Evidence of meeting #5 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 boats.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Randy Kamp Conservative Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge—Mission, BC
And were you connected with the harbour authority in any way before that?
Harbour Manager, Harbour Authority of North Lake
I was connected with the fishermen but not the harbour authority.
Conservative
Randy Kamp Conservative Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge—Mission, BC
From the figures I've seen, I think we hear loud and clear that more funding is needed, and it's good to hear it again, but throughout almost all the nineties the budget was considerably lower than it is now. Some years in the mid-nineties the budget was 50% of what is being spent now. If you were around in those years, I wonder what that must have been like. Did that contribute to even greater volunteer fatigue than you're experiencing now, or did it feel about the same as it is now?
Harbour Manager, Harbour Authority of North Lake
I wasn't around then, and the budget would have been at that figure before most of the harbour authorities in P.E.I. would have come into effect. So it was still small crafts being small crafts.
Conservative
Harbour Manager, Harbour Authority of North Lake
So not the same harbour fatigue because not the same working relationship.
Conservative
Randy Kamp Conservative Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge—Mission, BC
I have many other questions but I don't have time.
Could you tell us what your annual budget is at North Lake? We've heard about funding, but this committee really is about making recommendations to the minister. Are there other things related to small craft harbours that you think we should be recommending to the minister? I would like to hear that from you as well.
Harbour Manager, Harbour Authority of North Lake
Our annual budget is about $700,000, but if I had one recommendation to make to the minister, it would be to start filling the positions in small craft harbours that are not filled. And this is not bricks and mortar, this is bodies. I mean the chiefs who have retired. The brain drain at small craft harbours is incredible. In the last couple of years good people have gone mostly because of retirement, but P.E.I. has been without a chief now—we've had an acting chief—for almost a year.
Conservative
Randy Kamp Conservative Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge—Mission, BC
That's good to know.
Thank you very much.
Liberal
Liberal
Director General, Association des pêcheurs propriétaires des Îles-de-la-Madeleine
Your first question seems important to me. I have been there for 25 years now, but not always as a fisherman. There have been many changes when we look back and compare past departmental budgets with current budgets. The change amounts to 50%, if I understand the question correctly. It's a matter of safety. Vessels are now much larger, for safety. I have not heard about many lives lost in my region in small craft harbours over the past few years. In the first few years, and until quite recently, lives in our communities would be lost. That is very hard to bear for small communities. It's all related to safety. Representatives of organizations tell us that we need safe boats, so people make their boats bigger. That makes harbours more crowded, and entails more spending. I do see a link to your question there.
Thank you.
Liberal
The Vice-Chair Liberal Bill Matthews
Thank you very much.
I would like to once again thank our witnesses for coming. Your exchange with our committee members is certainly very valuable. We wanted to hear from people like you, people who are very involved with the day-to-day operations and who interact with fishermen.
Of course Mario is a fisherman; we certainly appreciate your coming.
With that, I will adjourn the meeting.