Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I certainly would hope I would get the support of the committee in order to make sure the fishermen on the east coast of this country have a chance to be heard.
The fact is that I have travelled, of course, in my own province and met numerous groups in Nova Scotia and in Newfoundland. Yesterday I attended the MFU meeting in New Brunswick and talked to a lot of fishermen and fishermen's organizations. I understand 35 different fisheries organizations have signed a petition to signify that they are totally opposed to the removal of the owner-operator fleet separation policy.
I do not know of one fisheries group that supports the removal of this policy. What fishermen tell me is they find that corporate leaders seem to be fully aware of what's taking place. They're even writing letters to newspapers to indicate the importance of getting rid of these policies, which certainly makes fishermen quite nervous that the decision has been made. In fact, what fishermen tell me is that they have something that the corporate sector wants and they hope and pray this government will not give it to them.
They've heard about this consulting to modernize the fishery. Well, here's one chance. If this committee or this government wishes to hear how the fishing community or the communities at large or the people who live in the eastern end of this country feel about the elimination of these policies, then I would see no reason not to travel, and I can see a major importance to travel before the decision is made.
This committee is put together to advise the government on what decisions it should make. It certainly does not compel the minister or the government to make the decision this committee advises, but what we can do as a committee is go and listen to the people who are directly affected. There's much more involved than just the people who are involved in the fishery. What this would mean in my area, should it happen—and we're very hopeful it will not happen—is the elimination of communities, because we know what happened on the west coast.
Also, although I don't want to take large exception—I'm looking for support for this motion—I am not going to state that the fisheries are totally broken. There are people who make a good living in the fishery and do not wish to have this taken over by the corporate sector. The problem you have if you give it to the corporate sector is it can control a small portion of the fishing industry and all of the retail part in the fishery, which means in the end that it will have control of everything. If you have control of the price and control of some production, you will soon have control of all the production. That is what I have heard when I have travelled across Atlantic Canada, and they certainly....
The MFU is willing to discuss many things, as they have been over the years, but yesterday they indicated quite clearly that fleet separation and owner-operator are not on the table. They also indicated that fisheries over the years have made a lot of changes and had a lot of changes, such as in the lobster fishery with the trap limits, escape mechanisms, trap size, and many things that have been done by the fishermen. If there are things that need to change, rationalization is something that can take place in the fishery.
It's inappropriate and dead stone wrong to take the fishery from the private entrepreneur in eastern Canada and give it to the corporate sector, and if you take the fleet separation and the owner-operator policy out, that's simply what you're doing. Therefore, I beg of this committee: can we not at least hear what these people have to say?
As has been stated, and as Mr. Sopuck indicated on another subject, economic development is vitally important in these areas. Well, I can assure you that where I come from, as long as I'm alive and as long as anybody is alive in this room, if this policy is removed, you'll never have the economic development policies put in place to put us even halfway back to where we are now. It will mean the closure of everything.
I beg the committee to take a strong look at this and at least listen to the people.
Thank you.