Thank you. I was very interested in what our colleague, Mr. Donnelly, said when he described the destruction of habitat over some 25 years in the Fraser Valley. The point is that was all done under the old Fisheries Act. It was clear the old Fisheries Act didn't solve all the problems.
I should also make the point that the Salish Sea project was funded by our government. I worked closely with Dr. Brian Riddell and Mike Meneer of the Pacific Salmon Foundation to get that project through. I'm pleased that the current government seems to be continuing with it because it's a very good project.
Ms. Fuller, you made the point that you'd like to see the level of ministerial discretion reduced. Also, you're very much in tune with your colleague from the World Wildlife Fund, Elizabeth Hendriks, who, in her brief, talked about “removing the absolute discretionary power of the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans in fisheries management decision-making”.
As an elected official, I'm shocked by both of those statements from your group and WWF. Whatever happened to the citizen's right to redress, the citizen's right to appeal a decision that a government makes? The final decision is not made by an elected official nor does it rest on the desk of an elected official. Where is democracy in this? This seems to be a common thread in the environmental activist community, to reduce ministerial discretion, which ultimately will reduce the ability of local key people, commercial fishermen, anglers, to seek redress from a government that makes a decision they may not like.
Obviously governments make decisions that people do not like, but at least citizens have the right of redress. Why do the environmental groups, by and large, want to reduce the role of elected officials in environmental decision-making?