Fisheries Committee on Nov. 20th, 2018

As well, we have Ms. Elizabeth May, member for Saanich—Gulf Islands, as a guest observer, I guess, and maybe someone who will want to ask a question a little later.

Welcome.

Minister, the floor is yours for seven minutes or less.

3:30 p.m.

Jonathan Wilkinson Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard

Thank you.

I'm happy to be here in my role as Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard to discuss the supplementary estimates (A) for 2018-19.

As was noted, I'm accompanied by a number of my officials and the Honourable Sean Casey, my very able parliamentary secretary.

I am honoured to have been entrusted by the Prime Minister to play a leadership role in the protection of our oceans, coasts, waterways and fisheries to ensure that they are healthy today and for future generations.

Since being appointed as minister, I've developed a better understanding of the work being done by the communities whose livelihoods depend on our fisheries and oceans and on my department. I'm committed to building strong partnerships in order to protect our oceans and freshwater resources, not just in Canada, but as part of a global effort in the face of significant changes to climate and habitat around the world.

I want to commend the members of this committee for their efforts to help strengthen both the Oceans Act and the Fisheries Act. These pieces of legislation will be integral to restoring lost protections to fish and fish habitat, and to moving us toward our marine conservation targets.

Thank you for inviting me today to discuss supplementary estimates (A). Fisheries and Oceans Canada, including the Canadian Coast Guard, is seeking Parliament's approval of $980 million through these estimates.

The men and women of the Coast Guard are hard at work every day across this country, and our government is committed to providing them the tools that they need to keep Canadians safe, to protect our marine environment and to keep our economy moving. That is why over 80% of funding for supplementary estimates (A), $827.3 million, is to be spent on updating the Coast Guard's fleet through the purchase and upgrade of three icebreakers from Chantier Davie in Quebec. The ships will help to ensure that the Coast Guard maintains icebreaking capacity over the next 15 to 20 years as our fleet is being renewed.

Another $57.8 million under the estimates will go to the Coast Guard's offshore oceanographic science vessel project to allow for the completion of the engineering phase, as well as to purchase material to advance the construction of the ship.

As this committee knows, Canada's freshwater and marine coastal areas are inextricably linked to the economic prosperity of Canadians. Our government has an obligation, therefore, to incorporate modern safeguards and restore lost protections in the Fisheries Act. That's why $21.5 million is being sought for Bill C-68 to ensure that, should the amendments pass in the other House, we'll have the capacity to implement the act in a timely manner.

We are also seeking to increase investments beyond Bill C-68 when it comes to indigenous consultations and negotiations. Some funding included in the estimates, $48.9 million, will support negotiations and reconciliation efforts with indigenous peoples, specifically to implement treaty obligations such as undertaking fisheries studies and enabling access to fisheries, both of which will help indigenous communities improve capacity for self-government and self-determination.

I would like to take a brief moment to outline some of the important work the department has been doing as a result of previous investments.

Two years ago, our government launched the historic $1.5 billion oceans protection plan to make our oceans cleaner, safer and healthier. Since then, we've worked tirelessly to protect our marine coastal areas and endangered whales and to prevent and respond to oil spills, as needed.

Marine safety and accident prevention is an area that our government is firmly committed to through investments and new measures, enhancing Coast Guard capacity with new radar and the reopening of the Kitsilano Coast Guard base. We are leasing two offshore towing vessels for use in the waters off the west coast and increasing our towing capacity by installing tow kits on all of the Coast Guard's major vessels. These types of projects will help us to avoid potential marine pollution incidents. We are also strengthening the Coast Guard's capacity to respond to incidents. For example, we purchased 23 portable skimmers and 67,000 feet of curtain booms to help with potential spills. We opened four Coast Guard facilities, including two search and rescue stations.

A few weeks ago I introduced new measures and $61.5 million to further safeguard the southern resident killer whale population. We are taking decisive action by increasing access to food, reducing threats from vessels and protecting against contaminants.

