There is one thing that has been bothering me this morning, further to our hearings in the Maritime provinces. My colleague Mr. Calkins proved that he did pay close attention to the discussions. He raised this issue, but I would like to come back to it.
Carleton and Gaspé are having problems with their small craft ports which are jointly administered by Transport Canada, the Coast Guard and Fisheries and Oceans. Most of them have been condemned and shut down. Aquaculture farms are looking for locations to conduct their operations. They are tolerated on the docks. I used the word “tolerated”. They feel equally rejected by the Coast Guard and by Transport Canada. As I see it, there are three departments involved: two of them oversee wharves, while the third is the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.
Given the state of repair of small craft ports, I'm wondering if there isn't some way of agreeing to make room for the fishers who need a place to unload and transfer their gear.