Fisheries Committee on Oct. 5th, 2010

[The Clerk of the Committee, Mr. Travis Ladouceur]

Good morning, honourable members.

I see a quorum.

We can now proceed with the election of the chair for the committee.

I remind members that, pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), the chair needs to be a member of the government party. That being said, I am now ready to accept motions for the election of chair.

Are there any motions for the election of the chair?

Mr. MacAulay.

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

I nominate Mr. Rodney Weston.

[The Clerk]

It is moved by Mr. Lawrence MacAulay that Mr. Rodney Weston be elected chair of the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans.

Are there any other motions for the election of chair?

Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?

(Motion agreed to)

I declare the motion carried and Mr. Rodney Weston elected chair of the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!

[The Clerk]

Before inviting Mr. Weston to officially take the chair, and if members agree, we can now proceed with the election of the vice-chairs of the committee.

That being said, pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), it is stipulated that members need to vote for a member who is officially a part of the official opposition party.

Are there any motions for the election of the first vice-chair of the committee?

Monsieur Blais.

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

I nominate my new friend, a Boston Bruins fan. I am too ever since Jaroslav Halak disappeared.

So I nominate Lawrence MacAulay.

[The Clerk]

It is moved by Mr. Blais that Mr. MacAulay be elected first vice-chair of the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans.

Are there any other nominations for the position of first vice-chair?

(Motion agreed to)

I declare the motion carried and Mr. MacAulay elected the first vice-chair of the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!

[The Clerk]

I am now ready to accept motions with regard to the election of a second vice-chair of the committee.

Monsieur Lévesque.

[Yvon Lévesque, Bloc, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

I nominate Mr. Blais.

[The Clerk]

It is moved by Mr. Lévesque that Mr. Blais be elected second vice-chair of the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans.

Are there any other nominations for the position of second vice-chair?

(Motion agreed to)

I declare the motion carried and Mr. Blais duly elected second vice-chair of the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!

[The Clerk]

I'd now like to invite Mr. Weston to officially take the chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rodney Weston]

I suppose you're used to a speech after an election like this. I want to thank my campaign manager, Lawrence. He worked hard.

We're ready to begin. Travis has got me back up to speed quite quickly.

There's a fair bit on our plate at this time. I thought this morning I'd lay out what is on the agenda for the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans. We can have a brief discussion today if you want to, and then we can go into a steering committee on Thursday. The steering committee can discuss and come back with a work plan for the fall and winter agenda.

Mr. MacAulay.

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

I know that there has certainly been a change in the salmon stocks on the west coast, but I still feel there's reason for us to travel to the west coast to find out just what the situation is and why there's such a discrepancy. I'm sure they're not going to be able to answer that, but we can see what equipment is in place and what DFO has to evaluate.

So we would still be in favour of making that trip to evaluate the situation on the west coast.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rodney Weston]

Thank you, Mr. MacAulay.

Basically, that's the first thing on the committee's agenda, or plate, I should say, for the fall. As most of you will recall, there was a lot of discussion in the spring of this year about a trip to the west coast to investigate the impacts of sea lice on the wild Pacific salmon stocks. We have been proceeding with that and have submitted a plan for travel to the Liaison Committee. The Liaison Committee, Travis tells me, generally meets the first Tuesday after the break week. So we would hopefully be on the agenda for the upcoming Liaison Committee meeting and could have a better sense of where we go from there after that meeting.

So the aquaculture study is still ongoing. We've done a significant amount of work on that.

I know there are some new members on the committee here this morning, and I would be remiss not to welcome you to the committee. I look forward to working with you, as I know all members of the committee do. Our committee is certainly one that I have enjoyed, and I know that a lot of members on the government side have. It's a very congenial committee, and I certainly look forward to continuing that.

I know, Rodger and Joyce, that we haven't had the chance to talk a little bit yet. I look forward to getting to know you better as well, Ms. Murray, and to working together on the issues that are important to us all.

So aquaculture has been a focus. We have met with a lot of witnesses, hearing testimony from them in the spring of this past year, many by video conference and many in person. But we haven't travelled to the west coast at this point in time, and that has certainly been something at the forefront of our agenda with respect to aquaculture and the issue of sea lice.

Snow crab has been an issue this committee has taken a huge amount of time to investigate. We have travelled to various locations on the east coast. We have heard from many witnesses before this committee--witnesses from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, witnesses from the industry itself, and outside observers, if you wish, who have come and offered their point of view as well on the snow crab issue.

I know that François, our analyst, has been busy over the summer. He's prepared a summary of recommendations that came out of those discussions and meetings, which was one of the directions the committee gave François. We didn't want him to sunning himself too much this summer; and as you can tell, he's not too tanned, so he did work quite hard here this summer, I'm sure. Anyhow, we look forward to going through the data that François has tabulated for us in trying to come forward with specific recommendations this committee can offer to the House.

There are a couple of motions, I believe, for which notice has been served, including those two motions and some other requests. It's always, I'm sure, the same with other committees. We have requests from different organizations, from different individuals, to come and appear before the committee. So there is a lot we will have on our agenda going forward. I guess probably the best way to look at it today is for us have a bit of discussion within our individual caucuses about what priority we'd like to see placed on certain pieces of work that lie before us. With your member on the steering committee we could have a discussion. I assume they are going to be the vice-chairs and the parliamentary secretary and me again. I think that's still the way it goes with the steering committee, that it will be the two vice-chairs and the representative from the NDP.

Mr. MacAulay.

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

The steering committee is meeting next Thursday?

[The Chair, Conservative, Rodney Weston]

They are meeting this Thursday. The Liaison Committee is meeting the Tuesday after the break week, if that's what you're referring to.

Monsieur Blais.

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

I would also like to welcome our friends from the Conservative Party, especially Ron and Devinder, who are new to this committee.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rodney Weston]

One moment, I have no translation here, Monsieur Blais.

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

You don't have to know, Rodney.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Chair, Conservative, Rodney Weston]

I have no power.

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

Did you not take any French classes this summer, sir?

[The Chair, Conservative, Rodney Weston]

No, I spent my summer campaigning in New Brunswick. You couldn't tell?

I'm good to go now. Thank you.