Beyond implementation of the OPP, we are making significant progress in other areas as well. For instance, we have now protected almost 8% of our marine and coastal areas, up from just 1% when this government came to office in 2015. My officials and I will continue to work to ensure we achieve Canada's 10% commitment by 2020.

I would also like to highlight some of the investments in infrastructure that we're making to ensure that our communities are well supported. In budget 2018, we announced a $250 million commitment to renewing Canada's network of small craft harbours.

This funding is helping to accelerate repairs and enhance existing installations for planned projects at core commercial fishing harbours and at non-core harbours. Small craft harbours are key economic hubs in coastal communities across Canada, and they support regional fishing industries.

Finally, as part of Canada's 2018 G7 presidency Minister McKenna, Minister Sohi and I co-hosted the G7 ministerial meeting in September on the theme of working together on climate change, oceans and clean energy. We made progress in a number of areas related to healthy oceans and resilient communities. By combatting illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, and addressing marine plastic pollution by signing on to the Global Ghost Gear Initiative, we will support sustainable oceans and fisheries management.

We'll also increase our knowledge by expanding our global observation efforts and sharing scientific data in support of the development of clean energy systems in coastal communities that are vulnerable to challenging weather conditions.

Colleagues, Canadians can be proud of the progress we have made to date, but I am sure that you will agree there's still much more to do. Our government will continue to lead the way on new and innovative policies and actions that provide meaningful and lasting protection for our oceans and freshwater resources.

Thank you.

I would like to turn to my parliamentary secretary who will share a little bit about the work he is doing.

3:35 p.m.

Sean Casey Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard

Thank you, Minister.

I'm pleased to be here with the minister in my role as parliamentary secretary supporting him on various files including North Atlantic right whales and belugas.

As the minister has indicated, our government has made significant investments that are balancing the protection of our marine and coastal areas with the economic needs of our communities. This year, I'm please to report—and I am sure that the committee members well know—that not one right whale has died in Canadian waters as a result of a ship strike or fishing gear entanglement. We're grateful to vessel captains and fishers who are following the protection strategies that we put in place.

The minister recently participated in an industry round table discussion on new measures to protect right whales in the North Atlantic for the upcoming season in 2019.

We made amendments to the marine mammals regulations to put in place species-specific approach distances for species such as belugas to reduce underwater noise caused by ships. We know that more needs to be done and we're working to reduce other key threats to belugas such as pollution and prey availability.

We've recently allocated research funding in order to better understand the impact of contaminants on priority whale species.

We will continue to consult with indigenous groups, provinces, territories and industry to best address concerns in our efforts to continue conservation and protection measures.

I will now turn it over to our chief financial officer, Jen O'Donoughue, to present a few more financial details regarding the supplementary estimates. Following that, we'll be happy to take your questions.

Jen O'Donoughue Assistant Deputy Minister and Chief Financial Officer, Department of Fisheries and Oceans

Thank you.

Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and committee members.

My name is Jen O'Donoughue. I'm the chief financial officer of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard.

We're pleased to be here this afternoon to give you a quick overview of the supplementary estimates (A) 2018-19.

The supplementary estimates (A) is the first of two supplementary exercises planned for this fiscal year. They present the department's revised spending plans, which were either not sufficiently developed in time for inclusion in the main estimates, or have subsequently been refined.

The items presented today include all Treasury Board approvals since the main estimates and exclude budget 2018 items. As with all supply bills, they are referred to committee where the contents are studied before voting actually takes place.

As the minister said, we're seeking Parliament's approval of $980 million, most of which will be allocated to our capital vote 5a.

More specifically, we are seeking $827.3 million for three icebreakers, $57.8 million for our offshore oceanographic science vessel, $33.8 million to advance reconciliation and indigenous issues, and $21.5 million to implement the amended Fisheries Act.

