Fisheries Committee on May 12th, 2009

[Claire Dansereau]

Thank you for the question and thank you for the offer. It's a kind offer, and I know the minister has an interest in working with the committee and making sure that the committee has a role to play in this file.

We don't know exactly at the moment where the Council of Ministers will land on this, and we don't know how rapidly they intend to move. If in fact they've already made up their minds, and this will simply be an annex to an agenda, which they won't even speak to, then there will be very little role for anyone to play, even us.

If that is not the case, and if it's a longer period of consultation, then I could certainly see a role for members of this committee to participate in the discussion, either through letter writing or through interactions with member states. As the ambassador said, this would not be interventions with the European Parliament, because that work is done, but there might be a role—and I say this without knowing definitely—for interactions with some of the member states. But we would have to work through whether or not that would be a good expenditure of funds and time and resources and everything else.

If their mind is not made up, then, yes, I would say that there's...and the minister would certainly be supportive of that.

[Dave Van Kesteren, Conservative, Chatham-Kent—Essex, ON]

Mr. Sullivan.

[Loyola Sullivan]

I agree with the comments by the deputy. I would also add that I think, and I've said it to the committee before, that we all have a role to play in educating the Canadian public. Independent polling shows that the majority of Canadians in recent polls didn't support this issue. It's difficult to sell it to Europeans in 23 languages in 27 different countries. How do you reach out to people in their living rooms in 23 languages? It would cost hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising for an industry that imports, most recently, two to three million dollars' worth into Europe.

I think we need to keep getting the message out that it's sustainable and humane. We need to be pushing those messages continuously. And we need to be doing that with Canadians, because I've often heard abroad—and they cite polls and statistics—that Canadians don't support this issue either. Why do you expect Europeans to keep the doors open when Canadians don't support it? It's tough to hear that in another country. Anything we can do on a broader scale to educate.... It's a tough sell.

[Dave Van Kesteren, Conservative, Chatham-Kent—Essex, ON]

Finally, my riding is in southwestern Ontario. You might be asking what a southwestern Ontario boy is doing in a fisheries committee. Well, we have the largest freshwater fishing port in the world. I just put that plug in for interest's sake.

However, I want to tell you that we also have the largest collection of greenhouses. What makes that unique is that these people have recognized that there is a huge population--200 million people--within 24 hours. I'm leaving that to suggest that although at this point we may have lost the European market, can we expand the Asian market?

Are we moving towards it? There could be a vast...we're talking about 1.3 billion people in China alone. Are we missing something there that we could exploit and grow, to compensate for what we've lost?

[Claire Dansereau]

Yes, we agree that the Asian market is very important to us now. In fact, the transshipment through Europe was tied to the Asian market in some way. We need to make sure that we keep that transshipment open.

We also know that, as the question was posed before, the animal rights activists will be working to close those markets. So we will be working to keep the markets open.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rodney Weston]

Thank you.

I would like to thank the officials for taking time today to be with the committee to discuss this very important issue.

At this time, I would like to let the committee know that I haven't scheduled a meeting for Thursday. Because of the importance of the lobster report, I would like to give François time to prepare that report. We'll reconvene our committee immediately after the break week, and we'll have that report to go over at that time.

Mr. Byrne.

[Gerry Byrne, Liberal, Humber—St. Barbe—Baie Verte, NL]

In light of the escalating crisis in the fishery, I would ask that as a committee we ask the executive directors and presidents of the various fisheries organizations who have asked for meetings with the federal minister and their provincial counterparts—that would be the FFAW in Newfoundland and Labrador, the MFU in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, the P.E.I Fishermen's Association in P.E.I., and le Regroupement des pêcheurs professionnels du sud de la Gaspésie of Quebec—to appear before the committee and to outline their concerns to us. That may help them, because it may also provide them with a grouping that could help convene a meeting with their ministerial counterparts. This would be a constructive use of our time as a fisheries and oceans committee, given the nature of the crisis of the fishery today.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rodney Weston]

Thank you, Mr. Byrne. I appreciate what you're saying. I'm not sure we can tap into their availability on such short notice. We'd be talking about Thursday.

I was focusing on what the committee has identified as a priority, based on our last meeting. We talked about the timeframes we're working within while trying to meet those timeframes and have a report we can all agree upon and table in the House before the House rises for the summer. That's why I was trying to give our analyst as much time as possible to do that work, and that was the interest I laid before you when we talked about this.

I have no issue with this. If it is the wish of the committee, I'll ask the clerk to contact those organizations to try to bring them in and give them the opportunity to air their concerns.

Would it be the wish of the committee to move in that direction?

[Gerry Byrne, Liberal, Humber—St. Barbe—Baie Verte, NL]

It sounds like a good use of our time.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rodney Weston]

I appreciate your comments, Mr. Byrne. I'm asking the rest of the committee.

We'll go to Monsieur Blais.

[Raynald Blais, Bloc, Gaspésie—Îles-de-la-Madeleine, QC]

With regard to the people to get in touch with, and for the information of our Clerk, I would like us to add to the list the people we met in the Magdalen Islands, because the director general of the association is also the president of the Alliance des pêcheurs professionnels du Québec. It would therefore be worthwhile for us to also invite Mr. Léonard Poirier, as well as Mr. O'Neil Cloutier from the Regroupement des pêcheurs professionnels du Sud de la Gaspésie.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rodney Weston]

Thank you, Monsieur Blais.

Go ahead, Mr. Byrne.

[Gerry Byrne, Liberal, Humber—St. Barbe—Baie Verte, NL]

Mr. Chair, just so we're clear, if indeed there are some organizations that cannot be represented, I don't think this should be an all-or-nothing experience if some organizations, because of the time, cannot make it to this particular meeting. I believe it's fair to say that the organizations are of common mind on this. So even if we can only get three of the five or three of the six, I still think it would be an extremely valuable thing for the committee to hear their points of view at this point in time.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rodney Weston]

Understood. It's quite an extensive list of organizations, and for us to contact that number of organizations.... If the committee had the expectation that it was all or nothing, I wasn't taking that from the comments at all. We would like to have representation from these organizations. A lot of the concerns are going to be similar in nature. What I would do is ask the clerk to contact these organizations and try to have representation here for our meeting on Thursday. We will certainly proceed in that manner.

Is there any other further business you want to raise here today?

Go ahead, Mr. Kamp.

[Randy Kamp, Conservative, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge—Mission, BC]

I didn't think we were on committee business, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rodney Weston]

Sorry, actually we weren't. We moved on Mr. Byrne's point of order, and I guess his point of order was to take us into committee business.

Go ahead, Monsieur Blais.

[Raynald Blais, Bloc, Gaspésie—Îles-de-la-Madeleine, QC]

I understand the importance of this issue, but this is not what I wish to discuss. I believe that two days will perhaps not be sufficient to have come here representatives from Newfoundland and Labrador and the Gaspé Peninsula and the Magdalen Islands. We therefore might be able to plan on holding the meeting Thursday, if possible, and if not, next Tuesday.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rodney Weston]

Next week is the break of the House.

[Raynald Blais, Bloc, Gaspésie—Îles-de-la-Madeleine, QC]

You are right.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rodney Weston]

We will not be here on the Tuesday.

I appreciate your comments, Monsieur Blais.

So we'll leave it with the clerk to make the necessary arrangements.

Once again, thank you, on behalf of the committee, for appearing today.

The meeting is adjourned.