To be honest, and I think I've always been honest in the past 25 years in this business, I would have to say that I was disappointed with the meeting. First of all, let me talk about the organization. I have attended many committee meetings, a number of which were organized by the federal government, specifically by DFO. Eventually, I stopped attending these meetings, quite simply because there was no opportunity for us to speak at these gatherings. By us, I mean Quebec.
We in Quebec are always required to attend meetings in certain Maritime provinces. We're happy to go, even if it isn't easy to get there and it can be quite costly. However, meetings should be run in a respectful manner. Here, that is the case. Everyone has a place at the table and witnesses feel that they command the committee's respect. However, at the meeting held in the Maritimes, the room was full and we were left wondering what some people were doing there. Three of us attended the meeting on behalf of the Quebec industry, and there was no place for us to sit at the main table. We had to find seats at the back of the room. I was not able to get a word in. I'm not someone who tries to grab the microphone. The three of us were representing the Quebec industry and there was no proper place for us at the table.
I feel there was considerable room for improvement, from an organization standpoint. The number of speakers should be limited. When the meeting is close to a city like Moncton, the room fills up with people and Quebeckers have no room to sit.
The meeting organizers said they were there to listen to us and in that respect, they did make an effort. However, the experience was less than satisfactory. As you surely must have heard, toward the very end of the meeting, representatives of the various organizations got up and left because they were disappointed to hear the minister invoke international trade to justify her actions and refer primarily to the representations of the industry that wanted no assistance to be provided to lobster fishers. That is what we found most disappointing of all.