The remaining 14 items are other initiatives, some technical reinvestments and transfers to and from other departments. These items can be found on pages 2-37 and 2-38 in the explanation of requirements section.

It's on pages 2-82 and 2-83 of the French version.

Budget 2018 initially identified $217 million for five DFO-led measures in fiscal year 2018-19. To date, approximately $120 million in authorities has been granted to the department, including $87.2 million for renewing Canada's network of small craft harbours this fiscal year.

Thank you for allowing me the time to present today.

We would be pleased to answer all your questions.

Mr. Ken McDonald (Avalon, Lib.)

Thank you.

We'll go to questioning now and I'll remind members that I'm going to try to be very strict on the time. I know everybody wants to get in some questions so we'll try to stick to it as much as possible.

Moving now to the government side we have, Mr. Morrissey, for seven minutes or less, please.

Liberal

Bobby Morrissey Liberal Egmont, PE

Thank you, Chair.

Welcome, to the new minister, to this committee.

Is this your first opportunity—

Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard

It is.

Liberal

Bobby Morrissey Liberal Egmont, PE

—and the parliamentary secretary?

Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard

Yes.

Liberal

Bobby Morrissey Liberal Egmont, PE

Minister, obviously you are well aware that the fisheries and the related health of the oceans are the lifeblood of hundreds of coastal communities and the people who depend on those across this country.

I have two questions.

My first question concerns the area directly under you, where we've seen an erosion of resources directed towards the protection side of the department over the years. At the same time, we were asking fishers to engage in more conservation measures to protect the resource. The point they always make to me is that while the industry is taking significant measures to conserve the resource, they do not see the same amount of effort coming from the department to ensure adequate protection.

Can you comment on that?

Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard

Obviously, in the context of a sustainable fishery, it's extremely important that we're basing quota decisions on science. The department certainly is working hard to ensure it has the appropriate resources and the appropriate capacity to do that. It relies on fishers to be doing the good work and ensuring that they're participating in fisheries, but it also requires that we have appropriate enforcement with respect to ensuring that the rules are being followed and that quotas on the catches can be relied on in the context of the work we're doing.

I'm happy to say that we have been doing a lot of work to reinvest in the enforcement side of DFO. In 2018 alone we had three troops of newly qualified fisheries officers who graduated in March, June and November. In total, 72 new fisheries officers have joined the department and are serving Canadians at detachments across the country. A further 16 fishery officer cadets are currently in training and are expected to graduate in March 2019, which will bring the total number of new fisheries officers to 88, which may well be a record of new officers graduating in a single year.

It is definitely something that we are focused on.

Liberal

Bobby Morrissey Liberal Egmont, PE

Thank you, Minister, that information will be well received by the industry.

My second question goes to the growing awareness within the industry that the oceans can no longer be used as a dumping ground. There are consequences to the industry, to the very stocks that the fishermen depend on.

One is the issue of plastics within the oceans. The other is the area of illegal fishing and ghost fishing. Given your leadership role, as Canada is the G7 leader in this area, how do you look to bring more awareness on these two critical issues and how can we begin to address them? For some time, it was an issue that was swept under the rug, but it is one that we're seeing every day. In fact, there's new awareness today of the death of a lot of seaborne mammals because of plastics, and this is an issue that has to be dealt with.

How do you view your position, your ministry, in reacting to those two significant global issues that will have a very real impact on coastal communities in Canada?

Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard

On the issue of plastics in the oceans, there are plastics that come from terrestrial sources but in the context of fisheries and oceans, it's particularly ghost gear. The ghost gear that's floating in the oceans is by weight almost half of the plastics that are entering the oceans these days.

That and the issue of unregulated fishing are both really important and go to the heart of the sustainability of the fishery. In order to manage a fishery in a thoughtful way on an international basis, you need to know how many fish are being taken. With illegal fishing, it becomes very difficult to do that.

