Evidence of meeting #29 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 wharves.
Prefect, Regional Municipality County of Haute-Gaspésie
In my opinion, the wharves should be the priority. We can always invest in research and development, that is true. I am not against that. However, at some point in time, we need infrastructure in order to land our goods.
We know that as far as fish farming is concerned—
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Fabian Manning
Excuse me, Mr. Émond. We're getting tremendous feedback. If anybody goes by with a cellphone on we get feedback.
Thank you. Please continue.
Prefect, Regional Municipality County of Haute-Gaspésie
The wharves are the priority, because they're really outdated, and we need them to land the different fish that we harvest in the river.
Earlier on, the representatives in the harbour authorities talked about the problems specific to Carleton and to the Gaspé as far as what is new in the fishery. There is a problem as far as the wharves are concerned, for boarding the boats, etc. We have to have good infrastructure at the outset before even thinking about developing anything else. That is what I believe.
Mayor, Ville de Percé
I was thinking of saying the same thing. The infrastructure is at the root of the problem. In our municipality in particular, we are having serious problems both in the Percé wharf as well as that in Saint-Georges-de-Malbaie—namely in Saint-Georges-de-Malbaie, where in fact there is a great deal of fishing activity. The wharves are in a very bad state of repair. We must therefore start at the root, that is to say with the infrastructure, and try in catch up in terms of their maintenance.
Obviously I hope that the budgets for research and development, for licence buy-backs and the rest of it will not be cut back. Those budgets are currently in place right now. The main idea is to ensure that the federal government will increase the budget for maintenance of infrastructures.
Majella and I mentioned this earlier on. There is a municipal by-law, a nuisance by-law, that can oblige a regular citizen who is not maintaining his house to maintain his facilities.
Nevertheless, we must not be pushed to have to undertake that kind of initiative with the federal government, even though we are practically at that point. Last year, I had to intervene personally on the Saint-Georges-de-Malbaie issue so that the fishermen could launch their season. They started the season three or four days late. For the fishermen, the first three or four days are the most important. As a result, this community had to absorb a significant loss because of Fisheries and Oceans Canada closing the wharf.
As far as the structure is concerned, we have an enormous amount of catching up to do. That is where the effort must be made.
Prefect, Regional Municipality County of Rocher-Percé
We could talk about this all evening and all night. There are all sorts of priorities. It is certain that you are not dealing with Monopoly money. But on the other hand, you cannot put your head in the sand: the federal government has money. It is a matter of priorities.
Earlier, Mr. Stoffer said that the problem of small craft harbours is not being discussed in major media outlets, and that we had to shake things up a bit. If our harbour authorities decided to abandon everything tomorrow morning, there would be a problem.
You can utter fine words, but we know that the federal government has money. As far as we are concerned, the federal government is ignoring us on this issue. And yet, extraordinary measures must be taken. It is a matter of political will. It's great to have grand objectives and discuss into the night, but ultimately it comes down to a political decision.
It is a matter of establishing the right priorities. For us—and this is capital—the priority is to occupy the land. It is a matter of security and economic activity.
You certainly don't have Monopoly money, but the federal government does indeed have money. We need a major boost. What do you want me to say?
Conférence régionale des élu(e)s Gaspésie-Îles-de-la-Madeleine
Allow me to add a comment.
The region had to acquire a railroad with some federal assistance, because it had been abandoned by a private company. We noted to what extent this type of infrastructure can be compared to wharves. When maintenance and repair work goes undone, the cost can become much more expensive in the long term.
I believe that we need to come to the realization that wharf infrastructure is important for our territories, for the fishing industry, for tourism. The more we abandon them, the more expensive the cost will be. If you do not want to invest $400 million, then you have to add $25, $30, $40 million each year, and this money will be completely wasted.
When I talk about government expenditures, I'm also talking about investments. For wharves, we are talking more about productive investments rather than expenditures. The priority must be placed on productive infrastructure and development, rather than investing in other programs which, to my mind, are not as productive.
Conservative
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Fabian Manning
None.
Thank you, everybody, for your presentations here today.
I thank our committee members. As this is our last session, I'd like to also thank our clerk for her patience, and our analysts. I'm not finished yet; we have interpreters who have travelled with us this week, our proceedings monitors, our technical people, the representatives from DFO, our hosts--have I forgotten anybody?
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Fabian Manning
I didn't forget her. I was keeping the best for last.
I want to thank this lady down here, Sharon, who keeps us all on the straight and narrow, or at least tries to do so.
Once again, it has been a very productive week. As I mentioned earlier, as we've travelled around Atlantic Canada and Quebec we have found many different concerns. We've also found many that are the same. Many issues that you have related to us here today and that we heard from our first panel of witnesses are the same concerns we heard in my home area. Hopefully, at the end of the day we can find ways to improve and enhance this program. That's what it's all about.
Getting your voice heard is always difficult, and that's why as a committee we decided to travel to the regions, so we could hear from people who are on the ground. Having spent several years in municipal politics and provincial politics before I went to the federal side of things, I realize that the closer you are to the people, the more you hear and the more you have to listen each and every day.
I thank you for taking the time on a Friday evening to be here with us. Certainly your testimony and your comments are something we'll add to the final report that we hope to present.
Once again, thank you very much.
This meeting stands adjourned.
