or what do you do...? This is to follow up on Peter's question about having interactions with each other.
Chair, Annandale Harbour Authority
I'll speak to it first, and Gregory may want to comment on it too.
We're volunteers and we're involved in other things as well. If our schedule allows it, we try to do it. Sometimes we get there and sometimes we don't.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Fabian Manning
I understand. I'm just wondering if there is a mechanism in place for that.
Chair, Annandale Harbour Authority
I think there's some kind of mechanism there. I'm not sure if it's annual or not. Gregory may be a little bit further on that.
Chair, Annandale Harbour Authority
Do you mean for all harbour authorities?
Chair, Annandale Harbour Authority
It's not so much a provincial thing as it is a maritime thing. I've never actually sat down with just the provincial harbours in particular, but I've sat down several times with the main group, which is the maritimes.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Fabian Manning
I know that the feedback I get from the harbour authorities in my own riding--as I said, I have 68--is that they get a lot of knowledge from going and having that little get-together every year. They come out with joint statements on the joint concerns they all have.
Anyway, sorry to interrupt, but I can do that when I'm chair.
Chair, Annandale Harbour Authority
Perhaps I can say one thing here, Mr. Chair, on a problem that we face.
Imagine back, if you can, to when you were just a little fella, to when you used to walk down to the store on the corner and buy something for a quarter.
Chair, Annandale Harbour Authority
That's right.
Well, what's happening to the ports in P.E.I. and other places in Newfoundland is the same thing that's happening to those little stores. Picture Annandale, in this particular case, as a little store. A few of us are trying to hang onto it, but it's damn hard to make a go, the way it is. You see how the big-box stores are coming in, the Wal-Marts and the Home Depots. It's no different from the big fishing companies coming in and gobbling up all the little guys.
It's not a pretty picture that's being painted right now all over Canada for fishing communities and fishermen. I'm not sure if you guys can turn it around. It's probably going to take a lot of political will and a big stick to change that, because you know the way it goes.
So that's what we're facing as fishermen with these small harbours. It's the “small store” syndrome, if I can call it that. There used to be two or three in my community. Right now you'd probably have to drive about 15 or 20 minutes to find a store that could sell you a dish of milk.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Fabian Manning
Coming from rural Newfoundland and Labrador, we're quite familiar with that story.
Mr. Kamp.