Similarly, if there are large numbers of marine mammals and fish that are being killed by ghost gear and/or other plastics, it again becomes very difficult to manage the sustainability of the fishery.

We have made that a major push in our G7 presidency at the level of leaders. Minister McKenna and I led the conversations with G7 ministers in Halifax.

It is also a key focus of the The Sustainable Blue Economy Conference, which Kenya and Canada are co-hosting next week. I'm leaving on Friday for that conference.

It's definitely something that we're working on with our international partners. We are also working to ensure that from a domestic perspective we are walking the walk.

Liberal

Bobby Morrissey Liberal Egmont, PE

Minister, can you point to any concrete examples of technology that may be available, or methodology, to rid the oceans of plastics?

Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard

I think part of this domestically is developing a coherent strategy that aligns some of the regulatory issues that we have around things like ghost gear and trying to ensure that we're creating incentives for people to do the right thing and return gear. It is also a technology issue, in making it easier to extract ghost gear and bring it back.

Also, can we think about ghost gear in the context of a circular economy, where we're trying to figure out how to create products out of what has been thought of as waste, in the same way that we create methane out of manure?

I was with a group of young people at the G7 who were having a round table on this subject. One of the young people from the United Kingdom had started a company that makes carpets out of used ghost gear. Of course, there are lots of questions about the economics and all of those kinds of things, but I think those are the kinds of things that we need to be incenting people to actually do.

Mr. Ken McDonald (Avalon, Lib.)

You have 30 seconds.

Liberal

Bobby Morrissey Liberal Egmont, PE

I questioned you briefly on the protection side, but you cannot manage the fishery without adequate data from the science side, and biology. Could you comment briefly on how the department has been moving in that area?

Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard

Science is fundamental to making good decisions with respect to fisheries management. We have been reinvesting in the science capacity of the department. That is a process that certainly takes time, it's not just a matter of numbers, it's also a matter of experience.

It is something that we are fundamentally committed to do. We have allocated additional resources to do that. I would suggest that we will be looking to continue to do that, in terms of enhancing the scientific capacity of the department.

Mr. Ken McDonald (Avalon, Lib.)

Thank you.

Now we move on to the Conservative side.

Mr. Arnold for seven minutes or less, please.

Conservative

Mel Arnold Conservative North Okanagan—Shuswap, BC

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

And thank you, Minister, for being here, and all of your staff.

I'm glad you mentioned a couple of things in your opening comments, because I'm going to refer to your address on September 20 to the G7 ministerial meeting.

In those comments, you said that:

When it comes to man-made pollution in the world’s oceans, Canada is also taking action. As a federal government, we are moving towards making our operations low-carbon, resilient and green. As a country, we are moving toward zero plastic waste by keeping plastic out of oceans and landfills.

One thing you don't mention in this, regarding keeping our oceans clean, is sewage dumps and outflows. Those have been identified as significant issues on the west coast and the east coast as well. I can quote some numbers out of the St. Lawrence River over the last few years, but I think you're probably well aware of those. Why is that not mentioned in any statement or plan?

Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard

It's a very good question.

Let me start by saying that the regulations with respect to waste water treatment in Canada are the purview of the Minister of the Environment, rather than the Minister of Fisheries. I would say that it is an important issue, it is one that in Canada we do need to address.

As you will be aware, there is a schedule for all of the major waste-water treatment facilities that are not currently in compliance with doing secondary treatment, to be in compliance by either 2020 or 2030.

We have allocated significant green infrastructure funding to accelerating that process. There is a new waste-water treatment plant being built in my riding, in North Vancouver. There is a new waste-water treatment plant being built in Victoria, which presently has no waste-water treatment, which is appalling. There are a number of similar facilities being constructed across this country.

It's a very important issue and it's one that we definitely need to address.

Conservative

Mel Arnold Conservative North Okanagan—Shuswap, BC

On a different topic now, $1.5 billion was originally announced for the oceans protection plan. Could you tell us how much of that has already been spent?

Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard